Sir, – Earlier in the summer my wife and I were kindly taken to visit the new Normandy Memorial to place a poppy wreath in honour of a relative who had given her life while saving wounded Allied and German troops from the hospital ship Amsterdam which was sinking having struck a mine. Upon our return to Portsmouth on the ferry I was able to observe the King’s Navy. The Victory: Just three stump masts. One frigate berthed on the west walls. Good, surely that must mean that all the other warships are at sea? “Is that all there is?” enquired my civilian friend. Not quite: Three small warships, se…
