British Defence Policy and the Transformation of the Royal Navy in the Cold War and Beyond

Abstract

This chapter addresses the naval dimension of British post-war defence policy from the initial years of the Cold War to the end of the twentieth century. Post-war Britain was different from Japan-it was emerging victorious from the war. The Royal Navy (RN) played a significant role in this conflict, being responsible for the blockade of the western coast of the Peninsula for most of the war. The force goals set out in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Medium Term Plan provided an ambitious target for a rapid naval build-up. The main thrust of the chapter was that nuclear weapons, especially those delivered by the increasingly powerful US Strategic Air Command, meant that any future war promised to be short and intense. Based on the work of the Defence Operations Research Establishment at West Byfleet, this study placed the carrier-based aircraft/Sea King combination in the fourth category of effectiveness. Keywords:British post-war defence policy; cold war; North Atlantic treaty organization (NATO); nuclear weapons; royal navy (RN)