---

Royal Navy

I am sure that the hon. Gentleman is extremely knowledgeable about naval matters, but he persists in quoting the previous Sea Lord and has twice mentioned the term ““overstretch””. I was at a briefing last Monday with the current First Sea Lord when one of the hon. Gentleman’s Conservative colleagues asked the same question as him, saying that the Navy was overstretched. The First Sea Lord emphatically denied that, saying, ““Stretched, certainly—given current commitments that is inevitable—but overstretched, certainly not.””