List of active Royal Navy ships
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The Royal Navy is the principal naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Its assets include both commissioned warships and non-commissioned vessels. As of July 2026, there are 60 commissioned and active ships, including auxiliary ships, in the Royal Navy. However, increasingly many of the Royal Navy's ships are old and some have proven to be minimally seaworthy. According to the Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, the Royal Navy has effectively run out of ships. According to Gwyn Jenkins, the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, the Royal Navy will not be ready for an armed conflict until 2030. As of June 2026, the Royal Navy's entire fleet submarine (attack submarine) fleet is reportedly undeployable at sea due to several factors including maintenance works.
Of the commissioned vessels, thirteen are major surface combatants (two aircraft carriers, six guided missile destroyers and five frigates) and ten are nuclear-powered submarines (four ballistic missile submarines and six fleet submarines). In addition the Navy possesses seven mine countermeasures vessels, twenty-six patrol vessels, two survey vessels, one icebreaker and one historic warship, Victory.
The total displacement of the Royal Navy's commissioned and active ships is approximately 391,000 tonnes.
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