Royal Navy sunk

SIR – Yet again those who head the Royal Navy, in order to balance the books and maintain the new aircraft carrier vanity project, are considering making the naive mistake of sacrificing the most tactically effective and strategically important part of the Service: the Royal Marines and amphibious assault ships (report, October 6).

Not only would a reduction in the Marines and loss of amphibious capability render the Navy useless as an effective force, it would also send a message to anyone hell-bent on a land grab that Britain no longer cares to defend the Falklands, Gibraltar or any port Russia may have designs on. John Coles

Twickenham, Middlesex