Royal Navy’s at-sea time is down by half

ROYAL Navy warships spent half as much time at sea last year than in 2012, the Mirror can reveal.

MoD figures show frigates and destroyers put to sea for a total of 2,657 days in 2012.

By 2017, that had fallen by 48% to just 1,373.

Experts blame Tory cuts and manpower shortages for the embarrassing fall.

Former head of the Navy Lord West said: “There has been a hollowing out of defence and there has been a drop in the number of people in the Navy. There are too few people.

“It means we haven’t got ships operating in areas where they should be.”