Refits at top speed

All available skilled labour in Portsmouth is being used to accelerate the refits of the guided-missile destroyers HMS Fife and HMS Newcastle.

Men are working around the clock to finish the refits so that two major units of the surface fleet are available as early as possible.

This means that preliminary work on getting the 28-year-old aircraft carrier HMS Bulwark in a fit state for sea, in case she is needed for the Falklands, has stopped.

It is understood that the decision on whether Bulwark will be needed as a floating barracks blockair base in the Falklands has not yet been made.