Two reasons it took so long to deploy warship - and ex-Navy commander says 'neither are good'

HMS Dragon has finally left Portsmouth and is on its way to protect the UK's airbase in Cyprus from attack.

But RAF Akrotiri was hit by a drone more than a week ago - with others intercepted - so why has it taken so long for the ship to set sail? Former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe told Sky's This Is Why podcast that shooting down drones is "bread and butter" for the stealthy Type 45 destroyer. Iran latest: US has destroyed 16 mine-laying boats, says Trump He said there were two key reasons the ship had only just been deployed - and "neither are good".

The first is down to a "30-year decline" in defence spending - a topic in sharp focus since the Ukraine War - which means the Navy's cupboard is "very bare". He singled out the period when David Cameron was prime minister.

"The strategic defence review in 2010 [and] the Cameron-Osborne austerity review really expedited that decline, and for that period of Tory government no new warships were ordered," Mr Sharpe said. "The replacement frigates were put on ice.

There's a real culpability here to that entire era." Mr Sharpe, who commanded four ships during his career, said the Royal Navy essentially now had just seven frigates and six destroyers. "If you do the rule of three to one - which is one working up, one on operations and one in maintenance - that leaves your cupboard very bare," said the defence analyst.

"And we effectively have two destroyers that are seaworthy at the moment. It just so happens neither are at immediate notice to go." He said Britain still had the "building blocks" of a functioning navy - such as air defence, and anti-submarine and mine warfare capability - but it had become "wafer thin".

Limited resources mean there's now a "real nervousness about using these precious assets.