The Royal Navy had to scavenge spare parts and transfer them from one ship to another more than 300 times this year because it can no longer afford to hold sufficient stocks to meet the repair needs of every vessel in the fleet.
The Royal Navy had to scavenge spare parts and transfer them from one ship to another more than 300 times this year because it can no longer afford to hold sufficient stocks to meet the repair needs of every vessel in the fleet.
Figures seen by The Herald reveal that the nuclear submarine flotilla was the worst- affected, with 188 instances of "fitted equipment" being moved between boats to allow operational patrols - many of them from Faslane on the Clyde - to be carried out.
The system of cannibalising ships, aircraft and vehicles has become widespread across the armed forces since the Ministry of Defence introduced a business depreciation scheme to meet Treasury accounting targets for government spending.
This means that each service has to put a notional value on the depreciation of all the equipment that has been used, is currently in the field or is held as a reserve.
That, in turn, has led to the shedding of stocks of spares which would worsen the MoD's budgetary position on a Whitehall balance sheet.
The result for the Navy in the first nine months of this year is that 188 parts for submarines, 53 for destroyers, 36 for frigates and 32 for everything from mine-hunters to fleet auxiliary supply vessels have been stripped out and re-installed on another vessel's hull.
An MoD spokesman for the Clyde naval base said yesterday: "Safety is our absolutely paramount concern, so when we have one boat tied up alongside and another due to go to sea which needs a part in a hurry, it makes sense to ensure that the patrol vessel is fully operational.
"If that requires moving kit from one boat to another, then that's the sensible solution.
"It also obviates the need to maintain huge stocks of parts. Spares can be ordered and obtained at fairly short notice to replace anything urgent."
The lack of spares impacts hugely on the MoD budget as vehicles and aircraft are worn out far more quickly than normal in the hot, sandy conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The leading edges of helicopter rotor blades, engines for all ground and air vehicles, and gearboxes are particularly hard-hit by erosion.
By the end of last year, the RAF's ageing transport fleet had to cannibalise parts 1573 times to keep its Hercules, TriStar and VC10 aircraft flying as the vital airbridge between troops in Helmand and Basra and the UK.
Part of the reason why the RAF cannot supply any more than eight Chinook helicopters for moving the 8800 UK soldiers in Afghanistan is that there are not enough spares or ground crews to guarantee that more could be maintained in the field.
Almost two-thirds of Britain's £2.1bn Apache attack helicopter fleet and more than half of its vital Chinook transport aircraft are "unfit for purpose" and not ready for combat operations. While the frontline availability of the two helicopter types is 66% and 47% respectively, this is only being achieved by cannibalising other machines used for training in the UK and diverting the spare parts to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Some of the £30m-apiece Apaches are understood to have been stripped for components before they were even declared operational. They are described by attack squadron members as "Christmas trees" because they exist only as a source of spares.
