The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is retiring Albion class amphibious assault ships to make up for a severe sailor shortage.

The Times reported on this.

Due to major personnel problems, the Royal Navy decided to retire two Albion class amphibious assault ships from active service.

This decision was made upon attempts to staff one of the assault ships with a full crew for deployment in the Red Sea, amid a strengthened presence to protect civilian shipping.

After reconciling the lists, the Royal Navy reported that the total number of crew members was not enough to fully staff at least one Albion class amphibious assault ship.

Because of this, it was decided to retire the ships from active service until a sufficient number of crew members were recruited.

The same problem is faced by other surface ships that are undergoing long-term repairs, and during this time, the number of crew members decreases due to the end of the contract and changes in specialty.

In addition to the Navy, the problem of understaffing exists in the ground and air forces, which calls into question the combat capability of most units.

For example, out of 32 infantry battalions in the British Army, only three are currently fully operational. The same applies to the Air Force, which experiences a critical shortage of young pilots interested in serving for over 10 years.

Militarnyi previously reported that Germany is debating reintroducing military conscription.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has urged Europe to take the Russian threats to Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania seriously.

The Minister noted that he was also studying models of compulsory military service. According to Pistorius, the abolition of conscription in Germany was a mistake.