ABSTRACT
One of the reasons for developing and maintaining navies is the nation’s aspiration to help shape the context in which it operates, and generally to have strategic effect. Unless navies can do that there would be little point in having them. The developing shape of the navies of Europe illustrates the point that defence inflation outstrips all other forms of inflation and this is particularly evident in the procurement of high-end Anti-Submarine Warfare, Anti-Air Warfare and anti-surface warfare capabilities characteristic of sea control aspirations. For smaller navies, however, the acquisition of small diesel-powered coastal submarines is often said to be a particularly attractive way of reducing the operational gap they may have with stronger fleets. Trying to cope with such a broad range of contingency is difficult for all navies, irrespective of their size, whether they are: great, essentially global in their outlook; medium, if principally regional; or small, if preoccupied with local concerns.
