The Royal Navy is suffering a series of setbacks that have no precedent in the glorious history of the British navy.

A new test firing of a Trident cruise missile, a long-range nuclear delivery vehicle fired from a submarine, ended in failure. 

After an espionage affair, a collision, the failure of its first aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the late departure of its sistership, the HMS Prince of Wales, the decommissioning, for lack of crew, of a recently refitted frigate, the HMS Argyll, and the attempt to recruit, via social networks, a chief for its nuclear submarines, the Admiralty continues to take hard knocks.

The most recent of these concerns its offensive nuclear capability, which is embarked on its nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines that carry Trident ballistic missiles.

It was precisely the firing of a Trident missile as part of a test that ended in another failure. A new failure, because the previous test, in 2016, also ended in the same way.

The missile, with a unit value of nearly €20 million, crashed into the sea just a short distance from its firing vessel, the HMS Vanguard, after its second stage failed to fire (editor's note: the first propulsion stage ejects the missile from the submarine and the second propels it to its target).

The last successful launch was in 2012. That's twelve years ago. Three launches in twelve years, including two failures - that's what's left of the UK's nuclear deterrent and its sovereignty in this area.

These Trident ID5 missiles, of American origin, are also deployed on US Navy submarines and are an important part of the US nuclear deterrent. The US Navy regularly succeeds in its test firings, with the 191st successful firing last September.

With a first-rate operational capacity of 19 vessels, the Royal Navy has a fleet similar in number to that of the French Navy.