Royal Navy: Battle-ready spectacle of 700-strong Army fleet decamping at UK port as major NATO exercise ends

Thousands of British troops travelled to Romania in January and February to take part in massive mobilisation drills ahead of the third anniversary of the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Around 2,600 British personnel, along with more than 700 vehicles, joined allies in the Balkans in Exercise Steadfast Dart. The aim was to show the bloc’s ability to mobilise at speed, amid a series of World War Three threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies.

It comes after the Ministry of Defence came to an agreement with UK port operator, Associated British Ports allowing it to use its 21 ports. The vehicles arrived at Immingham on Sunday.

Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard said: “The ability to deploy and recover our forces more efficiently is a game-changer, ensuring we remain ready to deter and respond to threats at pace and continue to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad for decades to come.”

There’s been concerns over the ability of the Armed Forces to respond a “rogues’ gallery” of state threats, with Russia and China in the vanguard and Iran and North Korea following close behind. According to FullFact website there are 127,036 full-time fully trained personnel in the forces, including 71,151 in the Army, 28,085 in the Royal Navy/Marines and 27,800 in the RAF.

The UK has committed to spend 2.5 per cent of its GDP on defence by 2027.