The navy insists that it is already at or near the minimum needed to be a coherent maritime force (it already has less than a tenth of the number of ships it boasted in 1945).
The British government, meanwhile, increased its commitment to Gulf states by signing a defence cooperation agreement with Qatar and leading a "joint maritime force in the Gulf to deter piracy, tackle terrorism, and disrupt smuggling".
It sees the carriers as the best means of asserting its position as a leading maritime force, and has sacrificed much of the fleet to ensure they will be built.
There were few calls in the Commons for any military response although former defence minister Gerald Howarth called for a Nato maritime force to deter Russia going further, saying "hollow threats" were insufficient.
The Army, finding itself essentially left out, has put forward its own "Pacific Pathways" initiative, which aims to transform a largely land-based force into a maritime expeditionary force, potentially bringing it into direct competition with the Marines.
-- Plans and intentions of UN leadership, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, and member states to deploy a UN-led maritime force to monitor piracy off the coast of Somalia.
The Templars were a major international maritime force at this time, with interests in North Devon, and almost certainly an important port at Bideford or on the River Taw in Barnstaple.
The counter-argument is that the Al Qasimi, a strong and independent maritime force, were the subject of British aggression in an attempt to stamp its authority - and that of its Omani allies - on trade routes thought of as important to Iraq and India.
In the party's platform, the Liberals vowed to reinvest in its navy to ensure it "is able to operate as a true blue-water maritime force".
