Britain cannot choose between its sword and shield

The argument starts with figures of roughly 90 percent of British trade by value and 95 percent by volume moving by sea. That dependence conflicts with the claim that a navy is unnecessary because a major war would become nuclear while a large army is still required for Eastern Europe. Nuclear escalation would not spare the army, and conventional commitments still require both land and maritime power. The sword-and-shield analogy treats a forced choice between services as evidence that the total defence budget is inadequate. This is an argument about national force structure, rather than a bid to make survey ships compete with the army.