Chris Barrow

So that was 2006 when this mine war command was basically abolished and split up.

Yes.

So that turns out to be a pretty disastrous decision, probably.

So why was that taken?

It was taken under the guise of integrating mine warfare across the Navy.

But what actually happened was it was marginalised.

So it was really the end of a long process of atrophy that has really kind of cemented the fact that those capabilities have not been able to be built up again because there isn't that centralisation.

That hasn't been a huge problem up until now because the United States has been relying on mine capabilities of its NATO allies.

So my warfare capabilities, mine sweeping and so on, are really good in UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Scandinavian countries.

And the US was always thinking if it were going to be fighting a war where it would need those capabilities, it would be alongside NATO allies.

So that's why President Trump asked for help from his allies, because they were relying on their allies to have this capacity.

That's exactly it.

The US is now in a war where it is not fighting as part of NATO.

So there is no expectation of NATO capabilities being brought to bear, which is why President Trump has had to ask.

And that's why all of those countries also have the ability to say no, because this is not a NATO conflict.

This is a US and Israeli conflict.

So can you explain to us what the American capacity is now?

You know, they're obviously rushing resources to the strait.

Have they got enough to clear it?

The short answer is no, they don't.