Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson must be turning in his grave with the government apparently poised to axe half the Fleet.

Six of the Royal Navy's top warships including the county's adopted warship HMS Cornwall, a Type 22 frigate and her sisterships Cumberland, Chatham and Campbeltown, along with the destroyers Southampton and Exeter are to be mothballed. Under threat are the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries Brambleleaf and Oakleaf.

The Type 22s had always been commanded by a senior Captain until November 2006 when Captain Simon Williams, handed over to the first Commander to "drive" a T22 Batch 3 Frigate, Commander Jeremy Woods. Many of the commanding officers of the Type 22s went on to be admirals.

The government is pressing ahead with selling surplus ships to foreign navies. During the past week, the Chilean warship Almirante Cochrane has been undergoing trials off Falmouth. The former HMS Norfolk is the first of three Royal Navy Type-23 frigates to be handed over to Chile, under a £134m sales agreement signed in 2005. The two other frigates (former HM Ships Grafton and Marlborough will join their sister ship in the Chilean Navy in 2008.