Good reef, the Royal Navy's going green

Do not be misled; many of these vessels are potential museum pieces that have not sailed in many years and are merely stored awaiting their fate with the cutter's torch or to be sold on for other uses.

Two of the ships, HMS Intrepid and HMS Fearless, have now learned their fate.

They are to be given a "recycled retirement" after 15 years of storage. Both ships played a key role in the Falklands War, but have been surplus to requirements since 1991, with full decommissioning in 1999.

One of the reasons why they have been kept for so long is that Whitehall has been redeveloping its strategy for dealing with redundant warships.

Many old warships find their way into foreign ownership and serve in the navies of developing countries (especially Chile and India), while others were routinely sold abroad for scrap.

This last route no longer applies, as the Royal Navy could not guarantee that the vessels were disposed of responsibly.

Many old ships contain significant quantities of hazardous material, including asbestos, poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), tri-butyl tin (TBT) and various oils and spent fuel.

Ironically, both the Fearless and Intrepid were beyond their shelf lives when the Falklands War began 25 years ago and in the case of the Intrepid, it came back from a previous decommissioning to be pressed into service once again.

Both ships were the last steam ships in regular service with the Royal Navy and due to their vintage will very likely have some interesting components that will be sold as souvenirs before the recycling takes place.

While Fearless and Intrepid are being recycled for their scrap value, another ship called HMS Scylla was recycled in a completely different way three years ago.

This ship was similarly stored at Portsmouth for a number of years until being purchased by the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth.

The aquarium acquired it to turn it into a very different type of tourist attraction, an artificial reef that is hoped to attract numerous marine species.

The ship was towed out to Whitsand Bay in Cornwall, where it was sunk in March, 2004, after being cleaned up and stripped of its more hazardous parts.

Reports suggest that the Scylla is still very recognisable as a navy vessel, but many creatures, such as conger eels, molluscs and fish are already enjoying the shelter that the ship provides from the strong currents.

It is not just conventional ships that need to be dealt with in an environmentally responsible way.

Many of the first generation nuclear submarines, built in the 1950s, have been decommissioned for some time, but because of the amount of radioactive material still remaining, these will have to be stored for considerably more time before dismantling can begin.

That will be an entirely different problem'¦