Royal Navy Navy currently operates from three bases in the United Kingdom where commissioned ships are based; Portsmouth, Clyde and Devonport, Plymouth—Devonport is the largest operational naval base in the UK and Western Europe. Each base hosts a flotilla command under a commodore, or, in the case of Clyde, a captain, responsible for the provision of operational capability using the ships and submarines within the flotilla. 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines is similarly commanded by a brigadier and based in Plymouth. Historically, the Royal Navy maintained Royal Navy Dockyards around the world. Dockyards of the Royal Navy are harbours where ships are
Future of the Royal Navy although many programmes were reduced in scale. This has led to the replacement of smaller and more numerous units with fewer, but larger, units. The main examples of this are the replacement of twelve Type 42 destroyers with six Type 45s and the replacement of the three 20,000 tonne s with two 70,600 tonne "Queen Elizabeth"-class aircraft carriers. There are, as of November 2018, 13 Royal Navy ships and submarines under construction (A further 5 planned): Four s (boats 4-7), one "Dreadnought"-class ballistic missile submarine (boat 1 of 4), one "Queen Elizabeth"-class aircraft carrier (ship 2 of 2), one Type