Gunboat Diplomacy, as practiced mainly by the British in the 19th century, was essentially about stronger nations intimidating weaker nations through the use of naval power.

However, we have recently seen an example of reverse gunboat diplomacy where a weaker nation i.e. the UK threatens a stronger one i.e. the Russian Federation via a naval action. The provocation of sending HMS Defender into the Black Sea as some sort of symbol of support for the Ukraine following the return of the Crimea to Russia would have Lord Palmerston turning in his grave.

Since everyone knows that HMS Defender could have been sunk within minutes the only point of this RGD was to goad Putin. Maybe the top brass thought that he would make some kind of schoolboy error that NATO could latch onto, but he is far too smart for that.

Unfortunately the Royal Navy is no longer the 'ruler of the sea'. It's not even the ruler of the English Channel as the Navy is unable to prevent migrants being smuggled across in small boats or EU fishermen blockading channel island ports.

Clearly the MoD has not learned any lessons from Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore and are still promoting people to top slots that should have been left polishing the handles of office doors.