This piece is an extract from our Latest from the Woods newsletter (previously Forestry Latest News), which is emailed out at 4PM every Friday with a round-up of the week's top stories. 

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IT'S one of the most celebrated warships in British history, whose victories remain etched in the national psyche more than 200 years later. Now Horatio Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory, is being repaired with wood shipped in from ... France. 

Two centuries on from spearheading the Brits to victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the warship is currently undergoing a £40 million restoration, which has seen navy bosses look to the 'old enemy' for aid. Speaking to the national press this week (which reported on the news with some gusto), a senior figure at the National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard explained French-grown oak was being favoured because the UK simply can't supply enough itself. 

"The majority of the oak for this task is likely to be supplied from France, where there is a centuries-old forestry system in place that can sustainably supply mature oaks for this kind of task," said Andrew Baines, executive director of museum operations. "The Royal Navy has a long history of using timbers from across Europe and the world."

Andrew went on to acknowledge that some have said Nelson "might have been shocked" by the use of wood from his old enemy.

"We like to think that actually he would have approved of the best, most sustainable oak being used," he added.

It all would be funny (and, let's be honest, it's a little bit funny, at least in an ironic way) if it weren't so serious. This is another reminder of just how little timber the UK actually produces; 81 per cent of the wood used in this country is shipped in, albeit a big proportion of that is for biomass purposes (but we won't get into that debate today). 

Horatio Nelson led the UK to victory over French and Spanish forces Horatio Nelson led the UK to victory over French and Spanish forces (Image: Archant)

Then there's the reminder of the struggles foresters face in getting any meaningful productive hardwood planting off the ground. Whether it's squirrels, softwood demands, or financial pressures, large-scale broadleaved plantations are simply the stuff of fantasy for most of the country. 

Those are the big picture issues. 

The fact we don't have enough quality oak (a species that has been on these isles since prehistoric times) to restore one warship should be cause for concern in the short term.