Two Hunt class ship crews are the new ship’s company of HMS Tyne whose own sailors are to crew the new HMS Forth in order to bring the vessel into service.
According to the Royal Navy, under Project Jicara, two crews from Portsmouth’s 2nd Mine Countermeasures Squadron will join the Fishery Protection Squadron to man and operate one of the River-class vessels while their own Hunt class ships are out of action undergoing major engine changes.
We spoke to the Royal Navy about this and have updated our previous story, the following is new information.
HMS Tyne is a River class offshore patrol vessel built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton to serve as a fishery protection unit within UK waters along with her two sister ships Mersey and Severn.
Lt Alex Coleman, Executive Officer of MCM2 Crew 6 said:
“The opportunity to man and operate an offshore patrol vessel for a Hunt-class crew is quite unique.
This is a great chance for many of our sailors to broaden their skills on different machinery and shows just how adaptable and employable the guys really are.”
The crew will be in charge of HMS Tyne until the end of the year, when they’ll move to HMS Mersey, allowing the latter’s crew to move on-board new River class vessel HMS Trent.
Recruitment and retention crisis in HM forces.
So forget about fantasy fleets of warships, we haven’t got and are unlikely to get the crews to man them.
We have a very serious problem here and neither the Tory government or the Labour opposition has an answer.
You hit the nail right on the head there Mike. Why would the MoD risk using the crew off another class of ship to man a new vessel without first having the in depth training required. You just wouldn’t risk testing how adaptable the crew was unless there is something like manpower shortages driving the decision.
Agreed Mike – at least another 3k sailors needed – probably 6-10k more realistic to keep within harmony guidelines and become a service people actually want to join.
Cuts cuts cuts – apart from DFID
So, to Mrs May, why is your commitment to maintain DFID targets greater than to maintain those made in SDSR2015?
A story in The Times today that 2 minehunters are going to be cut. I’m a cheapskate so can’t get past the paywall but the first few lines of the article that the web site gives as a glimpse for free is enough to thoroughly depress. The “highlights” (aka lowlights) are…
– The number of of Sandown and Hunt class minehunter ships will be reduced from 15 to 13
– 3,000 fewer troops on combat training
– Possible reduction of 10 F-35B in service by 2025. Overall 138 target unchanged
– 12 Lynx AH9A to be remover from service
Article (behind paywall) is here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/warships-and-battlefield-training-to-be-axed-in-defence-cuts-q7nr0stsz
I think we knew this was coming but depressing none the less.
That’s not going to make much of a dent in the £30bn hole. Bigger cuts to come I’m afraid.
Agreed
You don’t want to be lining the pockets of the type of people that hack dead soldiers relatives phones anyway Julian, best being a cheapskate in that one pal 😉
Not really too fussed about the minehunters to be honest, I think the new fleet when it comes will be 6 or 8 ships as they will be a lot more capable.
The troops on combat training is a sore one, it’s a sense of pride on how well our armed forces are trained, important thing is the bases are staying open and troops are still getting trained.
The F-35 situation is fast becoming a farce and a national embarrassment.
So that’s 657 squadron gone then, it’s the last front line Lynx sqn and the only dedicated attack/utility helicopter sqn for the SAS. I thought they were going to be replaced with Wildcat but now just dropped all together, great. Suppose it’s not like the SAS cant use helicopters from elsewhere like the commando helicopter force which actually have been upgraded to the Wildcat which is a much better and newer helicopter, so we could think of it as an upgrade haha.
“it’s a sense of pride on how well our armed forces are trained”
Agreed. I often wish that I could see more comparisons on that. I can easily go to Wikipedia and at least somewhat reliably compare how many frigates, subs, combat aircraft, tanks, soldiers, etc, etc we have vs various other countries but that really is only a part of the story. For the combat jets, how many flight hours a year (real and simulated) do the various pilots have? For the sub crews, how many submerged hours at sea, etc, etc. This is, as I understand it, one area where the UK has been extremely well placed in the past. It would be a tragedy to see us start losing that edge. The other big variable is force elements at readiness. Comparisons of total to FE@R ratios vs other countries would be really interesting as well.
Yeah I would as well, I can remember the tv show on HMS Ocean and the flying they were doing was to make sure they meet the required hours needed for operational duty.
It could be a certain amount during the year and then that could double or treble if they were going on an operation so they are at peak performance levels.
I’m pretty sure those training hours will be among the longest in the world.
I’v also heard our basic Army training is the longest in the world as well.
It really is an argument fading in credibility when the government says it does not have he money to properly equip our armed forces and talk about more cuts. Back in 2008 the good old Royal Bank of Scotland asked for, and got, £58 billion overnight. So the money is always there somewhere, we just need to get our act together.
The ridiculous amounts in the foreign aid budget would be a good place to start. No point lining the pockets of corrupt foreign administrators.
Without the government cash for bank shares, the whole banking/financial system would have collapsed.
No money to pay for goods and services, no money to pay wages, no food on the supermarket shelves and so on.
Bailing out the banks was the least worst option and in the end we actually made a profit on LloydsTSB and Northern Rock share holdings.
Decrease military personnel, invest less in maintenance and new equipment. Welfare spending goes up. Decrease military personnel….
DfiD Needs to man & equip a Disaster/Relief arm of the Navy. 4 LPH to replace Ocean/Albions (all with secondary military role), a couple of Tides etc. Savings to the surface fleet pumped into personnel & escorts.