More than 1,400 British soldiers have boarded a chartered civilian passenger ferry to travel to a major military exercise in Germany, the first time the British Army has used civilian sea transport on this scale in over two decades.
The troops, drawn from the 7th Light Mechanised Brigade, known as the Desert Rats, sailed from Newcastle on the King Seaways, a ferry operated by DFDS, before continuing by rail through the Netherlands to Germany, where they will join hundreds of French soldiers from the 13th Demi Brigade of the Foreign Legion for Exercise Rhino Storm.
Lieutenant Lucas Handyside from 7 Brigade said the deployment demonstrated the brigade’s ability to move by multiple means, saying “7 Brigade is deploying more than 3,000 soldiers and 900 military vehicles to Exercise Rhino Storm which has offered us the opportunity to prove a range of deployment methods both military and civilian” and that “Exercise Rhino Storm demonstrates that the Desert Rats can deploy by road, rail, sea and air.”
He added that “as a Light Mechanised Brigade, it is incredibly important that we are able to rapidly and reliably respond to threats anywhere in the world, and testing this capability has been an integral part of the exercise” and that the exercise was “designed to challenge the Brigade at all levels and will provide a realistic scenario to bring together the Brigade’s fighting units and supporting elements.”
The use of a chartered civilian ferry to move troops at scale has practical significance beyond the exercise itself, demonstrating how the Army can draw on civilian infrastructure to supplement military transport capacity during a major deployment to Europe. Transporting 1,400 troops by air would require at least seven RAF Voyager aircraft plus additional flights for equipment, making civilian sea transport a significant force multiplication option for large-scale operations.
Brigadier Andrew Watson, Officer Commanding 7th Light Mechanised Brigade, said the exercise “proves we are ready to deliver credible combat power at scale as part of NATO’s Advanced Readiness Force” and described it as being “about moving a brigade quickly and efficiently, just as we would in real operations”, adding that it “sends a clear message that the British Army can project force rapidly and work closely with our NATO allies.”
Exercise Rhino Storm forms part of the wider NATO Steadfast Defender 27 series, which tests the ability to deploy forces rapidly across Europe, with the Desert Rats’ deployment alongside French Foreign Legion units reflecting the multinational character of NATO’s collective defence posture on the continent.
The use of civilian vessels for military transport has a long history in British military operations, including the evacuation at Dunkirk, the D-Day landings, the Falklands War, Bosnia, Kosovo and the Iraq War in 2003, and the current exercise represents a deliberate effort to demonstrate that this capability remains viable and practised for large-scale operations if required.
… and it gives the lads a chance to grab some Duty Free too (luverly jubbly ☺️)
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The media is trying to make some big deal of this, seems like a sensible idea to me. No need to keep a dedicated military pool of car ferries, much better to use UK ferries that can be taken up from trade if needed in a war scenario.
We have always done this and every British army in the 2oth century that crossed the channel did so on commercial ferries.
We should do something similar with trains and practice running direct services down the east and West Coast mainline into the channel tunnel. Freight trains can do it so no reason passenger trains can’t also do it.
The Chinese have a lot of duel use RORO ferries… infact most of their new large RORO ferries are duel use civilian military.. they have huge great heli pads on the top.. mil spec vehicle lanes.. they even practice lowering the stern ramp and driving amphibious assault vehicles straight from the vehicle lanes into the seas and then onto beach assaults.. essentially turning a RoRo ferry into a first leave amphibious vessel.
Agreed. For UK to Europe transfer.
Rent 5 Paint them grey and you have the MRSS…. 5 billion saved… and they could have them sorted in a few month.. weld some .50cal MGs on and job done.