The Royal Navy deployed four ships and supporting aircraft to monitor Russian naval activity in UK waters over a ten-day period.
HMS Somerset, HMS St Albans, HMS Mersey and RFA Tideforce were involved in operations to shadow multiple Russian vessels, including a surfaced submarine, as they transited the English Channel and North Sea.
The activity formed part of coordinated NATO monitoring, with British ships and aircraft maintaining close surveillance of the Russian group as it moved through waters close to the UK, according to the Royal Navy.
HMS Mersey was activated several times between 29 March and 7 April to track vessels including the frigate Admiral Grigorovich, landing ship Aleksandr Shabalin and Kilo-class submarine Krasnodar. The patrol vessel worked alongside a Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron and tanker RFA Tideforce.
Elsewhere, HMS Somerset intercepted the Udaloy-class destroyer Severomorsk and its accompanying oiler near the French coast before tracking the group through the Channel and into the North Sea using onboard sensors and a Merlin helicopter.
HMS St Albans later joined the operation as part of a planned handover, with Somerset preparing to begin an extended deployment in the North Atlantic focused on submarine monitoring and protection of critical undersea infrastructure. The Royal Navy said the operation reflects a sustained increase in Russian naval activity around the UK in recent months, with British forces maintaining a high-readiness posture to monitor and respond to such movements.
Lieutenant George Hage, Executive Officer of HMS Mersey, said the ship routinely operates to protect UK waters and monitor activity. “Our ability to provide a presence to monitor the Russian activity in UK water is no small feat especially with such an increase in activity over the last few months,” he said.
“We are very proud to be part of the Royal Navy’s commitment to the maritime security of the United Kingdom. Working with our NATO allies continues to highlight the teamwork and strength behind the NATO alliance.”
The activity took place under Operation Ceto, the UK’s standing task focused on protecting the strategic deterrent and tracking submarine movements in the North Atlantic. The Royal Navy added that cooperation with allied ships and aircraft, including Belgian, French and Dutch units, was key to maintaining continuous monitoring of the Russian vessels throughout their transit.
“Our ability to provide a presence to monitor the Russian activity in UK water is no small feat especially with such an increase in activity over the last few months,”
“We are very proud to be part of the Royal Navy’s commitment to the maritime security of the United Kingdom. Working with our NATO allies continues to highlight the teamwork and strength behind the NATO alliance.”
I am sure he will reach high places talking like that…he talks in hyperbolic fashion “no small feat”?!! and last paragraph sounds if RN was a foreign navy.
“Our ability to provide a presence”
Hilarious stuff…..
The guy will be comedy gold.
What are they monitoring the subs with? A glass pressed to the hull…..I appreciate they do have solar that is a bit more effective than most think but it is no T23 and other than watching from the surface what can they actually do to deter? Maybe play the theme from ‘Hunt for The Red October’ through a hydrophone?
Even as an ardent RN supporter I’m struggling to take any of this seriously.
I don’t understand what you mean, I presume you are referencing Mersey but she is only tracking surface vessels and submarines on the surface. Russian submarines can’t enter the channel unless on the surface.
Mersey is pretty well placed for these missions, it’s the kind of job an OPV is made for.
Can’t enter? Do they know that… We send a boat with no gun and a tanker… I say.. The might of the royal navy make me so proud to be British…. A sorry state of affairs.
One of the main rules about passage through straits is that submarines have to pass through on the surface and Russia has always obeyed that one, even through Gibraltar.
Also the Channel is relatively shallow, silty and the busiest waterway on Earth, I wouldn’t want to be the commander trying to dodge the TSS traffic AND the perpendicular ferry movements.
Yes they know it and they follow it,
And for good reason
The English Channel is very busy with multiple ships crossing in all directions. Sending a submerged SSK throw the channel would be suicide for the SSK even without every navy in Northern Europe chasing it.
Also the kilo class has a very limited and slow under water endurance as it does not have AIP. The only way for it to reach the channel from either the Mediterranean or Murmansk is on the surface. If it tried an underwater traverse from the Baltic this would also put the submarine at great risk and NATO would spot it instantly. For an SSN or SSGN being submerged in the channel would be even worse.
People need to realise that the Royal Navy is not daft. There are often reasons for ships being tasked with a role that don’t equate to the limited under standing of internet commentators or Daily Mail journalists and Russian and Chinese propaganda seeks to exploit such useful idiots.
The river class OPV’s are the perfect ships for these escort missions around the UK coast. Such missions degrade the Russian surface fleet and they would like nothing more for us to send expensive and scarce destroyers and frigates out to follow them around.
Agreed. There will be less public measures taken by U.K. forces I am certain.
Possible piss taking aside it would be a bit more reassuring to see the remaining T23s and T45s kitted out with NSMs and Typhoon’s, F35Bs snd P8s with Marte, JSM or some stand-off missile just in case needed and to complement subs. Coastal NSM is also an option if tensions flared further. As has been mentioned before container/tanker ships can be weaponised, used to disrupt, blockade and pollute. What a mess that would make of the channel and approaches.
As they’re looking at selling them B1s to Uruguay lets hope they build their replacements beforehand and maybe a few extras.
I’m being tongue in cheek….
Makes sense now 😀
SB,
Given both declared and probable future purchases of tracking capabilities (e.g., RN & RNN T-26 class and P-8A, not certain this will prove to be the weakest link in the kill chain. Rather the ability to successfully prosecute designated targets may prove a limiting factor. Astute class equipped w/ latest version of Spearfish HWT is obviously a lethal combination, but the number of available platforms will be quite limited, even after SSN maintenance issues are resolved. Not certain how effective Sting Ray Mod 2 LWT (under development) and Mk11 Mod 3 depth charges will prove to be for surface and airborne assets. Anyone willing to hazard an informed opinion? 🤔
We have the stingray deliverable by P8, Merlin, Wildcat and probably soon the Malloy T-600 heavy-lift UAS. Everything I know of the stingray is that it is first class anti submarine weapon able to intercept any Russian submarine. So that’s 100+ aerial platforms that can deliver it plus potential future drones.
There are assets at hand close by on land and as number of Allied nations could contribute non trivial assistance. I despair at the constant refrain of ‘What Navy?’ The issue of too few vessels or none at all was being highlighted on this forum years ago. We are where we are; everyone knows this. Incidentally, I am amazed the Russians aren’t transiting with tugs …
Mersey and Tideforce. The Russians must be bricking it
And two T23 frigates and memorise P8’s
Jim… You just need to stop.. it’s bad. It’s really bad
According to the telegraph Friday 10th April RFA Tideforce shadowed and escorted the Russian destroyer Admiral G through the Channel as there were no RN assets available .I take it gone are the days of FCS ships on standby for when Russian vessels enter the Channel .So now it looks like the RFA crews being Civilian are going on strike over working conditions and pay . Get the Gosport Ferry ready for interceptions in the Channel.
The Fleet ready escort was shadowing another Russian ship, there are multiple transits happening at the same time.
So 2. And should call it “fleet”? i think it is more like a squadron.
So only 2 frigates? It’s not like the RN is currently busy with a major deployment and can’t spare more than 2 frigates to guard the national waters…
Where is the rest of the fleet? It’s insane to have RFA Tideforce do the job of shadowing Russian ships. All it shows is that the RN is not prepared for anything more serious than this.
RN don’t have a fleet.
Certainly agree it’s what the powers that be want from their senior officers but can’t agree it’s Hyperbolic to say ‘it’s no small feat’ it’s rather understated British assessment to me just needed ‘considering just how few assets we have available’ but then that would definitely damaged his promotion prospects.
As for the last paragraph, well the Channel is shared by at least three other Countries so mentioning that securing it is a multi nation cooperative activity (has been even when we had numerous ships) is not only sensible but an essential truism that should be seen as a bonus rather than any sign of weakness.
It’s called working with allies. Something we have done for decades. Its not something to ridicule. Its the nature of allied operations.
And now you’re the Gimp.. and your allies aren’t real strong either.
The Russians are seriously pushing it..
You can argue within UNLOS that they are no longer undertaking innocent passage through Uk waters..
In the past I’ve been the first to argue that when a Russian warship was accompanying a state controlled civilian vessel ( essentially the Russian versions of our points ) then that was innocent passage.
But that is not what they are doing now, they are providing armed escorts to false flagged grey ships operating outside of UNLOS that the UK has the completed legal right to board and seize.. by providing that armed escort to these ships they are no longer undertaking innocent passage they are undertaking a ( none kinetic) belligerent action.. in that they are threatening the Uk will a military consequence if it undertakes its maritime rights and obligations in regards to these essentially illegally operating ships in our water.
The fact that to manage essentially the belligerent actions of a destroyer and frigate as well as a normally transiting sub we could only manage a frigate ( one was replacing the other not both operating together) for the destroyer, a RFA tanker for the other frigate is showing weakness.. in another time there would have been multiple UK warships responding..
Russia is pushing with essentially Martime warfare… because we can pretend all we want but everyone knows these were not innocent passage events covered by UNLOS, they were intrusions into our sovereign waters, forcing illegally operated ships we wanted to board through our waters…the fact we only have 12 escorts and a handful of patrol boats mean Russia is now showing its dominance in our waters..
When we talk about maritime conflict being a numbers game.. this is a prime example.. the omnipresent navy wins maritime conflict.. not the one with the best tip of the pyramid ( CBGs or HMS massives).. it’s the bottom and middle of the pyramid that matter greatly…HMS crappy and HMS just about managing…and the RN can still produce a great tips ( CBG with an Elizabeth, ASW frigates,AAW destroyers and SSN) but that’s it.. the tip in one place at one time for one purpose.. when maritime wars are won and lost across the whole Ogin by lots of different ships doing lots of different things..in lots of places all the time. Probably the most important RN ship of the second world War the flowers class because there were 250 of them not because they were any good.
Until we realise that in maritime conflict numbers do matter and seriously plan on rebuilding the fleet up to and beyond 30 destroyers and frigates.. as well as adequate patrol ships that can punch, we are going to struggle.. the reality is most of them don’t need to be very good a basic T31 with 16 CAMM and 8 NSM would mince about 90% of the Russian surface fleet vessels it would come across, because the Russian surface fleet is numerous but it’s utter dogshit… infact it’s only got 6 modern major surface combatants.. 19 old and general poor major surface combatants but it has 79 corvette.. which are essentially numbers fodder.
Several valid points. We are scraping the barrel and, yes, it is embarrassing and, yes, Trump is rubbing it in. Secondly, I agree with your perspective on the Channel frigate escort – it’s deliberate provocation. Thirdly, I also agree that what we need is numbers – quantity has a quallty of its own – and the arrival of T31 ( with NSM) in numbers is a pivot point. If govt were to announce a follow on order for 3 or 5 T31 the whole you would hear a national sigh of relief.
Indeed I actually think the top end capability ( the modern version of the battle fleet) is actually pretty well catered for moving forward, 6 T45s, 8 T26s, 7 Astutes and 2 carriers with 3 squadrons of F35Bs will be profoundly powerful.. the problem is the lower tier work.. in the end the RN was always assessed as needing 30-32 major warships and about 15 minor as a minimum in a peaceful world.. so on top of the 14 T45-T26 it should really have been having 16-18 lower end GP frigates and a plan to keep 15 smaller patrol and presence vessels after all the hunts and rivers 1 and sandowns are gone..
We need a fleet rebalance back to 33 Frigates and destroyers, plus, a modern ‘Neo’ Flower class, the lean manned T91. This lean manned (12 is suggested) and heavily armed 3000 ton trimaran hulled platform, capable of various mission fits, to replace the Rivers, but also capable of independent Gulf type patrols and escorts for RM assault groups, is absolutely a modern rendition of the Flower class.
I would suggest.
12xT26
12xT31 (full fat)
9 x T83
12 x T91
That would allow for a balanced surface fleet.
Yep, not cheap, this only seems a lot, because we have allowed the RN to wither on the vine to the very point of being ineffective.
The problem is, the building blocks for the above, needed to be put in place in the last Defence review and the DIP needs to reflect a sharp increase in defence spending, ring fenced for a generation.
It won’t in both cases.
ship? plural? haven’t we got an opv to scare them away?
Yes, and they are running down what numbers they do have in their surface fleet escorting these ships. This is probably a bigger win for HMG in the near term as it’s having an impact on Russia with most ships going the longer way around or Russian naval vessels running themselves into the ground but it’s not affecting global oil markets.
Once oil prices go down and the Russian escorts disappear expect to see one or two boardings on blatant violators much the same as France and the US have done but not whole sale blockade.
I agree in principle. but the issue our Armed Forces have is trying to get anything meaningful on such a constrained budget. The budget being slashed for so long means the numbers now available cannot meet UK commitments let alone NATO ones. There is no easy answer, unless the Treasury pump a significant amount of money into the defence budget. If the Government/Treasury followed Germany’s emergency budget uplift, then things could change, but I don’t see that happening.
There is one possible glimmer of hope, Which is the T91 and T92 sloops. Which if you squint hard enough could be likened to the WW2 Flower class, especially if they do go down the optionally manned route initially. Yes, they will be more expensive than a B2 River, but they could be built in numbers to enhance the “Fleet’s” presence. Where if crewed could then operate independently of a mothership.
If we look at what Finland gets for 10% of our budget I think we can see that it’s not necessarily money that’s the issue. Defence spending is £62 billion a year, that’s a lot of money in anyone’s book.
Armies are cheap. Navies are decidedly not, and air forces are worse. Unfortunately we have decided we need a blue water navy and top tier air force, which Finland have not.
If you multiplied finlands Air Force by ten the UK would have the biggest Air Force in Europe by a long way.
Navy’s are expensive and maybe becoming useless, just look at Iran or Russia in the Black Sea. Power projection is expensive, look at the transport fleet. Nuclear weapons are cheap given their effect.
The navy is having much the same issue the army’s having with drones.
The Air Force seems more immune.
Of which 25% goes on the nuclear enterprise and a fair % of that goes to the septics.
Now, who posted on here, recently, about some SSKs? 😒 Who was it?
£15Bn on conventional would go a long way and allow VAT and taxes to be paid into UK not US Treasury; again, just who is it that has made that point??? Damn, my memory.
And our nuclear capabilities swallow a big chunk of that.
Thought provoking comparison of T91 to the Flower class. Could T91 be the conclusion of a long quest for credible, affordable, low crew, fleet mass: Black Swan sloop / Corvette / enhanced B2 River / Kongsberg / LCS ?
Yep I very much agree the way forward is almost a spiral development on the drone ships.. create a very lean crewed T91 that can essentially act as an arsenal ship for a high end fleet or with its crew and a different load act as a patrol frigate. So create essentially a semi autonomous ship first that can have a vastly reduced crew and be uncrewed when its acting as the disposable high risk part of a battle group..
Could a more basic T31 be the a AH120 or up-specced B2 or BAE Leander? Why not build some of these as a priority and more multi-useful than T91s?
Well there is nothing stopping it being the highly automated T91.. essentially what the T91 needs to be a spiral development of gradually reducing crew.. while always having the option to keep crew.. because I think the T91 probably needs to be a 3000-4000 21c global corvette.. with options for a small crew or limited full autonomy.. that can act as an arsenal or extra more disposable escort or a presence patrol frigate.
Because you always want a small crew in some roles.. such as patrol and presence work.
But some places are becoming so deadly there are places you don’t want a crew at all.. a lot of littoral operations are now probably so deadly you can only use attrition units..
Infact I can see a slow realisation that the littoral is now essentially a death trap for large surface combatants.. as Ukraine has proven against the Russian Black Sea fleet and the fact the USN the most powerful navy in the world has refused a littoral engagement against a military it has massively degraded.
I think the place we will see the true autonomous engagements will be in the littoral and for that you need smaller attritional assets.
So I can see it moving in different ways..starting at the high end tip of the pyramid and moving down..
sea control of the enemies key seas.. strategic attack.
This is the carrier battle group and SSNs. It’s your forces that will cause strategic pain..You could probably use some of the corvette sized optionally crewed vessels ( T91) as an outer more attrition set of escorts and arsenal ships.. but the core is always the carrrier, ASW frigates and AAw destroyers as well as SSNs.
Littoral combat:
This will be utterly dominated by small attrition drones in the littoral.
Large large littoral assets such as amphibious vessels really can no longer go anywhere near a contested littoral.. so they will need to essentially be carriers for completely attritional autonomous small littoral combatants and the launch platform for long range insertion capability.. such as rotor or fast long range ship to shore.. but there will be a line in the littoral don’t want to bring these vessels past.. I would imagine also then that you would want a set of almost attritional optionally crewed T91 corvette size vessels that you would have between your amphibious vessels its core high end escort and the threat axis…
So you your new amphibious group will be a large amphibious vessel, a couple of core high end escorts ASW and AAW ships, a couple of smaller optionally crewed corvette sized escorts to be down the littoral threat access. Then the littoral engagement itself will be a ton of smaller attritional littoral assets that have been transported by the crewed ships.
Sea control ASW mid Atlantic and high north…
This would I imagine being a hub and spoke.. with ASW groups that have a core ASW or GP frigate leading some of the corvette sized optionally crewed vessel that have the ability to send an effector via a drone and then an outer web of small persistent sensors drones
Sea control EEZ.. this will be lots of the corvette sized optionally crewed vessels with the correct set of small autonomous sensors drones and mine warfare drones.
Distant presence ( essentially south Atlantic, eastern Indian Ocean and pacific).. for this really your using your traditional GP frigate or the T91 corvette set with a crew for presence and patrol.. depending on the risk profile.
Essentially we need a navy that can deliver all of that at the same time.. hard ask because numbers wise that will require ( using the rule of three)
Strategic attack ( CBG) 6 AAW and 6 ASW 6 T91
Amphibious group 3 AAW, 3ASW, 6 T91
3 Atlantic and high north groups.. 9 frigates ( GP or ASW) 18 T91
EEZ say 12 patrol T91 type
Distant seas presence 3 GP frigates and 6 patrol T91 types
There was always a reason the RN needed 32 escorts and 15 global patrol craft as a minimum for a peaceful world and had over 100 vessels during the Cold War..
Have to say Jonathan, I’m having difficulty getting my head around the idea of T91 as a lean/un-crewed, ‘ missile silo or patrol ship.’ Sounds expensive and complicated. There seem to be several ship visions under discussion at the moment. One is the 3 ‘Kongsberg’ MCM motherships. There are manned and I think the RN want flat working decks twice the area of Sterling Castle. By contrast the T92 debate seems to include trimaran designs which confer short cheap platform with stability in high sea states; I’m not clear whether these are conceived as lean or unmanned, whether they are service vessels which maintain a network of unmanned floating Bastion detection / signalling platforms – or whether they are intended to be such a network. If they support vessels then wouldn’t you want something like a North Sea support design; which could overlap with the Kongsberg MCM mothership if the size was right. This sounds more affordable and could they double up as an OPV.
Wow the whole working navy deployed, less for one sub and a one Type 45, a proud martine nation. What load spin doctor talked up, crap,
what do want the man to say? These are not simple or easy operations. And we have worked with allies in and around the north sea/English Channel for decades. That’s the whole point of regular exercises and integration with allies.
I want him to stop releasing statements filled with half truths and making sound like we have a navy when we have at most 4 working war ships. River class patrol boats are simply that under gunned patrol boats. He loves sound bites but we have less working kit in both the navy and the Army than when he took over.
He trying to bluff when the Russians know what shite state we are in. He making us a laughing stock
Have you seen the state of the Russian navy? They have lost countless warships to a nation that doesn’t really have a Navy. The Russians ain’t laughing, at anyone. And it was the XO of HMS Mersey that made the statement according to the article
Ok, yes their navy has a lot of ships at bottom of the sea thanks to Ukraine, but come our entire working navy stands at 1 Type 45 which has water plant issues, , 2 Type 23’s, a few river class patrol boats and one attack sub, hardly some thing to show off about.
When takes 75% of the working feet to chase a few subs, what do we do if some thing happens some where else at the same time, do nothing, and hope no one notices.
Talking up next to nothing while doing next to nothing to fix it but blame it on those before and then say the DIP might be out n June may be, hardly the speach of a leader is it. Words of person whos life is politics, smoke and mirrors and half truths and he is only beholding to his party not his country.
But you do remember we have 8 T26 and 5 T31s coming. And the T45 is getting an extensive weapons upgrade. I know they aren’t available today. But in the not to distant future the RN will be back to 19 eescorts and a big increase in capability. I’d like to see 24-26 escorts but I think autonomous warships are the way they are looking at increasing mass.
i agree its going to get better thank god, but no thanks to a Labour Government, none of ships have been ordereed under them, best they can go is order more. Lets see what they do, they have achance fix the Navy question is will they do it?
More escorts beyond 19, I really don’t know. Drone warships of some description. Yes. If recent events haven’t highlighted the lack of escorts, then I really don’t know what they are thinking. I guess it’s the balance. The RN wants more F35s, it wants T83 and the future air dominance capability, Mk41s in our escorts etc and the money only goes so far. Plus we would need more people. Although it looks like recruiting and retention is turning a corner. It’s always going to be issue.
Yes there are lots to spend limited money on and Drones are the way ahead for most things, crewed warship are an issue as we short of sailors, that is being addressed but it will take years.
As most know you can never have too many escorts, the River Class are under armed ships with less fire power than a WW2 MTB, they are a class of ship in war that is near useless. They should all be retiredand two more type 26/31 brought to replace them and crews sent else where.
They are bigger than an old Leander or Type 21 but got nothing on them,
I’d probably buy more OPVs for the day to day operations, freeing up the escorts, but just give them more capability. An aviation asset or drone would make a big difference. Either way, we need more. On a positive note. The T26 will be a fantastic warship with huge long term potential and a genuinely feard sub hunter.
Agree, calling someone’s bluff and having a laugh has its limits and you’ll need to back up when that stops.
Thing is every knows we can not back any thing up, we do not have the ships, the crews or ammo, and i see real effort to address that, just words and meetings.
Yeah I am sure the Russians are shaking right now 😄
This is deflection, they are struggling big time in Ukraine and pushing on this flank is a way of trying to relieve pressure through implied threat. It’s actually a sign of weakness, though sadly our own weakness allows it to get away with it and mock us in our own waters. If we had 2 or 3 serious modern warships shadowing them as and when we wanted to, that alone would in reply demonstrate they can be taken out anytime we wish and emasculates their attending warship, rather than showing currently we don’t have any power to stop them even if we wanted to. Signals can be very important in such matters, sub actual conflict.
Oh sure I agree but the fact the Russian northern fleet alone can put more ships to sea right now than we can is pretty telling
I would not give good odds to our guys in a fight, thanks to the numbers difference alone. The amount of missiles some of these Russian boats can put into the air is terrifying
You are absolutely right and I totally agree, that’s why the Moskva is currently in submersible mode… indefinitely.
Royal Navy status is cr@p but the Russians are not infallible, let’s remember we are British, gents.
That really doesn’t challenge my argument…..
Blind arrogance will not change the fact the Russians easily outgun us on the sea.
We would need to hide behind the USN in any major engagement
It absolutely does challenge your thoughts, argument, it is not.
Have you noticed the Russians always have a tug/fueller in the consist? That Finland and Norway are all over them – would you suggest that Russia would send a battlefleet (after monitored build up) towards UK waters and that we stand still and do nothing and that when the line was crossed, that fleet would not get malleted by every JEF/NATO member?
Not an argument at all, just chicken licken.
Cheers, easy.
Uh huh whatever helps you sleep at night 👍
Clunker imagining Russian ships the don’t exist outside of a Tom Clancy novel, nothing new 😂
Laughing at your own jokes because I suspect no one else does in your own sad little life?
Nothing new I’d wager
ship? plural? haven’t we got an opv to scare them away? and to be a top of the pile european navy, then scolumbian marching powder?ix destroyers is rubbish we need at least 8.
Good point
Any Russian captain would not want to go up against a RN T23, P8, Merlin or a Wildcat. That’s a given. And if a Astute was deployed, they would be bricking it.
Sad, not just the lack of a fleet, but spin doctors churning out obvious propaganda for DT and Mail readers. Everyone knows, in a shooting war we would be totally banjaxed. And the blame lies with politicians, vote catching with welfarism over reality.
And before anyone bites? Successive governments made up of the Lawyers Cabal, let off terrorists whilst pursuing veterans. Knowingly appointing senior service members who will tow the line and sing from the approved hymn sheet.
No objection from me mate……scum.
30 Escorts was the mandated post Cold War requirement.
That number should be shoved down every politicians throat by every journalist whenever they have a press conference.
But the media are often clueless.
And the public wanting their freebies.
Cheers Daniele, if only we had some leadership with a pair eh?
No point in building ships / submarines unless you can crew them. We struggle to crew the few ships / submarines currently available!
The politicians should be held to account for the UK defence decisions made over the last 20 years. I know it will not improve the current situation but it will make current and future ministers think twice before axing and cutting the UK armed forces.
In a way I’m less worried about recruitment. With shiny new toys like lots of new ships, more chances of deployment with extremely tasty stop offs in exotic places, I’d expect the RN at least to be able to grow its numbers with a decent ad campaign or two. What we need is several programs for the more specialist and harder to come by professions, and also to stop contracting everything out (more of a major issue in the army).
I hope you are correct re recruitment, I have my doubts.
Shadowed by RFA Tideforce and Mersey… Wow they’ve must’ve been so scared to try anything funny…
The moment when you have to send tankers to monitor russian warships a few hundreds miles from your nationl coasts is the moment you’ve lost.
Agreed!
And they send tugs to monitor ours.
It would now appear that the RFA are going on strike (good for them) due to the pay issue and in their very visible defence, the fact they are tasked with monitoring a Russian frigate escorting a few Russian tankers! Civvies doing an RN task? A superb opportunity to show how they are used and abused for such low pay! Come on Starmer and Healey, stop fucking grandstanding and stop pretending you give a shit about the RFA (bet you don’t even know the acronym), and the UK armed forces in general! Stand by for a summer of discontent! Might be the first time ever I join in!
In other news I see on TWZ that the US Navy has abandoned plans to return Loss Angeles attack sub USS Boise to active duty having already spent $800M so far. Thats a staggering amount of cash to spaff up the wall only to decide its a misspent venture but does highlight even the US Navy despite their significantly larger budget have to make curtain calls on keeping assets in service when its clear the cost benefit simply isn’t worthwhile.