Royal Marines have been working with Norwegian troops storming shorelines on amphibious raids in the fjords of the Arctic Circle, according to the Ministry of Defence.
Royal Marines Offshore Raiding Craft hit the beaches backed by landing craft before the joint forces “brought their fire and fury onto the land”.
According to a press release:
“In blizzard conditions, the fast raiding boats of Plymouth-based 47 Commando tore through the icy waters with Norwegian troops from Brigade Nord. Royal Marines Offshore Raiding Craft, which can reach speeds of up to around 50mph, sped towards the beach backed by landing craft before the joint forces brought their fire and fury onto the land.”
Captain Jack Denniss of 47 Commando’s 539 Raiding Squadron said:
“The Royal Marines are re-rolling into smaller, disaggregated teams as we move toward the Future Commando Force concept. These teams will be highly flexible, able to integrate with allied forces to amplify their effectiveness. As we move toward this, continued training with our partner nations is developing cohesion in strategically important regions.”
47 Commando are currently deployed in northern Norway, at the fjord at Hellarbogen. They are preparing for Norwegian-led NATO war games, Exercise Cold Response, later this month alongside 45 Commando, 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group and other Royal Marines units.
Was this in reprisal for the Viking raids of the C9th?
The RM strategy is the right way to go for them. Commando’s have always been small disruptive forces and their value should not be underestimated.
Arguably they are special forces and are certainly an asset to the UK.
I believe there is a good case for them to become a large force, but that is unlikely.
My worry Pac with this move to smaller groupings is that yet another deployable brigade is effectively dismembered and the Commando Logistics Regiment, 29 RA, and 24 RE get the chop because of it.
The RM, along with 16AA, should in my opinion be bolstered, not reduced.
I agree Daniele, it would be nice to have 2 large Commando Brigades, one covering off actual commando duties and the other acting as a deployable manoeuvre brigade.
I could put an argument forward stating that this is really a waste of this resource and that the Army should move to a full Strike (aka Boxer) model with reserves providing the seldom used Heavy Armour capability.
The Commando force should be bigger, especially now as we move back from Europe and with a smaller all boxer force we could do this with the same headcount as now for the Army.
They really aren’t special forces. What they are though is full of pride. Something our line infantry should look closely at. My time with some of our line units was eye opening recently. They just are not bothered a jot about anything but belts round jumpers, COS duties and swerving the CDT teams
Interesting comment on line infantry, I actually think that is probably because they have low morale, poor training and lack of equipment. I have been looking at the Army and think we would be better off with 25 Boxer Battalions (900 per battalion) and shrinking the army to circa 45k. Heavy Armour would move to the reserves as ultimately it takes a long time to generate and is seldom available anyway. It’s just very costly and in my opinion, Boxer with Apache is better for the vast majority of our needs. Ultimately the inf have come out of 30 years… Read more »
Elite yes, like the Parachute Regiment. SF no.
For me, the problem with the infantry battalions themselves, not individuals like the points Reaper made, is in their employment, with, in 1 UK Division, no support elements whatsoever to make them usable in an all arms deployable brigade.
Until the army deals with this elephant in the room and the cap badge mafia with it, this problem won’t change.
As for the RM, yes ok different concept of ops, but leave the capability to deploy as a larger force alone. Flexibility.
That means the supports and the LPDs.
I’ve just had a look at what the MoD say about the Commandos. 29 Commando RA is a classic.
https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/the-fighting-arms/royal-marines/commando-brigade/29-commando
Maximum range 927+ kilometres
Maximum altitude 15,000+ feet
Maximum speed 167+ knots
Jesus they can’t run quick can’t they! And Jump! Boy can they jump!!!
LOL!
Is that 927 km on just the one Rat Pack?
Seriously, what an advert for the RM. I do wonder at whoever maintains these websites.
And what that is meant to refer to.
I think they are the Merlin’s stats.
Well to be fair they are the exact stats RM Commandos can achieve while sitting on their backsides, in a Merlin helicopter.
The stats look like a helicopter but 167 kt is too fast for a Merlin, it can only make 150 kt. Stats for some helicopter on an artillery page is a random grouping, just like a Strike Brigade. Sorry, off topic RM.
I just checked and those stats are the published ones for the Merlin. I would assume 167kt is with low fuel and no cargo etc.
I used the Leonardo AW101.
https://www.leonardocompany.com/en/products/aw101
150 kt is at maximum gross weight, it might be faster lighter. Max altitude is given as 10,850 ft (in ground effect), a lot less than 15,000 ft in the 29 RA page. Range is 1500 km at MGW, more than 917 km for 29 RA.
“The Royal Marines are re-rolling into smaller, disaggregated teams as we move toward the Future Commando Force concept. These teams will be highly flexible, able to integrate with allied forces to amplify their effectiveness. As we move toward this continued training with our partner nations is developing cohesion in strategically important regions.” Translation: “We have conceded that we are no longer a deployable brigade and will now be sent in small packets to try to bring effect as support to other nations who have mass in their armed forces.” I absolutely understand the riginal concept that the Commandos were designed… Read more »
thought I was reading about World War Two before I looked at the photo..