Based on the snapshot provided, we can discern an overview of the Royal Navy fleet’s current availability and operational status.
A special word of gratitude goes to the diligent efforts of Open Source Intelligence analyst and renowned UK naval commentator Britsky (@TBrit90).
His detailed work and commitment to transparency in naval affairs have proven invaluable in compiling this report.
We deeply appreciate his permission to utilise the information for this article, providing our readers with an insightful glimpse into the state of the Royal Navy and RFA. His contributions to naval discourse continue to enhance public understanding and foster informed discussions.”
The status colours serve as a quick reference guide: green signifies active ships, yellow indicates ships undergoing short-term maintenance, and red denotes those in longer-term unavailability due to refits or extensive maintenance.
https://twitter.com/TBrit90/status/1743269869192163593
Both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are active and presumably at high readiness, both stationed at their home port in Portsmouth.
In the Albion class, we see a distinction between HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark. HMS Albion is marked as inactive, while HMS Bulwark is undergoing a refit, both at Devonport.
The Type 45 destroyers exhibit a mixed readiness state. HMS Daring is undergoing a refit in Portsmouth, along with HMS Dragon, while HMS Dauntless is in maintenance. HMS Diamond is deployed, which implies immediate operational capacity. HMS Defender is completing a refit, and HMS Duncan is undergoing maintenance for new anti-ship missile (ASM) systems.
The Type 23 frigates present a varied picture as well. HMS Argyll is in refit at Devonport, HMS Lancaster and HMS Iron Duke are active, and HMS Westminster is inactive. HMS Northumberland and HMS Richmond are active, with the former also in the UK, and HMS Somerset is under refit. HMS Sutherland, HMS Kent, and HMS Portland are all active. HMS St Albans, however, is going through refit at Devonport.
The River class patrol vessels show HMS Tyne and HMS Severn as active at their Portsmouth homeport. HMS Mersey is undergoing refit in Falmouth. HMS Forth is deployed to the Falklands, HMS Medway to Gibraltar, HMS Trent is in Barbados, HMS Tamar in Papeete, and HMS Spey in the Indian Ocean.
For the Hunt class, HMS Ledbury is in refit, while HMS Cattistock remains active. HMS Brocklesby is also undergoing refit, and HMS Middleton is deployed. In the Sandown class, HMS Penzance is active, and HMS Bangor is deployed.
The Survey vessels, HMS Scott, HMS Protector, and HMS Magpie, have specific operational roles with HMS Scott deployed for ocean survey work, HMS Protector as an icebreaker in the Antarctic, and HMS Magpie active for shore survey duties.
Echo and enterprise should be in the fleet and active
Why?
Because he goes on and on about them (no idea why though), if we could crew them we’d crew Argyle instead after all she is actually a warship.
To be a warship, all it has to do is be able to float, fight and manoeuvre the age of the ship is only relevant if theres a danger of it sinking in harbour Montrose and Monmouth could still do that when they retired it’s somewhat churlish to complain about the size of the fleet while you are retiring others. Yes b the type 23 is getting old and have been well worked but the ambition to build 8type 26 and g5 type 31 ships should be kept and retired as its replacement is entering the fleet.
They were retired for a reason, there is no point keeping dysfunctional ships that cant be deployed because theyre worn out.
Fight, Move, Float— there’s a blast from the long gone past! Nowadays they use a Command Aim to achieve the Operational Task. It focuses the Ship and crew on what the priorities are and what to work for to achieve the Aim. From spending a lot of time doing deep maintenance tasks on Montrose over here time out her I can say that she was lucky she got back to the UK at all. Her material state was really poor. She was carrying Major system faults and defects. Structural issues were becoming more evident all the time with inserts being… Read more »
FFM was our mantra float ,fight,move especially after Corporate FOST played every scenario from ships hit during Corporate and encorperated them into their BOST and COST exercises Portland was a blast all gone now
Because they can do anything that a river can and more than that they are cheaper to operate readily Available for deployment at short notice.
Because they are good ship that can do anything that a river can do. But for some odd reason the MOD are smitten by the rivers
The Survey portion of the Echos is being replaced by drones, therefore theyre no longer needed. Also the Rivers are a larger class of ships and i would bet cheaper to run, dont use podded propulsion for one thing.
I couldn’t agree more with you . Two great ships built by Appledore Shipyard along with Hms Scott yet she is alot older and active while Eco and Enterprise have been tide up and possibly being decommissioned?
Great idea – letsa continue fiddling while Rome Burns (or sinks more likely)
I was wondering if they could be repurposed as part of the Border Force / Coast guard or even as mother ships for UUVs?
The status and location of the surface fleet….Hmm…I’ll ask my local scrap merchant….looks like he will be taking on two type 23’s soon….
Nitpicking but HMS Defender is undergoing a very lengthy refit, not completing one 👍
However, on a positive note, isn’t Defender slated to be the first to receive the CAMM mod? 🤔
Correct,hopefully it doesn’t prove too costly im time to be completed in tandem with PIP.
And still only 24 CAMM? We’ll see when done what else could have be done. 😆
Looking at the NSM fit on HMS Somerset, it seems to me to be more substantial in size and likely weight than the previous Harpoon was – i wonder if the 24 Sea Ceptor upgrade was the maximum possible to keep within strict Topweight margins.
They could reuse the 2*32 CAMMs coming off these two decommissioned T32s.
Where the CAMMs are going is over 1-2 MK41 slots which if fully utilised would be way heavier than the 24 CAMM farm. Just a shame that the space is already there and down the sides and probably even room for 4*4 NSMs being the Asters instead of just 8, even if half were FFBNW. Doesn’t NSM also have land attack ability?
The RN CAMM Missile in its square cross section , dark green launch cannister is exactly the same as the Army missile in its dark green launch cannister. The Fit on a T23 is like it is for fitting the square cannisters into the legacy Sea Wolf round launch cannister holes. Below decks is a simple bottom rail to secure the cannister to the deck and an extension spool piece extending up through the deck to support the top of the cannister. The only reason for the spool piece is the SC cannister is longer than the VLSW cannister was.… Read more »
Vaguely remember reading, on either UKDJ or NL, that 2026 was the projected completion date for HMS Defender, principally due to being the first of class to receive the CAMM mod. That info could easily be OBE; additionally, a method of compressing schedule to some degree, may already exist. 🤔🤞
Yes,i wouldn’t expect her to be back in service before 2026 at the earliest 🤔.
Presumably HMS Defender, Diamond and Duncan will all have the CAMM mod inserted simultaneously w/ the PIP upgrade. Wonder whether HMS Daring, Dauntless and Dragon will need to await the next planned refit for CAMM, or whether it can be accomplished during a routine maintenance period? In general, believe the RN would be well advised to increase the tempo of completion of various, already scheduled mods and maintenance backlogs across the fleet, as feasible. This should merit the same attention as increasing the tempo of new naval construction. Would provide exactly the same counsel to the USN. 🤔
RN has increased the tempo for overhauls already and has for some time been doing spiral capability insertions for lots of kit. You could do the CAMM fit in Fleet time but it could take a couple of 4-6 week FTSP periods over a 12-18 month period to acheive.
Biggest capability upgrades over the years have been SCOT 5 fits which was new cabinets, domes, cables etc over a 6 week period and Artisan Radar replacing 996.
With pre fabrication of steel works, pipes, cables& good project planning its certainly doable
Only just started.
One interesting thing will be how quickly they can get through these refits..the world is getting very very hot very very quickly and one of the few things we can do quickly is push the refit schedule as quickly as possible.
Aye. If you’re going to accept removal of surface vessels ‘past economic repair’ in these strained times, then get the remainder ‘Fitted With’ fast & introduce the new designs faster.
My personal view is the world is now so deadly we have to assume it’s likely we will be fighting a major war against a peer within the next five years..in a worst case less likely possibly a world war against another power block..we should therefore be ensuring that any and all military capability that can be in place between now and 2030 is in place..the costs just need to be taken as the cost of not deterring china ( and russia , Iran etc ) will be a war that at best shatters the world ecconomy and kills a… Read more »
But then you find the latest article over rumours from Shappsville *
Times are dangerous, but overdue, historically. You know you’re heading for a showdown when societies become so self-centred they think being born give you peronal rights, not social responsibilities. Good luck finding any Safe Spaces’. The die cast, hang on. And try to discern a strategy out of weak excuse & political spin. Chancers more to the fore than Leaders.
* but that’s got time to clarify
Hopefully Daring and Dragon are not far away from completion of works -i think Daring has not been operational since 2017 which is shocking.
indeed, I think she was simply laid up between 2017 and 2020..essentially 3 years pissed away..refit did not start until 2020…this makes us look weak and uncommitted. Refit was meant to be finished a year ago.
HMS Medway is also undergoing (I hope) a far less extensive refit in Gib rather than being deployed there.
This is one report that must be getting easier to compile.
Not a particularly healthy state is it??
It’s very healthy. The rule of 3 used to be used, which would suggest that about 13 ships on that list of 40 would be available ie active. The actual number is 24 are active. Excellent news.
Much flattered by high availability of the less complex ships?
Lack of T45 availability is still an issue as these are critical to carrier deployment.
It’s not very healthly. Excluding Magpie, only 9 of the 39 are deployed. Of the other 15, two are carriers which can’t be deployed for operations at the same time and would both draw upon the services of 4 escorts of which we only have 5 available. The others are B1 Rivers and MCMVs. To have tasking duties for 24 ships we really should have 72 instead of 40. By stretching and over using the ships and crews we suffer ship shortages and crew retention issues. Tamar and Spey need to come home to support UK and Med escort work.… Read more »
Tim, I thought we were debating the health of the fleet, ie. its availability – not the number of units deployed – that is such a different thing. If we only have 9 ships deployed then might it be because only 9 need to be deployed at this moment? [Analogy – Of our 80,000 strong army, if only 2,000 or 3,000 are deployed on operations or training away from base at a given moment, that does not mean we have an unhealthy state of affairs in the army.] I understand that we would only deploy one carrier (rather than two)… Read more »
I would suggest some Pareto analysis might be helpful here, Sir.
20% of the fleet listed have some +/- 80% of the firepower. When half that 20% are laid up, it is a truly shocking statistic.
David, you are right to go on to look at the stats this way. Both of the carriers are available which is excellent. 6 out of 11 frigates available is an excellent figure, not a truly shocking statistic. Under the rule of 3, you might expect only 4 to be available. One out of six Type 45s available is miserable – under the rule of 3 you would expect there to be two available, not one. But let’s hope that Dauntless and Duncan’s maintenance period is likely to be short – or that the ships could be deployed in extremis… Read more »
It’s worrying how small our navy is as a sea going nation.
I think we should compare our navy with the French navy as both are the only Rank 2 bluewater navies in the world.
France trades and gets more of its goods overland than we do.
I was listening to a commentator on geopolitics mentioning that the UK would no longer be able to retake the Falklands after 2030, if the Argentinians invaded it again, due to our rapidly waning military capability. While I disagreed with his opinion, it’s concerning that people are starting to believe this kind of thing.
On the contrary, I would think By 2030 we should have a healthy load of F35s worked up to the carriers. SPEAR 3 should be in service as a light cruise missile T31s will be getting going, being useful as not needing ASW but loads of ASuW and AAW. FC/ASW will hopefully be in service, at least in ship-launched cruise missile form. The Argentinian navy is pitiful; they have one “destroyer” which is actually a frigate with no sonar, a few 1970s corvettes and two Gowind class OPVs. One of their inshore patrol vessels was built in 1939, which about… Read more »
Exactly. Although I’m not holding my breath on FC/ASW. The next few years are likely the low point of the Royal Navy for the first half of this century.
Here we go again🙄we actually have to lose them in the first place which is very unlikely given the state of the Argie military. Just even IF they did improve their capability I dare say even one Astute would really ruin their day!
Did this commentator go into details? It is much, much less likely that Argentina could successfully invade the Falklands nowadays. But if they did where would we come adrift? – We have two carriers that are currently available although they could not presently muster as many aircraft as we sent south in 1982 but those F-35s we did send would be more capable than the Harrier force. We would have the use of MPA with up to 4 Typhoons until the Argentinians seized it (assuming the unlikely premise of a successful Argie invasion). We could I am sure deploy at… Read more »
The typhoons would drop anything that was flying beyond visual range. Sky Sabre to mop up any leakers. They just need to keep the air corridor open for a time to allow RAF and Army reinforcements to fly in and land within 24 hrs. There is plenty of kit prepositioned down there.
Astutes and tomahawk could attack mainland targets such as airfields. Even Typhoon equipped with Storm shadow could do the same
Its a completely different beast down there now compared to 1982
Yep. Fully agree. FI is a much tougher nut for the Argies to crack (invade) and they have less kit and worse kit to attempt to do it.
[I was on the HQ BFFI staff in 1999/2000 – Tornados and Rapier then but the point is the same].
The Times is reporting that Albion and Bulwark are to be Mothballed.
We all know that one is coming, it’s just an obvious low hanging fruit cut to release personnel for the escort force.
Mothballed this year and sold off after some political spin within SDSR2025.
More cuts are coming.
“A Growing Navy”…… not seeing that anymore are we ? Disgraceful either way you look at it.
Sadly 13 frigates is growth from 10 (ish) frigates and RN do have 8 x T26 and 5 x T31 on order…..
The bigger worry is the poor T45 availability (still) and the non availability of the Albions.
There were 16 T23’s ordered and built, just 7 are available at present, all the talk about T26, T31 and T32 being built does not really hide the fact that we are in a Terrible current situation that was avoidable ….. Cutting Vessels and Crew numbers seems to be an uncontrollable downwards Spiral. There were two Tides at Portland together with the Stirling Castle last weekend, just sat there, not enough crew and SC has yet to go anywhere. If we lack the Crew for the ships we have now, just where are we heading when all these new ships… Read more »
I totally agree. I’ve often criticised the decision to get rid of the 3 T23 early for the stress it placed on the fleet. Sad fact is that T23 is EOL 2x design life is not realistic. As for crewing – it would be interesting to know where the critical shortages are. I suspect it is engineering trades? I’d be surprised if it was WO shortages as the ship could still sail but with reduced capabilities. Part of the issue is that UK as a whole has miserably failed to train crafts and skills or even value them. This is… Read more »
Looks like Albion and Bulwark are for the axe soon too……. what a mess…. It’s borderline Criminal what is happening, why can’t they see it ? we all can…..
To have 7 frigates available is good, especially as they are old. Whilst some do not use the rule of 3, it is a fair yardstick ie you can expect to have one out of 3 ships available for tasking. These are complex and elderly platforms, you can’t expect an exceptionally high availability.
To be honest supportive my deep concern is that we have missed the boat…( or ship in this case)..point of maximum risk is around 2027 into 2030..the first type 31s are being delivered in 2028..and will not be operational until 2029/30..the RN will in reality not have its escort fleet recapitalised until 2035…we need our maximum level of deterrent now..china will decide on war or not on what the wests capabilities are now and up to 2027…the new fleet should already be operational…china knowing that in 2035 the fleet will be at its strongest is acting to Increasing the risk… Read more »
China is actively building ships at the rate of something Ridiculous though…. can’t recall the numbers but It’s something like our entire 15 year plan every year, or something like that…. It’s not just for Defence either, they want a true Blue Water Navy and are actively searching the Planet for suitable partners/bases. All the while we are buying Staggering amounts of Chinese Crap which allows them to do this….. Sometimes i think I’m the only one who can see just what is going on…… 14,000,000,000 mouths have to be fed some how. 🤔
Exactly. The naval sphere was in dream land. There was no specific threat scape or threat timeline apart from a few Russian nuclear subs. What CSG was for nobody really knew. The main proponent was one Tony Blair who wanted a very big stick but wouldn’t fund it. Now the threat timeline is all too clear. QEC + F35 will be ready by then. T45 will be post PiP and have NSM. Maybe the first couple will have Sea Ceptor fitted. T26 won’t have arrived and as you say T31 will be in acceptance trials. I’m not sure how much… Read more »
You have to remember china is looking at a number of elements in a future war as well as stages…different parts of the RN will feed into that set of war or not calculations. first and foremost for china is the political element..they believe this is the most important domain of their doctrine of long war ( read Mao it’s any eye opener). So they will be looking at the UKs will to support the US in a long possible world war..the more will and unity of purpose we show the more likely we are to not fight a world… Read more »
I really *hope* you are wrong.
So do I mate..plan for the worst keep your fingers crossed for the best and then everything is a nice surprise…but to be honest I give it fifty fifty unless the west gets a serious spine in regards to deterrent..and a lot depends on how Taiwan votes.
Plus add in the two remaining Astutes that seem to taking forever. Could have built some complementary diesel subs in the mean time to bolster the sub fleet.
HMS Venturer was scheduled to be in the water last year, delivered in 2025 and operational by 2027. I can get, looking at the state of it, that may be a year late, but do you really think it will be three years late?
Hi Jon..they always said delivered to the RN not operational..first in class always takes a lot of work up…it’s around a year post commissioning that a first in class is operational. The latest is they will deliver ( commission ) for 2028..then the navy will spend a year learning to fight and run the ship, you don’t make a first in class operational strait away after commissioning..that leads to problems.
The RN do outstanding work ensuring their people and platforms are prepared, planned and deployed, despite the age and condition of some of the ships and the slow recruitment process getting their people through training. The RN should be applauded by those with even a slight bit of military knowledge, who understand the issues of logistics, forward planning and preparation for both long term future tasks and the “shit hits the fan” ASP deployments! As ever the RN should be number 1 for funding, closely followed by the RAF and then sadly the Army.
Chicken roosting here for not progressing GCS in 2010 and not dealing with PiP earlier in T45’s lifespan so T23 ended up being majorly overworked.
I’d be interested to know what the real underlying manpower issue is TBH?
The Recruitment drive is the big problem, It’s way too WOKE.
I’m less worried about the wokeness and more about allowing Capita or any external company reject recruits of the back of a medical checklist. A doctor’s certification following a private medical (refunded through the DWP) should be enough to get them to Sultan.
There’s a fair few chickens roosting mate which are coming back to bite the RNs arse, but not exactly the RNs fault but government and certain head sheds!
Agreed, It’s all let down by the Leaders….. They come and go at a prolific rate and don’t care one little bit, as long as they have a great pot of personal wealth, nothing seems to matter.
The interesting thing I see here is Duncan in maintenance for new ASMs..as the only new ASM is NSM that means the RN is simply able to fit these as part of maintenance cycles..so we should see pretty much every escort fitted with NSM in a near future timescale.
I wouldn’t hold your breath mate…..
Let a man hope frank…😂
😀
It is pretty easy to fit. Racks are a straightforward replacement for Harpoon. The electrical connections are simpler as there are less bizarre voltages. Networking is simpler as it is data cable connections. The controller cabinet is smaller and lower powered than Harpoon. It is integrated into BAE CMS on T23 so will be relatively easier on T45 – sensors are different. So I see the physical fit as being easy with some trials for #1. It is perfectly possible that NSM could be brought into service with the simple ability to be fired at a GPS point with other… Read more »
It may be that it gets used as soon as it’s in service..after all it would be better if we supported the US in the gulf of Aden, Red Sea and Arabian gulf with some form of navel strike capability and I’m assuming a navel strike missile is a bit cheaper that a sub launched tomahawk…it’s not so much about being perfect ( say carrier strike) but turning up and being counted is really important. It does show that having navel strike on all our escorts is really important from the point of view of keeping sea lanes open and… Read more »
If things ever get hot soonish we all hope there’s some JIT resupply closeby for all 11 sets! In the mean time our potential adversaries seem to already armed to the teeth.
Usual farcical situation with T45s.
In refit every 5mins.
What a waste of money they were
Not enough attention was paid to maintainability. Very difficult to replace engines, I hear.
I think a lot of commentators miss the mark tbh. Yes its appalling for “sovereign” actions. However We could only manage a CSG with Dutch and American assistance. Including aircraft. The “mass” can be made up by Nato navies for Northern AoOps. And Atlantic at a push. It is this Pacrim ambition the legacy of idiot Johnson thats unreal. Reality is a bitter pill to swallow. Accepting it, realising we are not what we once were? Well, lets leave it there. Same with the RAF and Army. Limited influence on any world stage.
Unfortunately John that’s not something we can do…there is now an anti western axis that is watching the US and key allies, assessing and deciding if they are going to war with us…we have to show capability and will and spend the cash..or completely walk away….the middle ground of not having the capability but being a part of ensuring western hegemony is a likely deadly place to to be.
CSGs often deploy with a number of allies’ escorts, even US CSGs. NATO needs to train together.
1 destroyer out of six deployable . This is a ridiculous situation . Shouldn’t it be 1 in 1 out when it comes to maintenance with such low numbers
Out of 6 destroyers only 1 is currently fit for active deployment . Hmmm