Tis the Season To Be Alongside?

The Times reported yesterday that the Royal Navy has no major warships deployed outside of home waters for the first time in hundreds of years. This reflects a combination of factors including the unexpected return to the UK of a Type 45 from the Med, several deployments ending and the next planned batch of escorts sailing not due to occur until early in 2018.

There is a careful balancing act required in programming warship deployments, and historically the RN has tried to run its years on a ‘term’ concept, whereby there are three major periods of ‘block leave’ (usually Easter, Summer and Christmas) where operational tempo is significantly reduced, ships will usually be alongside and their crews on leave.

For ships deployed abroad, it is unusual to see them at sea over the Christmas period unless there is a very high priority operation going on. The move to 9 month deployments has seen a mandatory 4 week stand down period built into each programme, where the deployed ship will be alongside in a friendly port, with all the crew enjoying a two week period of leave. What this stand down (known as the MDSP) means is that even if a ship is deployed, there will be 4 weeks when she cannot go to sea.

The RN may be at a lower tempo of operations, but that does not mean it has abandoned all operations. This Christmas about 13 ships will be away from home, many in the Middle East and South Atlantic, deployed on live operations. It is highly unusual that a DD/FF isn’t among this group, but that does not mean the RN has somehow failed.

 

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

It is instead a reflection on the challenges facing RN planners, who have to balance the need to keep ships on station, with the need to keep crew available for the medium term. In this case, the RN appears to have decided not to sail ships early, or to programme them to be away at Christmas, instead deploying them in the New Year as required.

In practical terms this has very little impact on the UK ability to deliver force overseas. The Christmas period reflects a pause for many nations, who take a period of leave and as such, all operational patterns are reduced or suspended. It is not the case that while the RN escort fleet is at home, every ally of the UK will be at sea on 25 Dec ploughing through the ocean. Rather their ships too will be tied up and at a much lower state of readiness.

Christmas deployments are something which can be a major pressure point for a lot of people. Some people are ambivalent about the time of year, while others welcome being away. However many sailors naturally want to spend time with partners and family, and like everyone else have made plans in advance. To have a family Christmas ruined due to a short notice deployment to cover a gap to help commentators about the RN feel that the UK is somehow ‘relevant’ because there is a ship at sea, is an easy way to see people resign.

The RN is desperately short of manpower, particularly highly skilled and qualified senior rates in technical trades. This shortage is creating a vicious cycle where people are constantly drafted to be at sea to fill gaps, reducing time at home and increasing the likelihood that people will leave – this in turn means those who are left have to go to sea more often. There are an awful lot of RN personnel who have spent many Christmases away from home, and who want to see their families.

Balancing this need to keep ships ready for sea, but also ensuring that there are people to crew them is incredibly difficult. It perhaps explains why a Type 45 did not sail immediately before Christmas to go to the Gulf – an unexpected 4-6 month deployment is bad enough, but to do it right before Christmas would be the last straw for many.

It is worth remembering too that just because a ship is deployed does not mean that she is in the right place to actually have an effect. The Gulf is a remarkably big place – it can take two weeks to sail from Bahrain to Suez, so even if there was a crisis in the Red Sea, there is no guarantee that any deployed escort could be there faster than one sent from the UK.

Finally, being deployed on operations at Christmas does not mean everyone is conducting military operations. Humphrey recalls being deployed on TELIC where for about 72hrs over Christmas there was a complete operational pause, and many DVDs were watched and beers drunk by all. The force had effectively ceased operations for this period.

As we come to the end of the year, we can take stock on a very busy navy that has deployed across the world this year, achieving the tasks set of it by the Government and delivering a superb range of effects, often under very difficult circumstances. To have its escort fleet alongside in the UK at Christmas for the first time in hundreds of years is a reflection on how hard the RN works, and how unusual this is, particularly compared to other navies who are used to standing down now.

To the naysayers who assume the RN is doomed, perhaps focus on these positive points. Firstly, outside of the USN, the RN will have more ships, submarines, aircraft and people deployed away from home waters than any other navy in the world this Christmas (13) and they will be all over the world including the Gulf, South Atlantic, West Indies and the Med. Secondly, there are fully worked up escorts in the UK right now able to go to sea at very short notice in order to meet any credible task – the Fleet Ready Escort may be alongside, but it is still ready for sea, in the same way as the RAF Quick Reaction Alert force will be stood too as well. Finally, there are several escorts who will sail in the new year to deploy on task as required. The RN has not failed here, and in fact this pause is helpful as a reminder that the problem is not lack of ships, but lack of people. Pushing the fleet too hard doesn’t solve these problems but makes them worse.

2017 has been a long, hard and very busy year. Nothing in the global forward look suggests that 2018 will be easier. It is right and proper that our hard worked and very tired people get the time they need now with their families, because next year will be just as busy, just as operational and just as globally focused as ever for the Royal Navy.