Do the Public Need to Know?

The Sun has reported that the Royal Navy was forced in a state of desperation to send a ‘plastic’ warship to escort a small Russian force in the Channel last August. This was not revealed in a press release by the MOD, leading to speculation that the RN had something to hide, namely embarrassment that no larger vessels were able to escort it.

The debate on social media quickly became one as to whether the RN was right not to flag this up, or if it has a duty to notify all escort operations as a matter of course, and let the media decide as to whether the release is newsworthy or not.

To Humphrey this story captures the essence of the difficult relationship that the RN and MOD has with the media. To his mind there are three equally plausible reasons for the escort mission not being announced, although he has no direct knowledge as to why this was actually the case.

The first point to note is that the Hunt class MCMV is not merely a plastic warship. It is the worlds largest Glass Reinforced Plastic hull, and a world beating example of British engineering to meet the challenge of dealing with mines. It is very much a capable platform able to make a strategic difference (where in the Gulf the presence of 2 x Hunt MCMV is a key part of the UK commitment to the region and taken very seriously by the US and allies due to their inherent capability). The Hunt class have been used for years as very capable patrol vessels – several formed part of the Northern Ireland squadron, and they have often done fishery protection roles too. An escort mission is neither novel or a sign of sending an inferior platform.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

Russian transits of the Channel are entirely routine, and are always escorted.  They have occurred thousands of times without the slightest incident over many decades and with scant media interest. While the RN will usually use what is called the ‘Fleet Ready Escort’ (FRE) to do this job, primarily because it is the highest readiness ship in UK waters for tasking, it is not always this platform, and just about any ship can, or does, do the role if required. There is no risk, no confrontation, merely the polite steaming in company to ensure a safe and professional transit through UK waters.  

These incidents have not normally attracted press releases or interest outside of specialist circles unless there is a very interesting story or photo (e.g. the Kuznetzov transit) or a wider narrative is being handled – for example the sailing of HMS ST ALBANS on Christmas Eve, presumably to counter the media perception that no RN ships were at sea.

So what is all the fuss about exactly? It is likely that one of the following occurred to explain why the RN did not announce this publicly at the time:

Cock Up

August is summer leave season and people are away on holiday. It is possible that key personnel who would have the knowledge and experience to call for a press release were away, and by the time they were back the window of opportunity had passed. Never rule out the extremely simple potential for something to not happen because someone is on holiday.

Equally, it could have been the case that during the transit, no particularly good or newsworthy images were taken, which in turn would have meant no story that the media would have taken and used. Never under estimate the value of a good image to cover a story.

Finally it could be as simple as someone forgetting to write it up – many press releases begin life onboard ship with the PR Officer (usually a tertiary duty) drafting something to be staffed up through the fleet for approval. Perhaps somewhere in the chain, someone never got around to doing it or it was lost in a sea of other duties.

The point is many factors could have happened to mean that no one actually got around to drafting the press release in time – not conspiracy, but cock up.

Conspiracy

There may have been good reasons not to announce the deployment – it is possible that the FRE was activated on other more discrete tasks, and the RN did not wish to publicly draw attention to this fact. Never underestimate the value of social media as a means of intelligence collection. The use of this vessel may have been an unintended third or fourth order consequence of an entirely different operation.

Alternatively the ship could simply have been the closest RN vessel to hand, and her programme meant that she was able to escort quite happily without the need to send another ship to sea. During a leave period, fewer ships are available because crews are on holiday. Recalling people off leave to go to sea unnecessarily when another ship was available would be a major retention problem (causing more people to leave) and without good reason.

Finally it could have been the case that somewhere in the RN media chain, a publicity fearing system chose not to put a press release out for fear that someone would spot that a smaller ship was escorting a small submarine and decide that reputationally this was damaging to the RN. This is not beyond the realms of possibility, but equally it does seem unlikely.

Need to Know

The comparison was made between the RN and RAF approach to notifying of activations. The RAF quickly reports scrambling of QRA Typhoons, partly because if the aircraft make a sonic bang, then a lot of people know and worry about an ‘explosion’ and also because real time data makes them trackable. They are confirming what is already in the public domain.

The maritime domain is less forward leaning, and while it does occasionally put press releases out, is often tight lipped about what ships do when they sail into deep waters. To the RN, this sort of job is part of the day job, a task done among other tasks and perhaps in their eyes not worthy of notice or praise. In many ways the RN is publicity shy because it feels much of what it does that to the public is extraordinairy is to them just routine.

There is also the issue that every organisation needs secrets and sometimes people do not need to know. Much like journalism would fail if it reporters had to reveal the identity of their sources, or publicly announce every undercover investigation then underway, there are times that the MOD does activity that does not need to be in the public eye.

It is right and proper that as much as can be reported is announced, but this isn’t always possible. Expecting the MOD to announce every activation or operation merely plays into the hands of others who may use it for nefarious means, and sets unrealistic expectations of openness. It is not possible to do this sometimes for legal or security reasons or when the announcement may risk RN sailors personal safety.

Striking this balance means not everything will be announced as a press release, which is causing frustration with reporters who feel that the media should have the right to determine what is news, and what is not news. This friction is inevitable, with the challenge between a free and open press rightly seeking to expose issues, and a military required to sometimes not talk about its work. To Humphrey this incident perhaps is summed up by the view that the media is frustrated that the MOD has prevented them from deeming a non newsworthy press release non newsworthy.

 The frustration here is that the RN is being pilloried in the press for ‘failing’ despite nothing of the sort happening. A routine operation, conducted thousands of times without incident, coverage or concern was carried out without incident. The UK was not at risk, nor was it at any risk during the operation. Yet to the eyes of the taxpayer, they will believe that the RN has failed, that there is conspiracy and something to hide and that the MOD is trying to cover up its embarrassment, not trying to do a good job without incident or fanfare.