Sailing On - the retention of the Batch One River Class

The Ministry of Defence has announced that the Royal Navy will retain three RIVER class patrol vessels in service for at least another two years. Originally due to be paid off and replaced by five larger Batch 2 vessels, the RN will, on paper at least be getting slightly larger. This is theoretically good news, but there are some questions that need to be clarified before it can be wholeheartedly welcomed.

The announcement makes clear (HERE) that the three vessels will be retained in service until at least 2020, and that they will be forward based in their namesake rivers to support operations (Cardiff, Liverpool and Newcastle respectively).

The ships are intended to be available for sea duties for 320 days per year each and are operated using a rotating watch system that permits some of the crew to be ashore on leave or training. This significantly increases their availability, and capability.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

Intended for both fishery protection and general offshore patrol duties in the thankless, not hugely glamorous but utterly vital maritime constabulary role, the force is currently contracted to provide DEFRA with 200 days of fishery patrol per year. Under the new model, it will expand to a total of 600 days fishery protection duties per year. This is probably a recognition that the RN is benefitting from the additional funding that has been secured for Brexit contingency planning, allowing them to keep all three at sea during the transition period.

The announcement suggests that they will be retained until at least 2020, but also notes that all the Batch 2’s will be in service by then. The first key question is whether the RN is actually growing in size, or merely running on existing vessels while their replacements are built. It is reasonable to say that the Batch 2 have had some challenges (as covered by the UK Defence Journal in June - HERE and more recently in October by the Save the Royal Navy site - HERE).

Given the projected delays to entry into service by the Batch 2’s, it is perhaps better to see this short term running on as being about maintaining existing capability than expanding the Navy. While it is excellent news that the RN is keeping the Batch 1’s in service, it will take some time before the benefits of having additional ships becomes noticed and the force becomes genuinely larger.

For the RN, the decision to run them on means making some quite difficult choices. There is unlikely to long term be extra funding to keep the ships in service. While it is currently the beneficiary of the Brexit preparation spending, this will dry up. At this stage the RN will need to decide where the money comes from to keep them in service.  

The key decision points that matter to the future of the ships are likely to be the outcome of the current Defence Review and the Spending Review early in 2019. This will determine whether the MOD makes the funding available to run the ships on post 2020 and into the next Strategic Defence Review (theoretically due in 2020). Given no new money is likely to be found in the spending review, something will need to be cut in order to find funding to run the vessels on in the medium term.

The question is what is the RN prepared to sacrifice to keep the OPV’s in service? The increasing age and fragility of the Type 23 force means that a deleted hull may save considerably in running costs (a Type 23 costs about £11m a year to run compared to £3.5m for an OPV). Is it better to scrap an old Type 23 needing extensive refits and repairs to keep three OPVs available in the maritime constabulary role?

The next question is where do the crew come from for these ships? As has been alluded to in the past, the biggest challenge facing the Royal Navy today is a lack of suitably trained and qualified people in many branches – gapping is a real concern. For several years now the RN has kept two escorts alongside in effective reserve, albeit in commission, due to the lack of crew to keep them at sea.

Prior manning plans will have been based on scrapping the Batch 1s and crewing the Batch 2’s – now the RN is going to have to find an additional three ships companies worth of crew to send the vessels to sea. On paper this may sound easy and just case of a putting about 90 bodies out to sea at any one time. This is likely to cause a bit of a headache as you need to find people at the right rate/rank and experience and training to fill each billet.  While it can be done, it will place pressure on the RN to find people and get them to sea.

One suggestion is that the RNR may play a greater role in helping man these ships. This on theory is a great idea, making better use of this force. The fact that all three ships will be based in cities with a large RNR unit (and in at least two cases on the waterfront) will be a great way to build the links between the ships and the Reserve.

The challenge though is the longer term one of restructuring the reserve to actually provide the right crews on an enduring basis to keep the ships at sea. While people may want to go to sea on a weekend, when they have to balance off busy and demanding day jobs with their spare time career, they may find themselves unable to commit as regularly as the RN wants.

Its one thing to generate an OPV on a Saturday morning with an RNR contingent onboard, but another to get one to sea at 0200 on a wet Tuesday.  That’s not to do down the RNR in any way, but merely recognising that it can only demand so much from its people in their spare time. The problem is going to be balancing the expectations of the Regular Service about keeping ships at sea, with the reality of running a part time volunteer force.

One solution may be to rely on mobilisation or FTRS billets, and essentially crew the ship in the way the Royal Canadian Navy manages to keep some of its own OPV force at sea. This could be a good compromise to get bodies and ensure people are available, but it will present a bit of a training challenge. The RNR hasn’t had to generate a ships company in over 25 years, and doesn’t possess the right trained people or skills in a coherent way to do it now.

If the long term plan is to retain these ships and crew them primarily with Reservists then it is potentially really good news and a great visible retention tool for the RNR. Ever since the loss of the old RIVER class MCMVs, it has struggled with its ‘offer’ to potential recruits – which seemed to be ‘join the RNR and never go to sea’. Now offering credible time at sea doing something tangible, not just as a passenger, will be a really good incentive.

The challenge is going to be to ensure people are properly trained and safe to be embarked at sea as a member of the ships company. Preventing skills fade, ensuring people are able to do their jobs properly and deliver in the challenging maritime constabulary role won’t be easy. The RN is going to have to invest heavily in the RNR and its culture to ensure it is given the training, access and support needed to make this happen – because if it doesn’t, the risks are considerable. This is going to require significant cultural change to deliver and will require major changes to how the RNR does business. This is not something that can happen overnight, and realistically is going to need many years to deliver. Is the long term vision there to provide the support needed to make this happen?

Overall this is potentially extremely good news though. In the short term it retains OPVs in UK waters. In the medium term it ensures that, if retained, enough spare hulls are available to look to wider deployments (for instance a return to the West Indies). This is crucial to the wider RN model as it moves away from a Navy based on individual deployments by escorts, to one  that deploys as part of a Carrier Strike Group.

Having additional OPVs available to fill the tasks like the West Indies guardship role will free up escorts to be generated as part of the CSG. This in turn reinforces the message that the future RN is going to be about delivering effect from the Carrier, not about sending an expensive destroyer to sit in the West Indies or South Atlantic for months at a time where its capability utterly overmatches anything in the region.

In a small way this move helps signal the continued transformation of the RN into a navy that, much like the French, is built around a two-tier force. The long-term future model of Type 31e and plenty of RIVER class OPV’s in service bodes well for ensuring a low level ‘flag flying’ global presence, coupled with the ‘big stick’ of the Carrier and Amphibious groups that will be held ready to intervene as required.

There are many questions to be answered, but hopefully funding and people will be found to keep these ships serving for many years to come. At the tail end of what, so far, has been a very good year for the Royal Navy, this is yet more good news and a sign of the positive future to come.