Dress Like a Pirate - Submariners and their Sweaters...

The Sun has published a story today about a report into retention in the Submarine Service, focusing on a survey of Submarine personnel and what they feel is needed to improve morale and retention.

The headline focuses on the permitting people to wear their ‘submarine jumpers’ ashore, and the MOD has tried to deflect attention away entirely by claiming that the report was unauthorised, but the reality is that this is a good insight into the challenges facing retention in one of the most critical parts of the Royal Navy.

The context of the report is not entirely clear – it was, according to the FOI request written for a Rear Admiral Submarines (the effective ‘head’ of the Submarine Service), and was clearly formally written and staffed up through the chain. It is not clear if it is referring to one specific submarine, or the entire force as a whole though. Either way, although according to the MOD this was an “unofficial and unauthorised study conducted into life in the submarine service, and it would be inappropriate to comment further”, it does seem to be rather thorough and been seemingly distributed at a very high level within the Service about the challenges faced by Submariners..

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

The Submarine Service is going through immense change and investment, operating 10 boats right now (4 x Vanguard class SSBN, 3 x Astute and 3 x Trafalgar) while building a further four ASTUTEs and building or designing another four DREADNOUGHT class. This considerable investment is occurring at the same time as the force is moving in its entirety to Faslane.

The force has been worked incredibly hard for years and has also suffered from a range of challenges. The combination of maintaining an effective Continuous At Sea Deterrent (CASD), which has now been sustained for 50 years, on an increasingly elderly and fragile platform, plus the wider issues of keeping the now very elderly remaining TRAFALGAR class vessels at sea, and introducing the new ASTUTE class has been a challenge.

The challenge is also in trying to meet multiple very demanding operations – from ensuring there is always an SSBN on patrol, to providing SSNs to provide cover and be ready to fulfil the wider TLAM strike and other ‘sneaky beaky’ work that plays upon the unique capability and characteristics of the SSN force. The sheer effort required by so many people, military, civil service and contractor to ensure continued operational delivery of these platforms is astounding.

The Submarine Service has always been a difficult and challenging organisation to recruit for. Its requirements are for the special combination of people who can meet the robust physical and psychological challenges associated with submarine life – months away from home in a confined space, working a very odd set of shifts and dealing with all manner of challenging issues deep under the water.  

Many submariners find themselves immersed in a career and culture that is demanding, dangerous and totally alien to the rest of the Naval Service. The wearers of the ‘dolphins’ are rightly proud of their skills and capabilities and see themselves as an elite group within the RN. But this does come at a cost – the force is busy, and people are often finding themselves away from home for far longer than they would wish to be. Retention is a real challenge; particularly given the length of time it takes to train new personnel and get them qualified for submarine service.

Solving this challenge then is to look at the question of how to create conditions where people want to stay in and not leave at an inopportune moment. To that end the RN seems to have conducted at least one study into attitudes among submariners about what would encourage them to stay, and what are the ‘little things’ that would make a difference.

Reading the actual (albeit very heavily redacted) survey is interesting as it shows that the fundamental concerns about how to improve things are not particularly surprising. There is a call for more pay, although there is probably not a single part of the armed forces that wouldn’t ask for more money! There is also a lot of focus on trying to improve the basic quality of life issues – such as the challenge associated with trying to sustain watchkeeping while alongside, or better support for accommodation and travel issues.

There is a focus on trying to better improve the recruiting visibility by getting more people into schools and 6^th forms to drum up interest in a career within the service. There is also the intriguing observation that programmes such as ‘Navy School’ (a documentary about HMS RALEIGH) sat poorly with serving personnel, who felt the RN didn’t advertise itself brilliantly well in this regard. This is particularly interesting as Navy School may not have sat well with serving personnel but did reportedly cause a significant surge in interest by potential recruits, suggesting that if it was intended to aid recruitment, it succeeded even if it didn’t land well with those serving.

Recognition is perhaps the most critical area mentioned here. People in a uniformed service are rightly proud of their work and status, particularly if they are part of a select group. Much like the parachute wings or aviator wings distinguishes those who can fly, and those who choose to jump out of perfectly serviceable aircraft for a living from other people, the Dolphin symbol serves as a visible sign of being part of ‘the club’.

The problem for submariners is that, until recently, they relatively rarely got to wear Dolphins except in formal No1 uniform. This has been relaxed somewhat though, and they can now be seen on more unform types. The suggestion that the submariners jersey, a unique item of clothing only issued to the Submarine Service be allowed to be worn ashore is actually a really good idea. It sends two messages – firstly it reinforces the theme that submariners are special – they are permitted to wear something that looks distinctive that others cannot. Secondly, it helps send a wider message that the Service wants its submariners to look the part. It may not sound like much, but it sends a wider signal of support and acceptance that will go a long way.

The issue of medallic recognition too is of paramount importance.  The Submarine Service is the part of the RN that operates in what are essentially wartime conditions daily. Their missions are secret and often exceptionally high risk – they are required to do tasks that they cannot speak of, or claim credit for publicly, and they will be expected to do so under conditions of extreme danger. A read of ‘The Silent Deep’ by Lord Hennessey will reveal the Cold War history of the force and some of the missions it carried out and the level of risk taken to do so. It is unlikely that much has changed since the end of the Cold War.

The problem for submariners though is that because their missions are so secret and compartmented, it is not possible for there to be public recognition of their work. Some may argue that the wearing of the Dolphin distinguishes them anyway, but there is something about the possession of a medal that makes people feel valued. In a military where many still have several for UN operations or short tours in Iraq or Afghanistan, there is perhaps an understandable resentment that for submariners, who fight a silent war daily, there is no similar recognition.

There are occasional suggestions online of issuing of what has been referred to as the ‘MT1.2 medal’ – an oblique reference to the work reportedly undertaken to better understand what other people may be up to. But, the issuing of this is probably to challenging as it would require explanation of just what people were up to. The Australian work around is apparently to issue a 'Special Operations' clasp to the Australian Service Medal, as a means of recognising activity without it forming part of a specific campaign. 

The SSBN force has tried to handle recognition by the issuing of a ‘bomber pin’ which is worn on the uniform to indicate that someone has completed a certain number of patrols. While not a medal, it is a useful visible sign of the commitment undertaken by someone to spending many months and years on patrol, far from home and in total radio silence. It is a helpful way of ensuring people can show that even if they have no visible medals, they have taken part in a very active operational career. There may be a logic in applying a similar pin for the SSN force, to reflect the levels of commitment involved.

The reason this sort of visible recognition matters is because it sends a message that people feel valued and appreciated. A great deal is asked of submariners and they lead a life which is not understood by the public, or often the Naval Service, at large.

There is one particularly cheeky suggestion that the RN should reconsider the introduction to service of a diesel submarine fleet. Whilst this report is unlikely by itself to create the conditions to bring the SSK force back, or magic up the extra personnel, industrial capacity and funding to make it happen, it does serve as a good reminder that nuclear submarines are complex beasts.

The Submarine Service is the only part of the RN that has nuclear engineers, meaning that their ability to draw on others to solve their manpower problems is highly limited. Keeping sufficient nuclear engineers trained and available to keep the force at sea is a real challenge, particularly when the private sector can offer very generous packages to people to leave. It is a good reminder that the real challenge is not the technology but the people. If you are unable to retain them, then it is much harder to keep vessels at sea. This is of particular importance when it comes to sustaining sufficient trained crew for the SSBN force.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of all though for the Submarine Service is ensuring that people understand the vital work they do and give them the recognition they deserve. To that end it is good to see that the RN is putting a focus on the role of the SSBN force as it celebrates 50 years of CASD.

The effort required to do this is significant, and represents 50 years of missed birthdays, family occasions and Christmas by crews sailing a long way from home in total isolation. The human story of the SSBN force and the sacrifices made to ensure the deterrent is always available is compelling and rightly worth telling.

Likewise it is good to see the Submarine Service looking for other avenues to celebrate its people. This year sees four Submariners participate in the Tallisker Atlantic Challenge,  trying to row across the Atlantic and raise £100,000 for the RN&RM Charity (more information on HMS Oardacious and how you can support this very worthy cause can be found HERE). This sort of activity should be celebrated and lauded as a great example of the people spirit at the heart of the Submarine Service.

The sort of issues raised here may sound trivial to outside observers, but these are precisely the things that members of a uniformed disciplined service value. The ability to show off the slightly ‘pirate attitude’ by displaying a White Jersey, or the wearing of a medal to show that you have been to interesting waters. It sets you apart from the others – one of the great truths about uniformed service is that many people want to do anything but look uniform, they want tangible recognition that they are different and part of something special. Perhaps the time has come for the Submarine Service to be officially allowed to ‘be more pirate’?