TheTeam Works- Thoughts on the Nave Andromeda Incident

 

On Sunday 25 Nov, the Royal Navy and RAF have successfully carried out a mission to board and seize individuals posing a threat onboard the tanker Nave Andromeda. This mission carried out in just 9 minutes successfully ended a standoff onboard the ship, which had several stowaways threaten to injure the crew.

In the aftermath of the incident there were suggestions in UK media that this was a sign that the Royal Navy needed to bolster its forces capable of protecting home waters, and that more ships were needed to keep the nation safe.

This is one perspective, but the other one is that actually this incident demonstrated that the existing measures we have in place seemed to work extremely well, and that the answer is not necessarily ‘more grey hulls’.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

The Royal Navy is but one part of the complex web of maritime assets responsible for protecting the UK’s offshore tapestry. A range of organisations and groups are responsible for playing different parts in securing our waters.

For example, the Welsh and Scottish Governments both operate Fishery Protection Vessel forces, with the Welsh Marine and Fisheries division having three patrol vessels, and the Scottish Government operating a further three (some displacing over 2000 tonnes). This is in addition to a local network around English waters of various patrol vessels to monitor fishery issues.

In addition there is a number of police launches, with at least a dozen Police forces having marine sections around the UK – the most prolific of which is the MOD Police, which has a large number of fast patrol craft, able to operate near and protect naval bases.

There is also a significant Border force presence with a number of cutters and assorted patrol vessels in use around the UK intended to carry out both border enforcement and coastguard roles. These ships are again surprisingly large – the 42m border cutter displacing some 250 tonnes and able to deploy RIBs.

 The point is that the security of UK waters is not exclusively a Royal Navy matter, and its important to take this in context. The RN RIVER class provide a vital service, but they are but one part of a much larger picture.

Arguably the key message from the incident is less about the need for ships, but more about the efficiency of the processes and procedures in place. It is easy to assume that when a ship is hijacked that the Royal Navy should come steaming into the recue and storm the ship. But this ignores the fact that it’s a criminal matter and should in the first instance be solved through the rule of law, and where possible law enforcement organisations.

A key message is that when the decision to hand over to the military is taken, it has to be done in an organised and controlled manner and only as a last resort. This requires a lot of investment in training and close co-ordination to ensure that the police and armed forces can work together, and hand over comfortably. Although both groups are uniformed services, they have very different approaches and ways of conducting operations, so this isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Effective civ-mil co-operation is not glamorous but it is a vital part of ensuring security – to that end, it is a testament to the effectiveness of planners that they could arrange a smooth handover so easily.

Another key message is the importance of maintaining high readiness specialist forces and training for the most challenging situations. While it is easy to be impressed at the speed of the operation, what is perhaps more impressive is the way that the operation was planned and executed.

To get to the point where within a few hours of the incident being declared on a Sunday, a complex operation involving air, land and sea assets could be successfully executed was extremely impressive.

These are not easy operations to carry out, they require a lot of training and practise, and very effective co-ordination between the participants. To be able to carry out the operation at such short notice, and bring multiple moving parts together is a real testament to the staff officers involved, and their ability to plan and execute the operation.

Another key point to note is the importance of data and maintaining an effective shared maritime picture. One of the quiet changes in the background over the last few years has been the move by the UK to setting up a much more integrated approach to maritime surveillance of home waters, bringing agencies together into the same space and sharing information much more effectively.

This sounds a minor thing, but if you have all the right people in the same room, working to a common picture of the situation and all of whom understand what everyone is doing, this not only improves the response, and makes things much more efficient. You don’t necessarily need 3 grey hulls from different agencies in the same area of water space for all crises, and if you can share information, assets and data, then perhaps only one is required. The move to a better joint picture is to be welcomed – by making things more efficient, we improve the security of the UK.

Although some people have called for more naval hulls to protect UK waters, this isn’t necessarily the right answer. There have been quite a few incidents over the last 10-15 years where the armed forces have provided a Maritime Counter Terrorism response. On each occasion they were able to respond quickly and effectively, and resolve the situation.

The clear message to would be hijackers in UK waters is that if you are foolish enough to engage in illegal activity, then you can expect to receive a very quick and robust response. It doesn’t really matter whether you have 5, 10 or 100 patrol ships to do this – what matters is the perception that the UK is a hard target to carry out maritime crime. If you can ensure the message is clearly understood, then the chances are the risks are greatly reduced.

There is without doubt a need for Royal Navy warships to play a part in UK coastal security, providing a reassuring presence and if needs be a fast response. There are always ships at sea around the UK able to respond, supported by a variety of other assets.

But, there is also a delicate balancing act to be struck – it is naturally easy to want the RN to keep the country safe, but it is important to ensure that the rule of law is protected. The Armed Forces can, and do, provide a last resort to support when needed. But they are just one part of a much bigger picture.

We should be wary of demanding that tasks which for centuries have been done by the Police and customs be passed to the RN to ‘keep us safe’. Not only is the RN not funded for this sort of mission, but there are also complex legal implications of having armed forces carry out duties in the messy grey zone of border security. Far better to see the Royal Navy as a provider of last resort – supporting the civil power when absolutely necessary or appropriate, but not there at the opening.

Overall, this operation is a good news story for the Royal Navy, and also a good affirmation of the manner in which it can support counter terrorism work. It helps show the value of investment in a range of assets like Lync Wildcat, the Royal Marines and also the presence of escorts able to step up at short notice like HMS RICHMOND. For the RAF, its also a good reminder of the significant value and flexibility of the Chinook force.

Most importantly it’s a reminder of the quality of the people who make it possible and their training. Without being able to work together as an effective team, this operation would not have been possible. The key message to take from this is a simple one – ‘The Team Works’.