An Inspired Choice - Thoughts on the Type 31 Names

 The First Sea Lord has announced the names of the Type 31 frigate class. These five ships, due to enter service from 2028, will be known as the ‘INSPIRATION’ class, with vessels called ACTIVE, BULLDOG, CAMPBELTOWN, FORMIDABLE and VENTURER.

Naming a warship is one of the most contentious decisions that will be taken in the life of a vessel. It is more than just a name, it is the personification of a hull, the creation of an identity and reflects the values, standards and ideals of a nation as a whole. It is a very big deal, as it describes so much more than just a name. There is a world of difference between saying ‘this one time on FFG232’ and ‘this one time on the MASSIVE’.

The Royal Navy has a long and glorious history replete with names that embody stories and legends aplenty. Names that inspire loyalty and affection – QUEEN ELIZABETH, PRINCE OF WALES, or names that indicate links to ancient dukedoms and counties – NORTHUMBERLAND or SOMERSET.

Others speak of vessels whose predecessors, over many centuries, gave faithful and valiant service – TRIUMPH or VANGUARD, while yet more are names that speak of ships fundamentally looking for a fight with whoever they can find – without doubt WARSPITE.

Not all names are a success – one must wonder about the thinking behind the DARK class of patrol boats, which included blunt names such as ‘DARK KILLER’, while one has to question whether the image of a sailor wearing the cap tally ‘GAY DRAGOON’ was advertising their ship, or encouraging prospective recruits to seek a career in the British Army instead…

There has already been some muttered discontent about the names of these vessels on the usual spots in social media. Disappointment that old favourite names didn’t return, or that the ships didn’t carry the names of the LEANDER class.

But there is a fine balance to be struck with naming between returning old favourites, sticking to tradition and also reflecting the names of the nation as a whole. There is always a strong emotional link to town and city names, which perhaps explains the searing of the Type 42 class into the national conscience after the loss of SHEFFIELD and COVENTRY. At the same time though, one has to ensure that the name inspires pride and unity in the crew who will take the vessel on operations, and possibly to war.

The names chosen for the INSPIRATION class are a nice balance and contrast to the CITY class Type 26 force. The names speak both of former classes (eg ACTIVE and the Type 21 force), while also of examples of great courage (CAMPBELTOWN).

Behind the name itself lies a deeper message, which is to remind both sailors and the wider population that the Royal Navy is a force which sits on the leading edge of change, and innovation, while also doing so on the foundation of a long history.  Each ships name has been expressly chosen to reflect links to previous naval history, and the many duties carried out by ships and submarines around the world.

It is a nice and powerful touch to ensure that the ships names carry the legacy not just of the surface fleet, but of all the tribes of the Royal Navy. The ships are intended to symbolise the links with the surface fleet, on its long patrols on far off duty stations in WW2 and the Cold War, often operating for lengthy periods of boredom and then fleeting moments of extreme terror.

The ships reflect the naval aviation link, reminding us of the FORMIDABLE, a key member of the ILLUSTRIOUS class of aircraft carriers which were central to the UK’s military success in WW2. The Fleet Air Arm will play an ever more vital role in the future of the RN, helping deliver crewed and uncrewed aircraft, and being pivotal to operational success. No major surface combatant will operate without some kind of FAA presence, and it is important to remember this carrier legacy.

The Royal Marines are recognised through CAMPBELTOWN (although perhaps they may have preferred DARK INVADER?), as a legacy of WW2. The Future Commando Force is a key part of the Integrated Review, and its future structure, providing a raiding force capable of operating around the world to provide support to commanders is a direct continuation of the Royal Marines heritage of operating from the sea to shore.

Finally VENTURER reflects the innovation in ASW, an increasingly critical part of Royal Navy operations, and the importance of the RN submarine force in the wider Service. Although silent and rarely seen, few major naval operations could be carried out without the presence of an RN submarine.

Brought together the class epitomises the core parts of the Royal Navy and its fighting arms and the values which underpin them. They are not only worthy names, but a good reminder that the story of the Royal Navy continues to be written, and the men and women who serve on these ships will be responsible for writing the next chapter of its history.

This announcement comes at a time of significant optimism for the future direction of the force itself. The First Sea Lord was able to speak proudly of no less than 8 different ship classes under construction this decade (ASTUTE, DREADNOUGHT, Type 26, Type 31, Type 32 FSS and presumably the CUTLASS class). This is a significant construction programme by any reasonable standard, and comes after a decade in which the Royal Navy added nearly 300,000 tonnes of shipping to its fleet in various different ship classes.

This is a force with a global outlook, with confirmation offered today that HMS TAMAR and SPEY will be permanently based in Singapore, and joined by the INSPIRATION class in due course, as well as ships permanently based in the West Indies, Med, Falklands and Gulf. The Royal Navy has a permanent fixed maritime presence in more locations than almost any other navy on the planet, other than the US Navy.

At the same time the technology continues to develop with new and advanced missiles, torpedoes, aircraft and drones all being lined up to enter service or coming on stream at the moment. Behind the hulls lies an increasing focus on the systems that give these ships their lethality and battle winning edge, and significant investment is going into these areas.

Finally this is a navy which is once more looking at operating a truly global carrier strike capability. The demonstrations off the coast of Scotland this week bringing together the RN’s carrier strike group and littoral strike groups to showcase British maritime power and allied maritime power were impressive. These ships will continue to sail globally over the next few months as a reminder of the UKs maritime reach and capability.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

There are questions and concerns though. Of interest was the comment that the Type 31 would serve for decades – on paper this is a welcome decision as it means that the pathway to 24 escorts over the next few years remains positive. But the genesis of theType 31 was as a ‘Tesco frigate’ piled high and sold cheap to buy more. The Parker shipbuilding review called for them to be used for a few years then sold on, and replaced by new builds on a constant build cycle to ensure that UK shipbuilding had steady workflow and orders.

It isn’t clear if this has been abandoned as a concept, and what this means longer term – will there be a Type 33 in due course to replace the Type 31 (if so, then internet admirals can rejoice as they argue over the weapons fit and why Type 33 needs more CIWS than Type 31), or will some other solution be found?

There is also arguably real concern about the material fragility of the force and the potential for disruption. HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH is returning to port today to restock food after the fire onboard RFA FORT VICTORIA (reported on social media) damaged the ships refrigators.

This is of concern as it means that many of the frozen food needed by ships for the CSG21 deployment was written off, and the ship is undergoing repairs. The FORT VICTORIA is perhaps the most crucial vessel of the entire Carrier Strike Group, as their floating bomb and food supermarket. The fact that she is currently out of action means that the CSG is now more reliant on shore supply for food and supplies than would have otherwise been the case.

The Integrated Review took the tough decision to pay off the two elderly FORT class stores ships that have been laid up in Birkenhead for several years. While they are both over 40 years old, and the RFA suffering from a lack of sufficient crew to keep them at sea, this means that the UK has no resilience left when it comes to carrier sustainment.

The new RFA ‘FSS’ vessels intended to act as replacements have been delayed time and time again and are now years (if not over a decade) overdue without a replacement being ordered, let alone steel cut. Although 3 new ships are planned, they are likely to be many years away from entering service – every moment of delay in not ordering these ships puts the credible generation of the carrier strike capability at risk, as without this support, the Royal Navy could not mount another Falklands style campaign.

Finally there remain significant concerns about the extent to which further cuts may happen in the Royal Navy. It is clear that the Defence budget does not have enough funding in it (even with the uplift in the Integrated Review) to fully cope with all the funding black holes identified by the National Audit Office. While the IR is a positive document to read, it is woefully short on details, and it remains unclear just how bad the MOD’s financial position is.

The question that remains unanswered is whether there will need to be yet more cuts to the Royal Navy in order to make the books balance, and if so, what cuts need to be made and where? There is no more money, and the books don’t balance, so logically more defence cut pain is coming – it remains to be seen where it will fall though.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

Overall though, this is a good time for the Royal Navy. It is now realising a vision that was first put forward in the 1990s, and which is helping keep it at the absolute front of all global navies.

To those who say ‘back in my day things were better’ the challenge is simple – yes there were more, albeit less capable, ships. But if 20 years ago you’d been told that the Royal Navy of 2021 would be permanently based in five different oceans, operating the most advanced fighter jets in the world, a rejuvenated tanker force, no less than three different frigate classes and two submarine classes under construction and deploying a strike carrier battlegroup on a global tour, while still supporting the wide range of military tasks asked of it and with an aspiration to grow even more, would you mock and say ‘that all sounds a bit shit’ or say ‘I really want to be a part of that Royal Navy’?

To Humphrey the answer is simple – he was wearing Royal Navy uniform 20 years ago (albeit as a reservist), and he is certain – if offered the choice back then about which Navy he’d want to serve in, he would absolutely choose to be a part of the Royal Navy of 2021, not 2001. This is a Royal Navy that is going to places, doing operational tasks and operating equipment  in a way that the RN of 2001 could only dream of.

The only question left to ask is, what does the Royal Navy of 2041 look like, and how much better could that be than the Royal Navy of 2021? On current trends, the future looks like an extremely exciting place to be.