Global Navy, Global Presence, Global Britain in Action - OP FORTIS Summed Up

After 7 months, 49,000 miles, 44 nations interacted with, 18 different exercises and almost as many pints of milk as No10 hosted parties in lockdown later, the Carrier Strike Group is home.

Their return to Portsmouth, Plymouth and Portland (RFA) over the last few days, as well as RNAS Culdrose and Yeovilton and also RAF Marham marks the closing of one chapter, and the opening of a very long book.

It has been a high profile and extremely successful deployment, marking the return by the Royal Navy to conducting international task group deployments with fixed wing strike carriers on a global basis.

Over the next few days and weeks, there will be a chance to reflect more on what detailed lessons can be drawn from the CSG deployment, but some initial thoughts stand out.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

Firstly, OP FORTIS has shown that the Royal Navy belongs in that tiny clutch of navies, atop the very pinnacle of global naval power. Able to deploy, sustain and operate in conditions ranging from benign port visits, to conducting operational missions over Syria, and do so across the globe at a time and place of its choosing.

It did this not just as the sole effort of the fleet, but as one part of a globally deployed and focused force. At the same time as the CSG was in the Indian and Pacific Ocean, the Royal Navy was also at sea, on task in the Med, Gulf, South Atlantic, West Indies, North Atlantic, Arctic and other oceans – all conducting operations.

It was an extremely vivid demonstration of reach, in sending ships a long way and being able to use them in a variety of different operations, ranging from supporting UK interests in the Med to conducting sanctions busting operations in the Far East off North Korea. Along the way the exercise programme proved that there are a wide range of countries keen to work with the UK, engage with it and do more work on bilateral and multilateral security together.

The CSG is a very visible manifestation of the flexibility of maritime power in action, able to flex from a variety of tasks at different times, ramping up from defence engagement to defence watches as the circumstances required. To do this requires more than just ships in isolation, it requires good people, good equipment and good training all brought together in a shared purpose to do more than just the sum of their parts.

This was the culmination not just of two decades of vision, build and delivery, but also of many years of hard work bringing together many different disparate groups and training them up into an effective operational force. There are a lot of enabling organisations from waterfront offices, to stores depots to operational HQs who have played a part in making this happen. It really was a team effort.

We’ve seen first-hand that the Royal Navy is able to work well as a tool of international engagement. The ships have hosted formal talks, been the backdrop to diplomatic missions, supported industry demonstration days and helped deliver a positive image of modern Britain. This is classic Royal Navy business, but to see it done so elegantly and effortlessly (at least from the outside) reminds us of how hard it is and how much work goes into making it look so effortless.

At the same time we’ve seen these ships help thicken international defence engagement across the board – from building new links, reinforcing growing friendships (such as with Ukraine against their belligerent neighbours), bolstering older ones (such as with the Indian Navy or the Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force) and of course working with friends old and new in exercises like the Five Power Defence Agreement (FPDA), which marked its 50^th anniversary this year.

While there is perhaps a cynical view held by some that the deployment was a sustained PHOTEX interrupted by the occasional days flying programme, we have to look at what it was trying to do. It was the first big test of the carrier strike concept away from home, operating for a sustained period far from traditional baseports and supply chains, and demonstrating that the UK could bring defence assets to bear across the globe.

The message from this first CSG is that the UK can, and that it has opened doors to future operations too. COVID may have made many of the softer engagement more challenging, but as restrictions lift, and the world reopens again, future CSG’s will be able to cash in credit gained during this one as a means of thickening links even further.

At the same time this deployment helped prove the RN’s resilience and supply chain works in a way that few other navies can do. To be able to draw on three distinct aspects – firstly the overseas network of UK bases, from the naval base at Gibraltar (which last week had no fewer than 5 major RN/RFA vessels alongside), to the RN facilities in Diego Garcia and Singapore, this deployment has reminded us that the RN enjoys an extremely capable global logistics footprint.

Secondly, we’ve been reminded that the RFA has undergone a renaissance with the delivery of the TIDE class tankers, which are now well established at the heart of the RFA force. Without the magnificent MOD Civil Servants in the RFA who crew these ships, the CSG would have had a very different experience. Of course concerns remain of the fragility of the stores ship situation, with FORT VICTORIA experiencing a fire early in, which highlights the increasingly desperate need to get the FSS competition underway and new ships in service ASAP.

Image by Ministry of Defence; © Crown copyright

Finally we’ve seen in action the strength of our international partnerships and friendships. This has ranged from support in naval bases around the world, including Guam and Japan, where RN and RFA vessels were able to spend time alongside, to Australia which hosted the visit of HMS ASTUTE. Central to this was the RAF ability to operate an air bridge to help provide strategic airlift to keep mail, spare parts and people on the go – the Royal Navy stays at sea globally in no small part because the RAF air transport force enables this to happen – this must never be forgotten.

When issues have happened, the UK has been able to draw on the support of our allies in different ways. When Admiral Radakin, in his outstanding RUSI speech this week noted that one of the UK’s core strengths is that it can draw on friendships and partnerships that our foes cannot, he could not have done better than refer to OP FORTIS.

From relying on an impromptu but fixable maintenance period in Italy for HMS DIAMOND, to enjoying support from partner nations in recovering the sunken RAF F35 (proof to some ‘in 1966 we wuz robbed’ conspiracy theorists that not content with taking over the Fleet Air Arm, the RAF now has its sights on the RN Submarine Service too), the UK has been able to use support from friends and allies to further its own goals.

Speaking of the RAF, and to avoid any suggestion or doubt – this deployment summed up in one visible way the ongoing strength and depth of the links between the RAF and the Royal Navy. This has been going on for so long that it had, to the author at least, seemed obvious, but to some, apparently this blog is a biased ‘pro RN and anti RAF article’.

To avoid any doubt – this deployment could not have happened without the RAF. The strength and links between the FAA and RAF on the F35 force and 617 squadron are exceptional and proof of the close operational links that exist. Purple jointery runs through this trip, from the RAF embarking as a matter of routine, to working with the Army on exercise in Oman. Please do not think or assume that this is somehow an RN only event – it is, and like every future CSG always will be, a joint affair. 

This can be no better demonstrated than by the fact that throughout the deployment the US Marine Corps were embarked on HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH, while the US and Netherlands Navies provided vessels throughout the whole deployment as an integrated part of the group. This is proof of the fact that the UK not only wants to work with international partners, but that it can actually persuade international partners to turn up, contribute and give their assets to work in support of UK naval goals – proof of the high regard others hold the RN and its capabilities in.

More widely the deployment helped showcase a range of exciting new capabilities and test them in stretching conditions for the first time. This has been a chance to put much of the RN’s exciting and capable new equipment into service and show what it can do for real, helping prove it as being fit for purpose and more than just a concept.

Perhaps the most important lesson we have been reminded of in all of this is that the single most important aspect in all of this deployment is people. Once again the incredible women and men of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force have shown they have every inch the skills, tenacity and drive that previous generations have had, and that they are fit to act as standard bearers for their Service.

This has not been an easy deployment, disrupted by COVID, huge amounts of work up training, very long hours and often frustrations born from lack of shore time in exotic locations due to COVID, the crews have demonstrated a stoicism and willingness to put up with this, and make the best of it. They’ve shown they can step up when required, swiftly moving in a short space from sailing peacefully, to facing off against potential aggression, and conducting operations in an operational environment for real, and do so time and again.

Without people, OP FORTIS would have been nothing.

We must not think of this as a one off, this is not a once in a lifetime operation, but something that is now the routine and incredibly exciting future for the Royal Navy. Tonight the ships rest, but some remain at very high readiness to go to sea again in a hurry if called upon, and others will be working up for the next cycle of deployments.

The CSG is now the beating heart, and bright future of what the RN does, but by no means the only thing. Carrier Strike is here to stay at the centre of a Royal Navy which operates around the world every day of the year. With ships permanently based in five different oceans and bases, people and assets globally always deployed, this is a navy which does the business day in, day out.

OP FORTIS proved that Global Britain is more than just a slogan, it’s an operational statement of fact.