Delivering For the Nation - Thoughts on the Royal Navy 'Surge' Deployments

Late November and early December is a time of year in the UK when most peoples thoughts turn towards having a break. The prospect of multiple public holidays and the pleasing period known as ‘tweenmass’ when time loses all meaning and a glass of Sherry and a mince pie is scientifically acknowledged to be an acceptable breakfast option is an exciting one. The majority of people will be looking forward to a much deserved run down through parties and time with families and friends. For the Royal Navy though, the next few weeks promises to be anything but a quiet period following announcements this week that two separate but equally important short notice deployments are occurring.

HMS DIAMOND - UK MOD © Crown copyright 2022

The first is the announcement that six RN vessels will be deploying to a sea area from the Channel to the Baltic to support deterrence patrols around areas of interest, to deter potential action on cables and patrol areas of interest to NATO allies. This deployment will see two Type 23 Frigates (HMS RICHMOND and SOMERSET) as well as two OPVS (SEVERN and TYNE), as well as the MCMVs CATTISTOCK and PENZANCE sail throughout the region, as well as the RFA MOUNTS BAY. This is in response to wider NATO planning around ensuring that little green frogmen don’t stray to places where they are not welcome.

This is a significant deployment for several reasons. Firstly, it reaffirms the importance of NATO at the heart of British defence policy and planning in a way that has been absent for many decades. To see a substantial part of the RN deployed and at sea in support of NATO missions is powerful testament to how much the world has changed in recent years  and how critical the protection of subsea cables is to both UK and wider NATO interests.  

It is also important as a reminder of how much the Baltic is now central to British defence planning. There have been multiple RN visits to the region in recent months, including exercises with HMS ALBION and QUEEN ELIZABETH, as well as visits by smaller forces such as P2000s. There is a significant and near constant presence of British warships to support both the smaller NATO states like the Baltic Republics, and also work with new allies like Finland and Sweden. When merged with the wider deployments of British Army forces in the Baltic republics to deter attack, and the regular use of RAF aircraft to provide QRA in the area, it is notable just how much British military effort is now focused on this space.

More practically it is a useful reminder of the flexibility of maritime power, enabling a rapid deployment of capabilities at short notice to support operations in a way that offers a range of opportunities to policy makers and Ministers. These ships will likely be deployed in the region for some time to come as a visible symbol of British commitment to NATO. This is a message that will be noticed in Moscow too…

Looking further afield, the destroyer HMS DIAMOND is to be deployed through the Suez Canal and into the Southern Red Sea and potentially the wider Gulf to provide support to merchant vessels that may be at risk from attack from Iranian backed Houthi militants in Yemen. This deployment, coming on the back of a busy year for DIAMOND when she has been deployed as part of the Carrier Strike Group deployment (effectively acting as the ‘air defender for HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH). Following a short pause in Portsmouth, she has now deployed again, and judging from her Twitter feed, has already left Gibraltar and is ‘somewhere in the Med’.

This is an extremely important deployment in what is an increasingly volatile region. The US Navy has the USS EISENHOWER carrier battle group in the area conducting operations to support shipping against the backdrop of Houthi militants trying to seize ships (with some success) and the firing of ballistic missiles in the general vicinity of the US Navy – already this group has shot down multiple missiles either being fired in their direction, or towards Israel. This is, by any reasonable definition, a ‘hot zone’.  

It is also a waterway that is critical for the British economy, with the vast bulk of merchant ships carrying gas, oil and goods bound for British ports through this region. Each ship is vulnerable and the successful hijacking or sinking of a major cargo ship would have repercussions that could see insurance rates soaring (impacting on the price of goods at home to cover these costs) or rerouting vessels via South Africa, slowing the supply chain down and again increasing costs. The British (and wider Western) economy depends on the timely arrival of these ships, so they need to be protected against credible threats.

HMS DIAMOND is well placed to carry this role out, carrying advanced missiles capable of intercepting and destroying incoming fire, and using her Lynx wildcat to conduct ISTAR work to identify problems well ahead of time. This is not the first time a Type 45 has done work in this high threat area, with the crew of HMS DARING rightfully awarded the GSM ‘Gulf of Aden’ clasp some years ago. It was a challenging situation  then and this is unlikely to have changed much in the intervening time. The reality is that the crews will need to be ready to repeatedly sail within firing range of shore based missiles that have been fired at Western ships, escorting other vessels and doing their best to keep them safe. This is difficult and demanding work, requiring a high level of coordination and professionalism to succeed in – it is not by any stretch of the imagination a ‘jolly’.

What both of these separate deployments tell us is that the Royal Navy is a very busy and operational force right now. Consider that as of today (01 Dec) the RN has deployments underway in the Baltic, Eastern Med and Southern Red Sea/Gulf. It has a carrier returning from a 3 month long incredibly successful deployment to trial F35 in the US, while there is a Type 45 in the West Indies (HMS DAUNTLESS) acting as Guardship. There are five Batch 2 RIVER class deployed across the South Atlantic, Indo Pacific and Gibraltar, while HMS MEDWAY is en route back to the West Indies. In the Gulf there is a frigate (HMS LANCASTER) as well as MCMVs and an RFA.  Right now no less than 6 escorts are operationally or forward deployed (roughly one third of the escort fleet), including no less than 3 Type 45 destroyers (50% of the force). The MCMV force is similarly hard worked, with nearly 50% of its ships deployed too. Finally no less than 7 of 8 RIVER class patrol vessels are deployed globally or at sea on operations – this is a Navy that is working bloody hard to get ships to sea and deliver effect.

Over the last few months we’ve seen the RN really remind us of what it means to be a globally focused operational, not decorational, navy. Out of nowhere since October it has deployed RFAs to conduct support off the coast of Israel, generated half a dozen vessels to deploy on deterrence missions and surveillance patrols (ably supported by the RAF P8 force on both occasions). It has sent a destroyer at very short notice from port to sailing into arguably one of the most volatile and dangerous international waterways on the planet ready to conduct whatever operations are asked of it. Its done this against the backdrop of sustaining other escorts in support of operations ranging from NATO maritime task groups, to preparing for hurricanes in the West Indies and doing defence engagement and operations globally (and this is even without discussing the Submarine Service). This has been a very busy period and yet it has kept on delivering.

This level of operational intensity is hard work, particularly given the age of so many of the ships in question. Most of the T23s and MCMV force is between 25-40 years old and is, in the politest sense of the word, venerable. Although modernised, keeping these hulls active and at sea for the long haul is going to be a significant challenge both for the crew and shore support organisations.  More widely this intensity will have an impact on people too – it is likely that many of these ships will be away for some, or all, of the Christmas season, imposing a big hit on family morale, a vital indicator in the retention game. With the personnel situation being challenging, this sort of effort may potentially be felt by sailors tired at being deployed as part of OP DENY CHRISTMAS and lead to unplanned early departures.

It is also telling what isn’t being deployed – the RFA for example are very busy with ARGUS and the BAY class, with 100% of the  class being deployed. Yet by the authors reckoning, none of the RFA’s six tankers are operationally deployed, while FORT VICTORIA remains in the UK. To put it kindly, the lack of these ships at sea reminds us that until RFA crewing improves, the RN is utterly reliant on allies and shore support to stay at sea – which is not a good place to be. It has the RFA ships, but it does not have the people and things look like they will get much worse before they get better if the headcount and retention data is anything to go by.

A final thought is that this deployment reminds us of the critical importance to politicians of being given the option to ‘send a gunboat’. Being able to surge a warship to sea and deliver strategic goals is impressive and long may this continue. But as the fleet changes shape and capability, this will become harder to deliver. For example, the MCMV force is being replaced not by warships, but by uncrewed platforms and technology and while operationally this may be far better for the purpose of cable surveying, detecting mines and eliminating them, it lacks the presentational punch of announcing that ‘HMS NONSUCH is on her way’. There is perhaps a longer term challenge for the RN of trying to work out how to message ‘deploying a capability’ lands with Ministers aides who value image, appearance and the opportunities for photoshoots over operational delivery…

Ultimately though this week has been a good news story for the Royal Navy. It has reminded the UK’s allies and foes that despite what some may think, the RN remains an extremely capable navy, able to deploy forces globally and operate at the highest levels of intensity and threat when required. There are only two other navies out there with this level of presence, capability, and reach (the US and France). Although some have found opportunities to attack these deployments (the “scraping the bottom of the barrel” by an armchair admiral about HMS DIAMOND on another site was a personal favourite example of stupidity), the fact is that once again the Royal Navy has shown that when the need arises, it can deliver for the nation.