Navy Lookout summed up the outgoing year. Royal Navy in 2023
Although this resource ([leech=http://]https://www.navylookout.com/a-year-in-review-the-royal-navy-in-2023/[/leech]) is not official, the more interesting is his opinion, since His Majesty’s government does not “pressure” him.
Let’s omit the beginning of the article, where “crocodile tears” are shed over unfortunate Ukraine and how much stronger the Ukrainian fleet has become after the transfer of two old minesweepers to it. Let's go straight to the part where it talks about the royal navy.
The UK Carrier Strike Group spent the autumn deploying to the Norwegian and North Seas and visited Gothenburg, Sweden to participate in defense activities associated with NATO and JEF. This modest six-week tour included a significant amount of flying training, which gave the European allies confidence in the RN's ability to help defend their eastern borders. The Prime Minister spent the night on board HMS Diamond ahead of the JEF summit in Finland, becoming the first Prime Minister to stay on a warship for generations. HMS Queen Elizabeth has completed her patrol by sending additional ammunition supplies to Glen Mullan as she remains at very high readiness and well prepared should she be called upon to undertake urgent tasks in the new year.
After several years of relative peace, the Middle East has once again become a center of fighting. In May, HMS Lancaster was transferred from its base in the Persian Gulf to Port Sudan and, along with Royal Marines based in Khartoum, helped British and partner nation citizens escape when civil war broke out. When Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October, the new Coastal Response Group (South), consisting of RFA Argus and RFA Lyme Bay, was just preparing to leave the UK for a long-term base in Oman. Instead, they were rushed to the eastern Mediterranean for a possible civilian evacuation or humanitarian aid operation. At the time of writing this rather sketchy plan appears to have been abandoned. At least the LRG(S) concept provided the right vessels, in the right place, at the right time, and HMS Duncan was also well positioned to respond should the need arise.
While ships in the Levant remain on high alert, the Red Sea has become the center of attention as Iran-backed Houthi rebels have begun launching indiscriminate attacks on commercial shipping. The US Navy has done the hard work so far, destroying several drones and missiles, many ships were hit, but, remarkably, there were no casualties among the merchant sailors. On December 16, HMS Diamond made headlines when it shot down a drone with a Sea Viper missile. This was the first combat use of the RN's Sea Viper and the first time an RN warship had destroyed an aerial target in anger since HMS Gloucester shot down a Silkworm anti-ship missile during the first Gulf War in 1991. With HMS Diamond on hand and HMS Lancaster, Britain rushed to join the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian (OPG) to protect merchant shipping. Some shipping lines have resumed Red Sea transit, but OPG is struggling because few navies are willing to hand over their warships to U.S. command. European politicians, who should know better, are concerned that their public will confuse support for freedom of navigation in the Red Sea with support for Israel. Ensuring the safe passage of ships through maritime chokepoints is in everyone's interest, since free movement of ships is key to the global economy and ultimately has greater direct consequences than what may occur in Israel.
A peripheral conflict of concern is brewing in the Commonwealth state of Guyana in South America. In a classic case of distracting the population from the economic chaos at home, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has claimed Guyana's oil and mineral-rich Essequibo region as his own. HMS Trent was sent to join naval exercises with Guyana as a low-key show of moral support, but in a fit of pantomimic outrage, the Venezuelans claim it "act of hostile provocation" In the past, when the RN had a frigate or destroyer assigned to the Caribbean (Atlantic Patrol North), a more powerful warship was available. HMS Dauntless was in the Caribbean and visited neighboring Colombia earlier this year, but only as a one-off deployment and a lightly armed OPV is usually deployed to the region. HMS Trent cannot be risked against even a weak Venezuelan fleet, so her presence is more symbolic than military. OPVs provide a very useful diplomatic platform by showing the flag and building relationships at low cost, but they lack the deterrence that a more heavily armed warship provides when the stakes may be higher. Let's hope that the Essequibo dispute will be resolved through diplomatic means and that international pressure will force Maduro to calmly admit the absurdity of his statement.
Three specific issues are having an increasingly noticeable impact on RN performance and effectiveness.
1. The most serious problem that RN now faces is the personnel crisis, which has worsened this year. While retaining enough qualified and experienced people has long been a challenge, it is clear that the easier aspect of the staffing equation is recruitment, but RNs are currently unable to secure enough candidates for basic training. If high outflows are combined with low inflows, the RN will soon begin to grind to a halt as operations are cut back, deployments have to be overextended, or ships cannot sail at all. Without a very concerted and well-resourced effort to resolve this situation, there will be serious problems in 2024 and beyond, foreshadowed by what has happened to the Royal Auxiliary, which has already been forced to lay up good ships due to a shortage of sailors.
2. This year we have reported numerous examples of poor availability of ships and submarines, caused by the age of the ships themselves and the slow pace of maintenance, and various infrastructure problems. Following the decommissioning of HMS Montrose in April, the official number of frigates was reduced to 11. It is actually 10, as HMS Westminster is now in such poor condition that it is not worth converting, although the RN has not yet officially recognized this as a case. HMS Northumberland was last refitted in 2018 and has been in heavy duty operation for the past few years. She is only slightly younger than Westminster, and one must also think about her financial condition. HMS Somerset emerged from repair with a 4-year service life extension, but suffered a series of setbacks and breakdowns that limited her return to service and delayed acceptance of the naval strike missile. The youngest of the frigates, HMS St Albans, is only the second in her class to benefit from both a LIFEX refurbishment and a PGMU (engine upgrade). This project has taken more than 3,5 years and it has not yet gone to sea, although sea trials are due to begin in early 2024. The refurbishment of HMS Iron Duke was completed in May at a cost of £100 million and took 4 years to complete but has spent most of 2023 near Portsmouth. The RN is currently in a deep "frigate shortage" where aging Type 23 ships must continue to operate while awaiting replacement by new ships, which is perhaps the RN's biggest challenge in the medium term. The situation is aggravated by the fact that promising Type 26 frigates are moving further and further “to the right.” Finishing work at Cardiff has slowed down significantly due to a strike by some of the workers. Now even 2026 is in doubt. Type 31 frigates are also in question, since they are much more expensive than the initially agreed upon amounts. How and when the dispute between the Admiralty and Babcock will end is still unknown. As had long been planned, HMS Albion went into reserve over the summer, but HMS Bulwark, the ship that should be ready to take her place, is still in dry dock and far from returning to service. HMS Trent, which is less than 5 years old, was unavailable for deployment for a year from May 2022 until May 2023 due to various mechanical problems.
The Submarine Service was also badly damaged. This year HMS Vanguard finally went to sea after a 7 year refurbishment and in the meantime the duration of the deterrent patrols increased with one boat being submerged for over 6 months. HMS Vanguard, after undergoing repairs, was supposed to test launch a Trident missile, which is standard procedure for British and American SSBNs, but this did not happen. After loading missiles into the Kings Bay naval base, the British boat left. After a month's absence, the Vengard was located in Port Canaveral, Florida. HMS Anson was officially commissioned in August 2022 and left the shipyard in February 2023, but has spent much of that year on sea trials and has not yet been commissioned. There were some days during the summer when there were no submarines at sea, a situation that seemed to be repeated during the Christmas period.
The inability to bring new technologies to the forefront quickly enough is now a serious problem. RN is certainly trying to innovate and has made some progress with the PODS concept, the MANTA/CETUS XLUUV, XV Patrick Blackett projects and autonomous mine hunting and MDG capabilities. Unfortunately, the pace of vehicle fleet renewal is not fast enough. Events in Ukraine and now in the Red Sea have once again demonstrated that inexpensive, relatively simple unmanned systems can be effective, or at least can only be countered by sophisticated and expensive weaponswhich is missing. While the Martlet missile/Wildcat helicopter combination has finally entered service and is an important step in the right direction, RN ships lack sufficient kill capabilities to counter swarms of US aircraft or UAVs. For example, even the implementation of a very simple unmanned ISR capability in the form of the Peregrine RWUAS has proven to be a protracted process. The basic Schiebel S-100 video camera platform has been around for over a decade, but it took RN years to get this relatively cheap but effective low-hanging fruit into the hands of camera operators. In 2023, the Naval Service welcomed two new ships: RFA Proteus (MROS) and RFA Stirling Castle (MHC mothership). It was great "good" news", as both ships were acquired relatively quickly and were eventually sent to sea after refitting. Unfortunately, none of the ships were actually ready for their intended use this year, despite official statements, which is another example of the inability to actually carry out the assigned tasks. Beyond the obvious budgetary issues, the root causes are institutional inertia in both the Navy and the DoD. There is over-regulation due to excessive risk aversion and a reluctance to bypass boundaries based on peacetime civic thinking. The lack of engineering and technical personnel in both industry and RN does not help. At the other end of the capability spectrum, efforts to increase fleet firepower have also been frustratingly slow. After 10 years of hesitation over a replacement for the Harpoon, the NSM is finally due to enter service next year. The Sea Ceptor is still a few years away from being available on Type 45 destroyers, and while it is good news that the Type 31 will be equipped with elements of the Mk41 VLS along with the Type 26 frigates, the industry is highly skeptical that the FCASW missile can be ready for use. to fill these cells by 2028.
One of the main positives for RN is that the shipbuilding program is generally on track and will begin delivering new frigates in the late 2020s. Work on the first Type 31 frigate, HMS Venturer, is progressing well and is only slightly behind the original schedule; Work on the second ship is also continuing. Steelwork is the simpler aspect of the project, but rigging and systems integration will be Babcock's biggest challenge. Four Type 26 frigates are currently in various stages of construction, with steel being sawed off for No. 4 HMS Birmingham this year. A new construction facility at BAE Systems' Havana shipyard is nearing completion next year and will help accelerate the next phase of the program. Almost out of public view, one of the most complex engineering projects undertaken in the UK - the construction of four Dreadnought class submarines - is now making steady progress. Although the previous Vanguard class took approximately twice as long to build, the project appears to be on schedule.
The National Audit Office's report on the MoD's equipment plan, published in December, provides some cold reality about future aspirations. RN capabilities not yet funded in the 2022-2032 EP include Type 32 frigates, multi-mission support ships, Type 83/FADS destroyers, Block 1 and Block 2 mine-hunting equipment support, and aspects of Block 2 and 3 Future Commando equipment All these financial obstacles must be overcome in the next few years, otherwise the fleet will continue to be depleted. In the near-medium term, NATO notes that growing global demand for defense equipment, supply chain issues, material shortages and skills shortages are limiting the industry's production capacity, making it difficult to deliver projects within existing schedules and budgets.
The current government appears to be heading towards a general election next year, although most predict it will be outright defeated. It is therefore particularly important to pay attention to the Labor Party's comments on defense issues over the next few months and their manifesto promises. Beating the drum about “building warships only in Britain” and “using British steel” may have a positive effect on the Unions, but these are extreme measures. In fact, a very significant increase in defense spending is urgently needed, but this is unlikely under the new government. In terms of "mood music", the main strategic difference between the parties appears to be that Labor is less enthusiastic about the UK's "Indo-Pacific bias" and may try to reduce this commitment, although Japan's participation in GCAP and AUKUS will prevent you from going back to this. There is no shortage of failures to lay at the Tories' feet, but unless Labor is committed to committing new resources following a likely defense policy review in 2025, we can expect further controlled decline in an increasingly dangerous world.
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Well, from the “Humor Column” section. Retired commander Tom Sharp, famous for the fact that while he was in command of the frigate Northumberland, the extended BUGAS antenna was badly damaged by contact with a Russian submarine, proposed to the Minister of Defense to send the aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth to the Red Sea. True, he did not explain what he would do there with an air group of 8 planes and 8 helicopters.
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