Navy recruitment failures leave Britain vulnerable at a time of growing danger

SIR – Ignoring the fact – as successive governments have done for 20 years – that the Royal Navy is a third of the size this country needs it to be, one despairs of the predictability of the Ministry of Defence’s response to its shortage of manpower (“Navy has so few sailors ships must be scrapped”, report, January 5).

There is no recognition that this is largely down to the closing of Services recruitment offices, where prospective recruits could talk to military personnel and learn about what a military career involves. The outsourcing of recruitment to Capita

– a company with a dubious record – has coincided with the increasing lack of manpower. Yet instead of considering such factors, the decision is made simply to scrap a couple of ships – no matter that they have just been modernised at great cost.

Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela – what further evidence does the Government need of the kind of world in which we’re living? Unless we demonstrate to friend and foe alike that the defence of our country is of the first importance, we are laying ourselves open to the pernicious and hostile intentions of those who wish to see the West destroyed. Philip J Ashe

Leeds, West Yorkshire

SIR – If the Navy is being forced to retire two frigates early because of a lack of crew, where does the responsibility lie?

Manning to create a cohesive command chain in all three Services requires years to come to fruition. It starts with funding and the realisation that there is such a thing as critical mass, however inconvenient this may be for some in authority to admit.

Funding to recruit, train and provide operational experience and advanced courses creates over time the essential non-commissioned cadre in the Armed Forces. It is this cadre that bolsters

esprit de corps, and instils the discipline so valued by the combined officer corps. Yet these are the people whose numbers have been reduced by the short-sighted bean counters in the MoD.

It takes but a moment to cut a Serviceman’s job. It takes years to fill the gap created.

Sqn Ldr Dave Tisdale RAF (retd)

Ryde, Isle of Wight

SIR – You highlight the shortage of sailors to crew our fleet of surface warships, but the problem in the submarine fleet is even more serious.

By modern standards, the job description for a submariner is dreadful and beyond comparison with any other type of employment. Living conditions are extremely cramped and there is virtually no privacy; the working environment is dangerous and the watch-keeping cycle relentless. Submariners are separated from loved ones for several months and, uniquely, they are unable to communicate with them even if there is a family tragedy. The lack of access to social media is also an alien concept to younger generations.

To compensate for this lifestyle, there will need to be significant increases in pay, considerably more leave and early entitlement to pensions. There is no point in Britain spending £40 billion building the new Dreadnought class of nuclear deterrent submarines unless there is a credible HR strategy for crewing them.

Rear Admiral Philip Mathias (retd)

Former nuclear submarine commanding officer

Director of nuclear policy (2005-8) Southsea, Hampshire