Admiral unleashes a broadside at our broken-down Navy
A SERVING Admiral has launched a scathing attack on the state of the Royal Navy, claiming it has been reduced to a collection of broken-down ships and ageing submarines whose crews are demoralised and poorly trained.
In an extremely unusual move for such a high-ranking officer, Vice Admiral Simon Lister blamed Government spending cuts for undermining the Navy’s ability to carry out its duties. Admiral Lister complained that: On a recent mission, there were not enough sailors able to use the Type 23 Frigate’s towed sonar array – needed to track Russia’s nuclear submarines.
Ships grind to a halt at sea because no time is set aside for basic maintenance before they sail – and when problems arise, crews are incapable of finding or fixing the faults.
Officers don’t receive necessary training and rely on civilian consultants to solve technical problems, causing a drain on skills.
Budget constraints mean the Navy buys second-rate equipment.
Admiral Lister, who joined the Navy in 1978, is a nuclear and engineering expert. Writing in a military journal, he said: ‘The price of unrelenting operational tempo is unsustainable pressure on engineers as every opportunity for maintenance is squeezed out of busy programmes. ‘For example, the lack of operators trained to stream and recover Type 23 towed sonar. ‘Overall material readiness continues to decline. From the submarine perspective, the numbers of force elements at readiness have been driven low by late delivery of Astute [a new model of submarine] and platform ageing.
‘Support is increasingly over-reliant on [civilians] for repair. This philosophy builds in declining competence and confidence.’
Admiral Lister cited the submarine HMS Trenchant, which was due to be retired in 2011, yet completed a 333-day deployment – the longest-ever by a British nuclear vessel – over 2012-13.
A number of vessels have also had to be towed back to Britain after malfunctioning at sea. In February, HMS Dauntless, a destroyer, was forced to abandon exercises and seek emergency repairs after losing power.
The 8,000-ton ship, which cost more than £1billion to build, suffered a similar problem off Senegal in 2012, as did her sister ship HMS Daring in 2009 and 2012. Engineers were unable to fix the faults and the ships had to limp to the nearest port.
In his report, published in The Naval Engineer, Admiral Lister also criticised a ‘churn and outflow’ of staff, which was coupled with ‘reduced training investment and increasing transfer of engineering responsibility to [civilians].’
The MoD said: ‘The Admiral is merely pointing out the obvious facts given the shortage of engineers across the maritime industry. It is a challenge to recruit and retain these skilled personnel. We are offering incentives and excellent training.’