News, Articles and Comment

Ed. This article aims to identify the issues the Royal Navy will need to anticipate if it is required to rapidly generate thousands of additional trained personnel during a major crisis. The author argues that planning, skills-based recruitment, modular training and scalable infrastructure must be established before conflict begins. A 25 minute read.

Ed. With the precedent of HMS Ocean in mind, the author argues that the RN’s future Amphibious Transport Ships (ATS) should be through-deck and built to a mixed standard. A 30 minute read.

Ed. The author’s investigation into the history of maritime strait multilateralism, a pertinent example of the ad hoc nature of sea control resulting from a rules-based vacuum, and the alternatives available to regional powers. A 25 minute read.

Ed. The author’s call for resilience with respect to coastal navigation support. Hormuz has shown the vulnerability but there are other emerging challenges to chokepoints like our own Dover Strait. First published in The House Magazine, May 2026. A 5 minute read.

Ed. This article explores some of the undiscussed issues and challenges facing the introduction of large-scale autonomous vessels under the ‘hybrid navy’ plan. The aim of this article is not to nay say and stick one’s head in the sand, but rather to identify the very real challenges facing implementation, their limits, and the importance of maintaining capable crewed warships to restore the RN fleet as a capable naval force. A 20 minute read.

Ed. The author, with an appreciation for maritime globalisation and the nature of seapowers, argues for greater resilience and redundancy in the UK’s industry and shipbuilding networks, and recognition of the maritime sector’s vital national security role. A 5 minute read.

Ed. Through an imagined Socratic dialogue the author conveys to the younger generation the heroism of Shackleton’s rescue of the Endurance crew in August 1916. A 20 minute read.

Ed. With his trademark dissident perspective, the author tackles what he describes as the long-term decline of European and British maritime power, and compares the present situation in the Middle East with the financial consequences of the outbreak of war in 1914. A 15 minute read.

Ed. The author examines the state-of-the-art with regard to Polar icebreaker investment and development, and considers the relative cost for future RN procurement in increasingly competitive theatres. A 30 minute read.