News, Articles and Comment

Ed. Two letters addressing the Allied and coalition implications for current and long-term RN transformation.

Ed. The author, a retired RN warfare officer, argues for sub-strategic Trident as a prudent escalation measure. A 10 minute read.

BRE. The latest book review is now available. It considers the latest Navy Records Society’ publication on the development of the Royal Navy in the 1950s.

Ed. If a cyber-attack paralyses a dockyard or a disrupted supply chain prevents a critical repair, the resulting loss of fleet availability constitutes a military defeat achieved by civilian means. The era of the homeland as a sanctuary is over. This article, by the NR’s Chairman, challenges the unhurried pace of current government resilience planning, arguing that the Royal Navy must adopt a National Support Base mindset and apply the same rigorous, FOST-style testing to its civilian dependencies as to its warships. A 20 minute read.

Ed. Today, with the US-led post-1945 financial order under strain, the author points to the re-arming of like-minded middle powers as a path forward. A 10 minute read.

Ed. The author makes the case for Russian language learning in the RN, citing 20^th century precedent and 21^st century expediency. A 10 minute read.

Ed. Members who have read today’s Times or Daily Telegraph will have seen that the First Sea Lord made an important speech on the relevance of the Atlantic to the defence of the United Kingdom. That speech in full is available for members to read here.

Ed. With the Royal Navy declaredly pushing towards a ‘Hybrid’ fleet utilising several classes of complex ‘ship-like’ uncrewed vessels, the author, Associate Professor of International Security and Strategy at the University of Exeter, identifies key limitations of such autonomous naval systems and proposes that a lean-crewed model may instead offer distinctive advantages. 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.