Hearts of Silicon? Uncrewed Ships, Human Sailors, and Prospects for a ‘Hybrid’ Royal Navy

Hearts of Silicon? Uncrewed Ships, Human Sailors, and Prospects for a ‘Hybrid’ Royal Navy

08 Sep 26
Posted by: Lt Cdr David Blagden RNR
30 minutes, 11 seconds read
Message from the Editor

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.

The Royal Navy (RN) stands on the cusp of a revolution in its operating model worthy of its explication through a Fisher Lecture, as Gwyn Jenkins, the current First Sea Lord (1SL), provided in April 2026.[1] During his tenures as Controller of the Navy and later 1SL, John ‘Jacky’ Fisher famously implemented sweeping change in RN force structure, retiring swathes of beloved but less capable ships in favour of concentrating resource outlay on innovative armament configurations (the Dreadnought-type gun arrangement), novel weapons (e.g. the torpedo), and – most radically of all – push…

You are not currently logged in. Please sign in now or click here to join today.

AI