Despite a slew of concerning news stories about the struggles of the service in the last few months, the RN is currently maintaining a high tempo of ships at sea on operations. Here we summarise the key activities of the surface fleet and the purpose of their deployments.
Europe
After completion of phase one of the CSG23 deployment including a successful visit to Gothenburg in Sweden, HMS Queen Elizabeth returned to Portsmouth last week with her air group still on board. She spent 96 hrs alongside apparently repairing aircraft lift chain defects and taking on stores and fuel. She sailed on the 3rd November and resumed operating in the North Sea, now under direct NATO command for the first time. She is part of exercise Neptune Strike 23-3 which spans Europe and includes Spanish and Italian capital ships also under NATO control in the Mediterranean. NEST-3 is described as part of a regular series of exercises intended to be a “tangible demonstration of the power and capability of the NATO Alliance in multi-domain operations”. F-35s from the ship are also participating in air exercise Atlantic Trident 23 which includes US jets operating from RAF Lakenheath and French jets operating from RAF Waddington and Leeming.
QNLZ will be escorted by HMS Kent which joined the deployment after missing out on the initial phase due to mechanical issues. After a successful visit to Turku, Finland where the Prime Minister spent the night on board prior to the JEF nations summit, HMS Diamond also made a brief return to Portsmouth before rejoining the CSG. On arrival in the North Sea, the CSG conducted anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises with the small Norwegian submarine HNoMS Utstein, while the frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup rejoined the group. The second phase of the CSG23 deployment is expected to wrap up soon after the end of Neptune Strike on 10th November.
There has been plenty of bilateral activity with the UK’s increasingly close Norwegian allies as HMS Richmond is currently in Stavanger, (also recently visited by HMS Iron Duke) to make use of the NATO FORACS facility for calibrating warship weapons and sensors. HMS Somerset has also arrived in Norway where she is likely to embark the first load of Naval Strike Missiles direct from the Kongsberg factory and subsequently conduct the first RN fleet weapons trials of the system.
Elsewhere in the European theatre, HMS Portland has recently been operating out of Faslane, presumably conducting the unsung Towed Array Patrol Ship (TAPS) tasking on ASW duties in the North Atlantic.
Norwegian submarine HNoMS Utstein.
The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East
There have been continued calls for the UK CSG to be sent to the Eastern Mediterranean but this option has not been taken for several good reasons. Although the media is currently fixated on events in Israel, the threat from Russia and the war in Ukraine remains of greatest consequence to the UK and Europe. Although nowhere near matching the firepower of US equivalents, retaining the UK CSG at high readiness in the European theatre makes sense. The US has the ‘big stick’ in the form of the Gerald R Ford CSG in the eastern Med and UK jets could also potentially operate from Cyprus if they were required to supplement US forces in combat operations of some kind.
The prime purpose of allied naval forces in the region is not so much to aid Israel but to ensure the conflict does not spread further and engulf the Middle East. Deterring Iran and its proxies from intervention is the priority and it should be noted that the decisive deployment of US carriers has been effective. So far the conflict between Israel and Hamas has not really spilled over beyond Israel’s borders. Until now at least, the actions of the Hezbollah Islamist terrorist group, on the northern borders of Israel have been relatively constrained, the deterrent sitting not far off the coast must be a major factor in their calculations.
There is also the threat from the south and the USS Dwight D Eisenhower CSG has now transited the Mediterranean into the Red Sea and is likely to either enter or sit outside the Persian Gulf, primarily as a deterrent to Iran. While in the Red Sea on October 21st, destroyer USS Carney also destroyed a number of drones and missiles believed to have been launched by Houthi forces from Yemen either at Israel or possibly the ship itself.
The UK Littoral Strike Group comprising RFA Argus and RFA Lyme Bay arrived off Cyprus in mid-October and have been alongside in Limassol for logistic support while they await developments. Their most likely role is in conducting evacuation of civilians or delivery of humanitarian aid should this be required. Hezbollah is believed to be in possession of Iranian Noor C-802 and Russian Onyx anti-ship missiles (with ranges of 120km and 300km respectively). The auxiliaries carry Phalanx CIWS for limited self-defence (mustering 3 mounts between the two of them) but would very much need the protection of high-end air defence platforms, especially if deployed any closer to the coast of Lebanon or Israel.
HMS Duncan sailed from Portsmouth on 18th June and has been operating in the Mediterranean as the flagship of Standing NATO Group 2. (Apart from a two-week break in September to undertake repairs in Rota, Spain). She may now have detached from the NATO group and was briefly alongside in Limassol, presumably joining the LRG. The Type 45 destroyer is especially suited to this kind of role and would also be a valuable asset to the US forces.
It should be noted that there is still some Russian naval activity in the Eastern Mediterranean complicating the picture. Due to the lack of access to its Black Sea bases and inadequate facilities in Syria, all the Russian conventional submarines deployed in the theatre since 2021 have been forced to withdraw to the Baltic Sea bases for maintenance. It is believed an RN Astute class boat has been deployed to the Mediterranean equipped with Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles.
If the conflict in Israel continues for some time this will not be a problem for the RFAs that are set up to rotate crews periodically and the LRG was intended to be overseas for a long period anyway. Extending HMS Duncan’s time in the Med would be harder on her ship’s company as the Type 45s do not routinely rotate personnel. She is due home before Christmas and the RN generally tries to avoid exceeding deployments lasting 6 months. There is no Type 45 immediately ready to relieve her. HMS Dauntless is in the US while HMS Diamond is deployed with the CSG but has a reputation for being particularly mechanically unreliable. HMS Daring, Dragon and Defender are at very low readiness in Portsmouth in various stages of ‘PIPKeep’ refits.
In the Persian Gulf HMS Lancaster continues to work hard as the forward-deployed frigate while RFA Cardigan Bay is based in Bahrain with minehunters HMS Middleton, Chiddingfold and Bangor.
Atlantic
HMS Prince of Wales has completed the second phase of Westlant 23 off the US coast with the completion of F-35 Developmental Test Flying, part 3 (DT-3). This has included further trials with the F-35 carrying heavier weapon loads and in more extreme weather conditions. 60 (SRVL) rolling landings were conducted, including 10 at night. Other trials included 20 backwards landings (aircraft coming in facing towards the stern) and nearly 150 take-offs by day and night in various weather conditions and sea states. Aspects of these serials are likely classified and it will be interesting to see what details may emerge into the public domain. It should be noted that Westlant 23 is not an operational deployment but is focused on developing aviation capability for the carriers and improving interoperability with US forces. PWLS will now return to Naval Station Norfolk before commencing phase three of the tasking which will include experiments with the Mojave RPAS and other uncrewed aircraft trials later this month.
HMS Dauntless has completed her time in the Caribbean. She was primarily sent in order to be ready to provide disaster relief assistance, should one of the islands be struck by a hurricane. The hurricane season is now drawing to a close and the region appears to have escaped a serious incident this year. Dauntless has also been employed on defence engagement visits and on counter-narcotics patrols. Working with the US Coastguard she has been involved in anti-smuggling operations, intercepting drugs with a total value of around £200M. Dauntless is now alongside in Charleston, South Carolina and may later meet up with PWLS.
HMS Medway will return to the Caribbean (Atlantic Patrol Task (North)) in the coming weeks as she has been deployed in the Falklands since February while HMS Forth was refitting in Gibraltar. HMS Forth has completed refit and received the dazzle paint scheme already applied to sisters HMS Tamar and Spey. She is making her way south at the time of writing along with HMS Protector, also heading to the South Atlantic ready for the summer season in Antarctica.