2024 Royal Navy fleet stats - A short thread.

Warships ordered: 0
Warships commissioned: 0
Warships decommissioned: 9 (1 SSN, 1 MCMV, 2 LPDs, 2 tankers, 3 frigates).

RN/RFA ships in Jan 2023 - 81
RN/RFA ships in Dec 2024 - 72 Royal Navy Fleet in Dec 2024:
2 x Carrier, 6 x DDG, 8 x FFG, 7 x MCMV, 4 x SSBN, 5 x SSN, 8 x OPV, 18 x Coastal forces (P2000), 3 x Survey vessels, 4 x tankers, 1 AOR, 3 x LSD(A), 1 x MCMV mothership, 1 x ROV Vessel, 1 x PCRS.

In 1986 the UK and France signed a secret agreement covering the defence use of the Channel Tunnel. Major plans were made to use, and defend it. This thread (and blog) explore the details of logistics, hospital trains and transition to war. tinyurl.com/2hkxypws In the 1980s the UK had around 70,000 Army and RAF personnel based in Europe, built around a Corps and multiple air units. These groups required constant resupply and restoring from the UK, usually by sea. This was not an effective, or efficient outcome.

The Express is running a story claiming that the RN is going to be down to one carrier. This is both true and also a misrepresentation of what is actually happening - short thread to provide some context! /1 The UK has two carriers. The aim is to have one ready for ops at all times, and the other at varying readiness levels. There are no plans to operate both continuously - no navy in history has ever been able to do this.

The MOD is retiring a number of capabilities to save money. In the biggest cuts to the RN in nearly 20 years, 5 warships, over 100k tonnes of shipping, are being scrapped along with 32 helicopters and dozens of drones.
Long thread on why this isn't as bad as some may think. /1 The context is that the MOD is financially strained due to inflation, cost growth, rise in operating costs and shortfalls of people. Elderly equipment is being run on far longer than planned and there is not enough money to do everything that MOD wants to do. /2

Some more BIOT thoughts. Firstly, there is a lot of misinformation out there. People assume the island will soon be surrounded by 'Chinese bases'. In reality the nearest island is approx 100 miles away - hardly 'close neighbours'. /1 Today the Chinese could park a spy ship 12nm off DG and there is nothing we can do. So hysteria over a base on a 2mile long island, without a harbour, 100 miles away, seems a bit overkill. The Chinese fleet cannot anchor here! /2

From 1983 onwards the Royal Navy conducted a series of covert submarine intelligence and coastal surveillance patrols off Argentina, tracking warships and monitoring aircraft. This is the story of the secret RN operations conducted within sight of the Argentine coast. /1 After the Falklands War ended, an RN SSN was assigned as an asset to UK commanders. In Jan 1983 this was HMS VALIANT. Intelligence indicated that the threat was growing, and HMS OSIRIS was dispatched to monitor the coast, and if possible track Argentine Type 209 SSKs. /2

There has been a lot of media focus today on the National Audit Office report into MOD support to Ukraine, mostly on the perceived impact on UK training. This short thread tries to pick up some wider points, which highlights an incredible MOD Civil Service & Mil success story. /1 The full report sets out the huge scale of the Defence response, including billions in assistance, over 670 RAF cargo flights of kit (5 per week!), 3000 deliveries and 42,000 troops trained in barely 2.5 years. Thats an amazing achievement by all concerned. /2

In 1971 the British Army considered TOP SECRET plans to deploy the Parachute Regiment to hold the bridges over the River Wesser in wartime.

Pinstripedline blog on the plan, and the opportunities and challenges of military parachuting in wartime. /1

tinyurl.com/5xryxeen
The plan in 1971 was that 16 Parachute Bde was held by NATO to rapidly deploy as required during the build up to war as a strategic reserve - augmenting where needed with highly trained elite forces. /2

In 1973 Royal Marines from the SBS embarked onboard the QE2 for a secret mission. Posing as 'travel agents' and carrying an arsenal of weaponry, to keep her passengers safe from terrorism on a high risk cruise.

This is the untold story of Op WILMOT.

tinyurl.com/mr436hda
In 1973, Israel was 25 years old. To mark the event a private return charter cruise was organised for the QE2 to sail from Southampton to Israel. The risk from terrorism was high, and memories of recent atrocities led to real fears that a further massacre could happen. /2

In 1971 the Royal Navy genuinely believed it had lost a nuclear warhead at sea. The untold story of the THROSK, nuclear weapon convoys, the Royal Marines, MI5 and Soviet spies makes for a thrilling read in the latest Pinstripedline blog . Thread /1

tinyurl.com/2p8rnew3
In the 1960s, as the UK acquired its Polaris capability, it faced two key challenges. Firstly, how to get the missiles to the UK, and secondly, how to move the warheads from the factory in Southern England to the RN Munitions depot in Coulport Scotland? /2

In 1973 the CIA published a memo to a highly controlled distribution list highlighting Soviet submarine commanders 1968 secret proposals to detect and destroy Polaris submarines in wartime. It had some 'interesting' ideas, and was seen as hugely sensitive HUMINT reporting. /1 The article made clear Soviet limitations on their knowledge of Polaris operational patrol areas, and how they would fire their missiles. This is an interesting 'reverse intelligence gap' exposing how little the Soviet Union knew of US Navy SSBN operations. /2

In August 1968, HMS OCELOT conducted the first ever RN mission in the Med to covertly sail under Soviet warships and collect intelligence on them.
This previously unknown mission, conducted in close coordination with the RAF was known as OP SCOOP.

/1

tinyurl.com/f9vj6dxa
The mission was simple, get in to the Med, find the anchorages and get within 100feet (33m) of the bottom of the Soviet ship and take as many photos as possible. This intelligence would be used by the US and UK to develop a better understanding of their enemies capability.

There is a lot of media coverage of the new Prime Minister and the need to write 'letters of last resort' for UK nuclear forces.

The Pinstriped blog on the role of the PM in nuclear retaliation is here -

A thread on the subject follows! tinyurl.com/3759t6r2
During the Cold War there was a lot of thought given in government to working out how to ensure that if attacked, the UK could strike back.

This led to much soul searching on scenarios, circumstances and likely outcomes by the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Norman Brook. /2

Pinstripedline has been going 12.5years, 673 articles, 4.5million 'hits' and roughly 1.5 million words of text, published on a near weekly basis.

This thread (and blog) set out the future direction of the blog and changes ahead.


/1 tinyurl.com/4uz6fc3a
Blogging is something I enjoy, but have found it increasingly hard to stay on top of as the real world carries on. Additionally as my own understanding of issues diminishes the longer I am away from them, the harder is it to credibly comment on some matters. /2

HMS CHALLENGER - A long thread and longest ever PSL blog!

Publicly designed for 'research' the CHALLENGER was intended for a variety of highly secret Cold War roles and missions from protecting SSBNs, to supporting SOSUS to recovering nuclear weapons from the seabed.
/1 Designed from a 1975 requirement, the MOD vision for CHALLENGER evolved into a deeply capable seabed operations vessel that could carry out a very diverse range of missions. These are listed below. /2

Between 1980 and 1994 the Royal Navy submarine service conducted over 130 highly classified missions to gather intelligence or covert operations. Even though the files are closed, it is still possible to draw some significant conclusions from the archives. /1 The missions involved both conventional and nuclear submarines operating mostly in the Arctic, North Atlantic, Med and off coast of Argentina. They usually involved intelligence gathering or operating in places they should not have been. /2

In July 1984 the Royal Navy, RFA and RAF Nimrods conducted a TOP SECRET UK/US intelligence gathering mission in the Barents Sea. Its goal - to acquire intelligence on Soviet Navy operations, and obtain military hardware where possible. /1
(Blog at ) tinyurl.com/ycyp4na
The month long mission required Ministerial approval, and nearly clashed with a visit to Moscow by the Foreign Sec. Nerves were high as Nimrods practised covert insertion up to within 30 miles of Russian coastline, and the RN hoovered up as much intelligence as possible.

Today, I posted a blog talking about Admiral Nelson and asking whether the RN needed to re-evaluate its attitude to him - bit.ly/3nC4bSF

The response on social media has been, to put it mildly, depressing.

Many people clearly did not read the blog, or its views /1 There have been accusations of 'wokeness' and suggestions that it is silly to question his legacy.

I beg to differ - Nelson was a great naval officer, and it is right that his legacy is remembered. But he was complex, and held views on slavery that today we find challenging. /2