7^th September 2005

The Royal Navy Presentation Team

Presenters - Commander Paul Lloyd (left)

and Lieutenant Anna Jordan

 

When members arrived at Bourne Hall it was immediately apparent that we were going to be treated to an extremely professional presentation. One end of the hall had been transformed into a lecture room with a large screen and colourful surround together with a rostrum each for the two presenters also overhead projectors and spotlighting had been mounted onto a gantry.

 

We were not disappointed. As expected, the Royal Navy team gave members, and their lady guests, a very slick and extremely fast moving multi-media presentation that packed a lot of visual action as well as verbal information into its 30 minutes duration.

 

They gave an outline of UK defence policy and showed us the Navy working in conjunction with the Army and the RAF often operating in combination with foreign Navies. We were told that Royal Navy training staff have been responsible for training the Navies from more than 20 other countries throughout the world.

 

The Navy operates across the globe. The sea covers 70.8% of the world’s surface. Operations range from counter-narcotics to anti-terrorism, from defence diplomacy to disaster relief and from peacekeeping through crisis management all the way up to high intensity conflict if necessary. Other duties include such things as fisheries protection, mine clearance and disaster relief. They have the capability to operate at sea, in the air and, through their Royal Marine Commandos, on land. The Royal Navy operates around 130 ships and submarines and 236 aircraft with around 40,000 regular uniformed personnel of whom approximately 7,000 are Royal Marines based at Portsmouth and Devonport. Commander Lloyd said that every day of the year, 24 hours a day one of the Navy’s nuclear-powered submarines is patrolling at sea somewhere in the world.

 

We also looked at the future of the Navy over the next 15 years and were told of plans for 2 new much larger aircraft carriers, the first of which, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is due to enter service in 2012. Together with HMS Prince of Wales these 2 ships will eventually replace the 3 existing carriers.  At 60,000 tons they will be the biggest ships that the Navy has ever had. They already have 2 new assault ships,  HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion, which together with the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean will significantly enhance the Navy’s amphibious capability with the men that these vessels will carry into combat, 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. They also have 4 large landing ships and 6 Ro-Ro ferries. The next few years will see the introduction of the Type 45 frigates and the Astute Class submarines.

 

Members questioned whether continuing cuts in the size of the fleet meant that the Royal Navy was no longer able to carry out the multi tasks that are demanded of it. Com. Lloyd accepted that they have to be selective in what they can cover. For example, they have to target many of their roles to include part only of each year, such as counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean which are restricted to the 4 months of the hurricane season. £320,000,000 of drugs have been seized so far this year.

 

He continued that of the £27 billion defence budget the Navy receives £9 billion. The government is aware that the Navy can carry out only 1 medium level operation, such as Iraq and 2 low level operations simultaneously. This is based on the assumption that they will be operating in combination with the other two services on a multi-national basis and that this will probably include the Americans. The US Navy is the only Navy worldwide that is large enough to be able to act alone.

 

In reply to a question from one of the lady guests, Lt. Jordan said that currently 10% of sailors are female. Two female officers have been given leading roles in Scotland. Commodore Carolyn Stait, 47, has become the first woman to run HM Naval Base Clyde and Lieutenant Charlotte Atkinson, 33, has taken charge of the 750 tonne HMS Brecon. There are still one or two sections of the navy, such as submarines, where females are not permitted.

 

John Hitchen, in proposing a vote of thanks described how he was ‘invited’ to join the Royal Navy in 1941. He said that due to inflation the King’s shilling had by that time increased to 2 shillings and 6 pence a day. John said that In Nelson’s day, 200 years ago ships came alongside and fired canon at each other at virtually point blank range. He compared this with the first sea battle of WWII when at a range of 11 miles more than 97% of shells missed their target. However, the less than 3% that did find their target had devastating consequences. He described the difference between that time and today’s modern navy as like chalk and cheese. John thanked Paul and Anna for an extremely interesting presentation and members showed their appreciation with a generous round of applause.

 

Pat Hunt, 9.9.05

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