The Navy with no sailors

The Royal Navy is pondering scrapping ships not because of defence cuts but because it hasn’t got enough sailors. It is quite amazing that no-one actually noticed that recruitment had fallen and the number of sailors leaving the Navy had risen. Bad management in an organisation which once ruled the waves. At a time when the world is a more dangerous place and the Royal Navy is in dock because of a lack of men and women.

The submarine fleet has been badly hit as a result of a shortage of engineers. Royal Air Force planes have to fly all the way from Cyprus to attack targets in Yemen, a journey which is both dangerous and long, simply because the Royal Navy can’t send a submarine. It is not a question of kit, the Royal Navy has 6 nuclear powered attack submarines, which would be well suited for this role, but it appears that they are either in dock at their base in Scotland or awaiting a refit in Plymouth. But the Royal Navy is not alone.

The Royal Air Force has a severe shortage of pilots. The RAF has 31 of the state of the art F35 fighter jets but only 30 pilots to fly them, of whom five are on exchange from the Australian and US air forces. And in some cases it takes 7 years to train a pilot. With this failed training scheme the Battle of Britain would have taken place in 1947 rather than 1940, two years after the Second World War ended! But what annoys me is that no-one resigns, it is just a blame game.

For once it is not the government which is to blame, rather the Admirals and the Air Marshalls. They talk a good game, complain that they do not have the kit but also they do not have the people, which is their fault.

The latest documentary on BBC1 about the Royal Navy aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth was centred around a junior chef. Now, I am not saying that chefs do not carry out a vital role but is it going to inspire a generation of young men and women to join the Royal Navy? Stick to fast jets and helicopters they sell more than a hot oven. It does appear that little works in Britain at the moment and the armed forces are a good example. The Royal Navy has a strength of 30,000 and it can’t even keep that small number!