UK Defence Journal

By George Allison

16 January 2024

Source: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/why-britain-needs-a-larger-navy/

In a new primer released by the Council on Geostrategy entitled ‘Why Britain needs a larger navy’, William Freer and James Rogers make the case for a larger navy, assessing the importance of the sea to British interests and examining how the Royal Navy’s posture has changed in the last 50 years and how it ought to change in the future.

In recent weeks, a number of media reports have questioned whether the Royal Navy is in decline, attributing the decommissioning of ships to a recruitment crisis.

At the same time, the news has been dominated by the stories unfolding in the Red Sea as commercial shipping comes under attack from Houthi rebels, backed by Iran.

This Primer will argue that a larger navy is essential to protect British interests and to face growing maritime threats from rival countries such as Russia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and other hostile actors, such as the Houthis.

Despite the total displacement of the Royal Navy having increased by over 18.5% between 2000 and 2023 from 700,000 tonnes to 830,000 tonnes, the number of warships has dropped from 107 to just 65 over the same period (including the Royal Fleet Auxiliary). 

Worse, with threats proliferating in the Indo-Pacific and the Euro-Atlantic security environment worsening, Freer and Rogers argue that the UK no longer has the luxury of being able to focus on just one region. Instead, Britain needs to be capable of shaping events across the globe to protect British interests.

A failure to respond to the challenge has consequences – Russia and the PRC have fast been modernising and growing their own navies. The authors of this Primer highlight the risks to the UK as an island nation and re-evaluate how Britain should look to balance securing sea control in the Euro-Atlantic with contributing towards sea denial in the Indo-Pacific. 

A lack of hull numbers from years of underinvestment has left Britain vulnerable to disruptions at sea, particularly from a more assertive Russian navy in the North Atlantic and other hostile actors over key maritime chokepoints.

Similarly in the South China Sea, this Primer states that failure to act would embolden the PRC to consolidate its position beyond the ‘First Island chain’ and destabilise the delicate military balance in the region.

You can read the full article here.