RoyalNavyRealityCheck

Trying to keep the truth in the Senior Service. Not a Koolaid drinker…

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@thinkdefence despair (at pace of course)…

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@JonoCC You missed joining the NOR OPV programme which might make sense given the T26 order

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@williamnhutton If the current Government had actually managed to publish the (now near mythical) DIP, I might have more sympathy for them…

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@_HenryBolton That’s an interesting idea - it would certainly increase BF capability BUT the RN would need a compensating increase in say T31?

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@MtarfaL @TBrit90 I would expect to see IRDK anytime soon if ever either

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@RJohnsonCCW1 @UKDefJournal @Lesserof2weevls The desire to allow people to speak truth to power is often spoken about but the reality is almost always different

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@UKDefJournal @fightingsailor It also highlights what it describes as an enduring focus on carrier strike at the expense of wider fleet balance, arguing that naval leaders have “continued to sacrifice any and every part of the fleet to pay for the flat-tops.”
Never a truer word spoken!

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@PeteSpayne I was always amazed just how much our NATO partners invested in this sort of kit whereas the U.K. persisted with GPMGs!

[The Stoic Sailor @TheStoicSailor]

Herein lies the problem faced by the Navy for the last 30 years.

Our MPs consistently fail to understand that modern warships are complex bits of kit. Which makes procuring, maintaining, and operating them expensive. So decisions are delayed, which becomes costly in the long run

[Sir Humphrey @pinstripedline]

Fascinating candid honesty from CINCFLEET Admiral Jock Slater to the 1st Sea Lord (Admiral Oswald) in 1991 about how cynical sailors were over "smaller but better" noting "we have yet to declare what will be better"...

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@DrChrisParry @DrChrisParry what made it worse was the RN immediately ceasing all Board and Search Op which were then handed across to the RM. The Iranians had tried something similar with our AUS cousins a few days previously as I remember but their reaction what somewhat more robust.

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@ModernNavy @TheSun @RoyalNavy @DefenceHQ Even for @TheSun this is pretty poor. For ‘bobbing about in the channel’ I’d suggest it should read working up in the FOST Exercise Areas and for ‘crew change’ just maybe it should say embarking FOST Seariders to continue the work up on passage…

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@thinkdefence I’ve said it before and whilst it may not be perfect we need something along the same lines as the French have with the DGA, a uniformed procurement branch. I’ve always been impressed with them when I’ve worked with them.

[Deborah Haynes @haynesdeborah]

Listening to the disingenuous mudslinging in Parliament just now between the @UKLabour defence secretary @JohnHealey_MP & @Conservatives shadow defence secretary @jcartlidgemp over which party is to blame for the UK’s diminished armed forces. Healey keeps repeating the government line about how defence was hollowed out during 14 years of the Tories. And I’m not defending the defence cuts that happened then which were hugely damaging. But they also happened under the previous Labour government. This current spat was prompted by the poor availability of our fleet of six Type 45 destroyers - with HMS Dragon still alongside, almost a week after the PM said she would be sent to defend Cyprus.
But it was the last Labour government that settled on the size of the fleet being just six warships instead of eight. And I think the original plan had been to procure 12. More ships = better availability.
I wish all political parties could accept their respective responsibility for the weakened state of UK defence and then seriously work collectively to fix it

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@jfwduffield I don’t think we should judge him on tactical deployments vs being CDS - medal ribbons do not make the man… That said MTP in central London looks a bit like ‘trying too hard’

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@UnimportantO Agreed. Both parties need to take their blame on the mess that the public are just waking up to..

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@UnimportantO The caveat to that of course is the level of readiness we can keep our limited resources at. With more ships we were able to keep more units at a higher state of readiness and therefore be able to be pro active not reactive. QED if you will!

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@BenWallace70 @Arron_banks @BenWallace70, that isn’t to say we couldn’t learn from other nations. The DGA is an interesting way of delivering capability and whilst it might not fit everything we do - we should look for other options as what we do now clearly isn’t working…

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@PVHaltonOBE @gregbagwell Would also be helped by the ‘speaking truth to power’ being a real thing again

[RoyalNavyRealityCheck @NavyCheck]

@DabberThoughts He lost me when he said ‘if you don’t like it, put your chit in’ - that attitude helped put us in the hole we’re in now!