RFA crew shortage as well as a Rear Admiral shortage....

[CharlieOneSix]

The RFA's only solid support ship the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Fort Victoria, is alongside in Birkenhead due to manning issues which mean our aircraft carriers cannot be supported at sea with ammunition and other supplies. As a result the UK cannot launch carrier borne aircraft against the Houthis and the UK have to depend on land based Typhoons based in Cyprus. What an appalling state of affairs!

It doesn't stop with crewing of RFAs - the RN has a Flag rank problem as well as a Rating recruitment issue.

The current Director Submarines, Rear Admiral Simon Asquith, is due to leave that position. The Royal Navy has no suitably qualified officer available to take his job. Unbelievable! The MoD have had to advertise the position and hope that a suitably qualified retired officer will apply for the position which initially is for two years commencing 15 April. One qualification is that the successful applicant will have had to have been a Submarine Commander during his regular service.

In my RN time in the 1960s the RN manpower was around 100,000 with a recruiting target of 7,500 per annum. Currently its 29,220 & 2730 Reserves. In the early 60s we had 8 Carriers, 156 Destroyers and Frigates. The RN currently has 2 Carriers, 17 Destroyers and Frigates. Admittedly technological advances will have resulted in a reduction of manpower required but I despair! In the year July 2022-2023 the RN workforce shrank by 4.1% with 1640 personnel leaving. At the shore based training establishment HMS Raleigh just 108 rating recruits were allocated to the last 7 entries of 2023, meaning that 354 training places went unfilled.

Job Vacancy - Director Submarines

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Same problem throughout the western world.
Canada cannot man all its warships either, 10% shortfall, and are scrapping perfectly serviceable ones as a consequence.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/canadian- ... -1.5723427

Everyone with an ounce of sense and some honesty knows what the problem is, but wokedom daren't even mention it, and if anyone else does, then the PM here calls them a Nazi (really).

[Dushan]

He means it as a term of endearment. His father was a Nazi sympathizer so he means well.

[FD2]

It's an appalling situation all right. The same here, as some RNZN ships cannot go to sea due to under-manning. It's also amazing that the only RFA ship which can supply the carriers with all the fuel and stores they need is stuck in Birkenhead due to another manning problem. The same reason that there are two carriers - one on call while the other is undergoing maintenance - should also apply to the RFAs.

An article I read states that the recruiting offices have been closed since the recruitment procedure was given to a civilian outfit. There's no possibility that a young man or woman wanting to join can go along to speak to a serving officer or rating to find out what life is really like in the service. Some branches are very over-subscribed though. My nephew here wants to be an RN pilot but even though he is a UK citizen he has been told he'd have to live in the UK for 5 years before applying. 'Holdover' employment of up to a year frustrates would be aircrew who want to get airborne! That doesn't apply to most if not all the other branches. So maybe the film 'Top Gun' has spurred this interest. Maybe 'Top Stoker' or 'Top Pusser' films could do that for those branches?!

It's sad that this is happening to other Commonwealth navies too. It doesn't present much of an implied threat response to Vlad and his axis of evil chums. If the carriers are so very seriously undermanned I guess it must be impossible to even cobble the two ship's companies together and get just one to sea, or would any wokesters onboard then have a mutiny and refuse to do what they are ordered, out of sympathy with the Gazans, Houthis Hezbollahs etc. Joining a little after C16, we still had five fixed wing and two commando carriers in the mid 1960s and no National Service or conscription then. The 'Peace Dividend' has been grasped by the politicians to the detriment of the safety and security of our friendly nations.

[FD2]

Oops - bad proof reading - for nephew read grandson.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The RAF flying training system civilianisation remains a complete disaster.
The recruiting system was not producing the required intake before civilianisation, however this had made it worse, not better.

Even if both were brought back in-house, this would not fix the basic problems, which apply throughout the western world.

And it's not just the military. Canada's civilian emergency management system is also woefully undermanned and failing badly whenever it's put to the test, ditto the non-Government elements like the Canadian Red Cross.
My province has just started opening up the EM training to anyone, for free, in an attempt to increase numbers and quality. If nothing else, it's an admission that their selection and recruiting process is failing.

There is no hope.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Here's the latest UK Stats
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistic ... monitoring

Bear in mind also that 30% of the regulars are unfit for combat at present
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/0 ... nt-crisis/

..and that the last time any media checked, somewhere between 25% and 50% of the Reserves either never turn up for training, or are unavailable for deployment.

[FD2]

Those 'sickness' figures are depressing. Roughly 72% of Army personnel are fully 'medically deployable', 74% RN/RM and 67% in the RAF if my maths is right. I know that staff in all the services were appalled a few years back by the levels of fitness of the young men and women applying to join, compared to the weight/fitness of youngsters 20 or 30 years previously. Too much beer, chips and pie maybe, too much screen time perhaps, a 'modern' attitude to drugs or just plain wokery due to being influenced by social media? It's depressing that this malaise seems to be spreading throughout the 'western world'.

During a junior staff course lecture years ago we were told that recruitment rises dramatically during a conflict, as the young men who consider themselves tough enough flock to the 'colours'. Years ago their kit might have been fairly simple to train them on but now it's increasingly complex and there's much work needed to get them fit enough, to boot. Trouble brews up and may fizzle out or get much worse but the recruits will probably only be part way through their training by then, lengthened by bizarre health and safety requirements perhaps.

As for reservists, what can the MOD do if they don't turn up for training? Sack them and the figures suddenly appear worse in political terms - damned if you do and damned if you don't.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

The RAF Officer training course was increased from the 18 weeks I did to 24 weeks quite some time ago. The extra 6 weeks is just fitness training.
We were expected to be fit enough when we got there, and indeed those coming from within the Service still are, and therefore still do 18 weeks. Those who were borderline were expected to be helped through ad hoc extra training by their fellow flight members in the non-existent spare time, and of course for the fitter ones to covertly do more than their fair share during the exercises. It was mostly the admin and supply that needed help, being carried (sometimes literally) by the baby aircrew and the Rock Apes. However, my flight's two weaker members were worth the effort. One went on to be a fine supply officer, and the other was a 37 year old Sgt Aircrew going Officer. He certainly helped several others in the flight with his extensive knowledge of how to navigate through the RAF procedures and way of life. I should perhaps add that some admin and supply cadets were super fit, especially those who had been rejected from aircrew or Rock Ape for some unfixable medical reason like being colour blind, but the weaker ones were all admin and supply.

Back in the First World War, my Great Great Uncle was an Army Physical Training Instructor.
It used to take 6 months to get the city recruits fit, the first two months of which was mainly getting them on a good diet and dealing with illness and flexibility, then building up muscle and endurance over the next 4 months.
Looks like we may be back to that soon.

The MoD could of course try making the service more attractive to recruits, so they want to turn up.......

[Woody]

I’m surprised that we’ve managed to get two ships at sea to collide with each other

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68040614

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I found the video genuinely shocking.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/ ... ld-bangor/
There is so much wrong with this that I don't know where to start.
Even the RN cadets in the River Dart in my day would be nothing like as bad as this with their first go at parking a whaler!

Note the raging seas and hurricane force weather conditions.

Now I do know that the average RN Officer gets very little practice at parking boats, because they used to send them off to the Joint Services yachting expeditions to get some experience, and I have taught a couple.
But, in my experience, they didn't used to get any of the big things wrong even first go.
But still, I can't even work out why the ship would be in the start position it was.

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Quick and dirty analysis
Accident probably here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/26%C2 ... ?entry=ttu
Note the angled dock arm to the west, running southwest.
They were leaving harbour, initially having moored pointing northwest (as per other boats) and in simple terms were attempting a three-point-turn because there wasn't enough room to make the port turn away in one sweep.
..and the engine either got stuck in reverse or was left in reverse during the second (reversing) point of the turn.

I expect the Bahrainis gave them this slot because it's the hardest berthing spot in the entire harbour. But, it's not that hard.

Approx Spring Tide, max range 8 feet/2.3m, but probably zero current in this position, which is ideal.
Wind F4, from the NW, which is actually ideal for leaving this berth.

Best technique. Stick the engine(s) just above idle, kick the nose out forward and to port slightly, so the wind is over the starboard bow, back to idle, wait for the wind to push you out. Don't need the three point turn at all.
Officer i/c the manoeuvre probably got bored and started wanging the throttle(s) about.

What do the other boat drivers think?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

I wonder what punishment the Captain will get, given his Sovereign also used to drive a minesweeper...do they still do Hanging, Drawing, and Quartering?

[Boac]

Maybe it's all part of the plan to reduce the number of ships we need to person with the current recruiting crisis?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Putting idiots in charge is indeed a tried and tested means of removing equipment from the inventory.

However, it also exacerbates both the recruiting crisis, and reduces the average quality of those joining.

I would argue that the recruiting crisis is actually due to putting idiots in charge some time ago, and that this kind of accident is a symptom, not a solution.

[CharlieOneSix]

"Left hand down a bit"......"Everybody down!" It's that Mr Phillips again........

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

'Sub Lt Phillips at Dartmouth'

Use yer rear view mirror can't ya!?

very apposite, C16!!

[Karearea]

"Left hand down a bit"......"Everybody down!" It's that Mr Phillips again........

My first thought!

[CharlieOneSix]

At 7:07....."You stop calling Chief Petty Officers Sergeant"...

That brings back memories! As well as Chief Petty Officers drilling us on the Parade Ground at Dartmouth we had a huge Royal Marine Sergeant by the name of Sgt. Crook. Call him "Chief" as he thrust his face close to yours following an error and a tirade followed... "Chief? Chief? You called me Chief. What you think I've got in my hat, bloody feathers?"

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]