If your lucky enough to get a cadetship and still have a job as an Officer of the watch ( externally lucky) after you gain your certificate
The minimum time from OOW to Master certification is roughly 6- 10 years with on job training and college education and even then you can still be stacked as a officer of the watch
Our Merchant Navy is no more , our Oil and Gas industry which is supplied by offshore support vessels are most manned by cheap labour from Eastern Europe
For once proud seafaring nation , this situation has been made with past and previous governments who believe that a global free trade was the answer and not a nation asset
Apologies for some spelling mistakes ( adaptive text 😡) should have proof read before posting, but it makes me so mad how we have slumped to this low and as a ex sea going master
Speaking as an ex ‘Grey Funnel Line’ officer, I utterly and completely agree & sympathise - bad as it is, though, I think the Merchant Marine has fared better than the RN.
I understand and therefore support free trade but as with free market competition internally it should not operate in a vacuum. For internal trade we have laws about market malpractice and monopoly although recent governments have given investigation and enforcement little priority because the became used to the EU doing it (or rather they didn't either unless the French wanted protection).
For international trade the limits we have failed to apply are UK strategic interests. It cannot be right that we have no merchant marine or significant fishing industry. It would not be right to try to monopolise the former although we should take control of the latter.
With a merchant marine we could better man the RFA and the RN.
There also needs to be protection of critical industrial capabilities so we can sustain our forces and our country regardless of dumping or embargoes by others. For instance, we need aritish based and managed motor industry, food production nd processing, energy infrastructure manufacture, building materials production and armaments.
It was shocking to learn, for instance, that Britain is now incapable of producing pharmaceutical products - it seems soi much has been sh=ut down in favour of China we can't even produce our own pain killers.
The state of our armed forces is a national disgrace. I would love to see the armed forces greatly enlarged and develop/re-establish their role as an educational organization for young people who do not want to stay in school beyond 16. Army, Navy and Air Force apprenticeships should also be expanded. Many recruits would not stay in the services for more than a few years but they would be equipped to find civilian jobs afterwards and would almost certainly possess a level of confidence and self-discipline that they would not otherwise have developed.
No one will be laughing when a randomly flagged bulk freight container ship launches 50+ mix of Noor/C-802 cruise, Zolfaghar SRBM, Fateh-110 at us from the Bay of Bisque and Devonport, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Bristol, and Cheltenham all disappear. Scuttle and exfil via basic submarine. Whole thing takes less than an hour. Only defense is a fleet of new Destroyers to give us proper missile defense but that will take 20 years and the cost of defending cities with THADD and AsterAshore etc. is more than 8-10 Aster-30 Block 1NT equipped Destroyers. The governments, MOD and Navy are absolutely negligent.
Not least because it was an RFA that was sent last month to ‘escort’ a Russian destroyer which in turn was escorting a shadow fleet Russian oil tanker through the Channel.
(The precise type of shadow fleet tanker Starmer had promised to intercept and board!)
With specific reference to numbers, when I was commissioned into the Royal Navy, a friend was appointed to join a destroyer in the Third Mediterranean Destroyer Flotilla.
Each flotilla could consist of between five and twenty (yes 20) ships.
And that was just the Med.
Bear in mind we now have only six destroyers in total, only two of which are serviceable.
I suppose a pessimist (realist) might say we don’t need much of an RFA presence.
We have ended up in this situation due to 35 years of deliberate cuts from a series of Leaders of whom we should be deeply ashamed.
We should learn a lesson from the Leader of the country with probably the most effective armed forces in the world - Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel.
I have circulated this one far and wide, please just make sure, as I know you will, that a Reform Government is not persuaded by the MoD to ignore them.
Gawain, you’ve been far too kind as to where the blame lies for this. It lies fair and square on Ben Wallace and the fake-Tories who ignored the problems with the working conditions and salaries and dithered over the contract to rebuild the replacement vessels. Sheer and I’d argue wilful incompetence.
It's good to highlight this sorry and dangerous state of affairs. As a former RN warfare officer I would like to reassure your correspondent that no-one in the seagoing Navy is laughing at you. We all have the greatest respect for your professionalism and, indeed, bravery, as RFA vessels have increasing taken on more warlike missions.
I have carried out countless replenishment-at-sea serials with the RFA, who never missed a single r/v.
In regards in trading a officer
If your lucky enough to get a cadetship and still have a job as an Officer of the watch ( externally lucky) after you gain your certificate
The minimum time from OOW to Master certification is roughly 6- 10 years with on job training and college education and even then you can still be stacked as a officer of the watch
Our Merchant Navy is no more , our Oil and Gas industry which is supplied by offshore support vessels are most manned by cheap labour from Eastern Europe
For once proud seafaring nation , this situation has been made with past and previous governments who believe that a global free trade was the answer and not a nation asset
Sadly that is far too true.
Apologies for some spelling mistakes ( adaptive text 😡) should have proof read before posting, but it makes me so mad how we have slumped to this low and as a ex sea going master
Speaking as an ex ‘Grey Funnel Line’ officer, I utterly and completely agree & sympathise - bad as it is, though, I think the Merchant Marine has fared better than the RN.
I understand and therefore support free trade but as with free market competition internally it should not operate in a vacuum. For internal trade we have laws about market malpractice and monopoly although recent governments have given investigation and enforcement little priority because the became used to the EU doing it (or rather they didn't either unless the French wanted protection).
For international trade the limits we have failed to apply are UK strategic interests. It cannot be right that we have no merchant marine or significant fishing industry. It would not be right to try to monopolise the former although we should take control of the latter.
With a merchant marine we could better man the RFA and the RN.
There also needs to be protection of critical industrial capabilities so we can sustain our forces and our country regardless of dumping or embargoes by others. For instance, we need aritish based and managed motor industry, food production nd processing, energy infrastructure manufacture, building materials production and armaments.
It was shocking to learn, for instance, that Britain is now incapable of producing pharmaceutical products - it seems soi much has been sh=ut down in favour of China we can't even produce our own pain killers.
I have a head ache!
The state of our armed forces is a national disgrace. I would love to see the armed forces greatly enlarged and develop/re-establish their role as an educational organization for young people who do not want to stay in school beyond 16. Army, Navy and Air Force apprenticeships should also be expanded. Many recruits would not stay in the services for more than a few years but they would be equipped to find civilian jobs afterwards and would almost certainly possess a level of confidence and self-discipline that they would not otherwise have developed.
You would need to remove the DEI people first I'm afraid.
Thankyou for writing so eloquently about this. Sadly I fear no one who can do something will. They are destroying the country on purpose.
No one will be laughing when a randomly flagged bulk freight container ship launches 50+ mix of Noor/C-802 cruise, Zolfaghar SRBM, Fateh-110 at us from the Bay of Bisque and Devonport, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Bristol, and Cheltenham all disappear. Scuttle and exfil via basic submarine. Whole thing takes less than an hour. Only defense is a fleet of new Destroyers to give us proper missile defense but that will take 20 years and the cost of defending cities with THADD and AsterAshore etc. is more than 8-10 Aster-30 Block 1NT equipped Destroyers. The governments, MOD and Navy are absolutely negligent.
Posting from my phone so inconsistent typing. I was going to add screw standing there firing MANPADs as those balistics come in.
Bang on the money with this one.
Not least because it was an RFA that was sent last month to ‘escort’ a Russian destroyer which in turn was escorting a shadow fleet Russian oil tanker through the Channel.
(The precise type of shadow fleet tanker Starmer had promised to intercept and board!)
With specific reference to numbers, when I was commissioned into the Royal Navy, a friend was appointed to join a destroyer in the Third Mediterranean Destroyer Flotilla.
Each flotilla could consist of between five and twenty (yes 20) ships.
And that was just the Med.
Bear in mind we now have only six destroyers in total, only two of which are serviceable.
I suppose a pessimist (realist) might say we don’t need much of an RFA presence.
We have ended up in this situation due to 35 years of deliberate cuts from a series of Leaders of whom we should be deeply ashamed.
We should learn a lesson from the Leader of the country with probably the most effective armed forces in the world - Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel.
Am Yisrael Chai
Thank you for this piece Gawain, I have acquaintances in the RFA and its casual destruction is a source of deep anger.
Somebody needs to bang their gong
I have circulated this one far and wide, please just make sure, as I know you will, that a Reform Government is not persuaded by the MoD to ignore them.
I will do all in my power
Gawain, you’ve been far too kind as to where the blame lies for this. It lies fair and square on Ben Wallace and the fake-Tories who ignored the problems with the working conditions and salaries and dithered over the contract to rebuild the replacement vessels. Sheer and I’d argue wilful incompetence.
It's good to highlight this sorry and dangerous state of affairs. As a former RN warfare officer I would like to reassure your correspondent that no-one in the seagoing Navy is laughing at you. We all have the greatest respect for your professionalism and, indeed, bravery, as RFA vessels have increasing taken on more warlike missions.
I have carried out countless replenishment-at-sea serials with the RFA, who never missed a single r/v.