Royal Navy Escorts: Protecting the Fleet
- Assorted UK Defence Blog
- Dec 19, 2022
- 8 min read
Updated: Feb 25, 2023
The last couple decades have seen a marked decrease in fleet escort numbers, with the Royal Navy down to just 6 Type 45 Destroyers, and 12 Type 23 Frigates, which will fall to 11 with the decommissioning of HMS Montrose in mid-2023, leaving a total of 18 escorts. In contrast, the need for the RN to secure escort numbers has become more important than ever with the creation of the Carrier Strike and Littoral Strike Groups. This shrink from the heady days of 40+ escorts up until around 2010 has occurred due to a mix of factors; which this article will cover, as well as how the Royal Navy plans to return to around 24 escorts by end of the next decade, and what can be done to increase this even further.
Escort Numbers 1991-2022: There must be some more money we can save, somewhere!?
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and NATO's victory in the First Cold War, the Royal Navy found itself in a rather interesting predicament; it had too many vessels in commission. The Admiralty were building 16 new Type 23 Frigates, and already had 12 Type 42 Destroyers, 14 Type 22 Frigates, 6 Type 21 Frigates, as well as a plethora of ageing Type 12 (L) and Type 12(M) Frigates in commission. This, combined with the bane of all the Armed Forces, John Major's 'Peace Dividend', meant that the Navy needed to make some cuts.
This led the navy to scrap the older Type 12 Frigates in the mid 1990s and sell off the Type 21s to Pakistan and the Batch 1 22s to Brazil, leaving the Navy with a force of 38 Escort vessels. This number was around the right size for the Navy, as with the end of the Cold War the RN transitioned from an ASW force to a more globally-poised posture centered around the Invincible Class Carriers as well as Ocean and the Albions. And then the War on Terror began.
As the various Coalitions marched into Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s, the MOD suddenly realised they were vastly underprepared for a large land campaign. And so, something in the Defence budget had to give, and escorts could (debatably) go. Thus, the remaining Batch 1 Type 42s were sold for scrap, the Batch 2 22s were sold off to Romania and Chile respectively, as was the effectively brand new 3 Type 23s HMS Norfolk, Marlborough and Grafton. In addition, in an attempt to save more money for the campaigns in Afghanistan, the MOD cut the numbers of Type 45s in from the originally envisaged 12 first to 8, and then later to 6. This left the RN with the 8 Type 42s, 13 Type 23s, and the last Batch 3 Type 22s, leaving a total of 25 Escorts in the fleet in the late 2000s. Then there was a bit of a financial crisis.
The Coalition Government came into power in 2010, and decided there was a need for more public savings to help stimulate the economy, and so they bit into the Defence budget. Off went the last 8 Type 42s, and the Batch 3 Type 22s, leaving the fleet effectively in the state it is in currently with 19 Escorts, with the 6 Type 45 Destroyers and remaining 13 Type 23 Frigates. And finally, last year the Integrated Review ordered the decommissioning of Monmouth and Montrose by 2023, leaving the Royal Navy with 17 Escorts by 2023.
Escort Numbers 2022-2040: Things can only get better!
However, the Integrated Review of last year has promised the Royal Navy an uplift, with the hope to return the RN by 2040 to escort numbers pre-2010 of 24 Escorts. This is very welcome news, as the Navy strives to return to being one of the world's premier navies, possibly only succeeded by the US and China, with the return of Carrier Strike and an emphasis on global presence. This, the Navy hopes, will be done by completely replacing the current fleet with a score of new Escort classes including; Type 83 Destroyers, Type 26 Frigates, as well Type 31 and 32 Frigates.
Type 83 Destroyers:
The Integrated Review announced that, in the late 2030s, the Royal Navy would procure a class of new Anti-Air Warfare (AAW) Destroyers to replace the Type 45s in current service. Whilst we know very little about this design, as the class is still in its' concept phase and will not be built for another decade, we can guess that this class will be larger than the current Type 45s, possibly verging on Cruiser size, based on the Type 83 designation, following on from the enormous Type 82 Super-Destroyer HMS Bristol.
Type 26 Frigates:
The Type 26 Frigate emerged out of the Global Combat Ship (GCS) competition to replace the Type 23 Frigates currently in service with the Royal Navy. It is currently planned to replace the eight Anti Submarine Warfare Type 23s in service, with the first in class, HMS Glasgow, being commissioned in 2028. In November 2022, the government announced the ordering of the second batch (Batch 2) of 5 of these Frigates. These vessels will be built on the Clyde by BAE Systems in Glasgow and will consist of Batch 1: HMS Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast, as well as Batch 2: HMS Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh and London. The Type 26 has been an export success within the Commonwealth, with both the RCN and RAN ordering 15 and 9 to modified design specifications respectively.
The Type 26 will arguably be the best and most capable ASW Frigate in the world upon its entry into service, and will provide the Carrier Strike Groups (CSG) with world-class protection from enemy submarines. However, it is a shame that only 8 of these excellent vessels are being built, although the Type 31/2s will make up overall fleet escort numbers.
Type 31 Frigates:
The Type 31 Frigates were created out of the need for a cheaper General Purpose Frigate to replace the five General Purpose Type 31s in service, as it was soon realised that building 13 Type 26s would be unaffordable within the current Defence budget. After a competition between Cammell-Llaird's Leander design and the Arrowhead 140 design by Babcock, the Arrowhead 140 was chosen as the preferred design for these vessels. The Arrowhead 140 design is based on the Danish Iver-Huitfeldt Class Frigates, and has proven a popular and capable design, with Poland ordering 3 and Indonesia 5 to a modified design, as well as being offered to the Hellenic Navy. The five Type 31s for the Royal Navy will be known as the Inspiration Class, and will consist of; HMS Venturer, Bulldog, Campbeltown, Formidable and Active.
The Type 31 is a very capable design, and has plenty of firepower, such as its 57mm main gun and its' pair of 40mm Bofors, but is severely lacking in terms of missile capability. The current design is equipped with just 12 Sea Ceptor cells, and is fitted 'for but not with' Mk 41 VLS cells. Despite this, the design has plenty of room for upgrades, as will be discussed on later in this article. Moreover, the class is fitted with an excellent Mission Bay, which will be extremely helpful in counter-terrorism, counter-smuggling and disaster relief operations.
Type 32 Frigates:
The Type 32 Class Frigates were initially announced in a speech by (then) Prime Minister Boris Johnson in November 2020, in a speech where he promised to return escort numbers to 24 ships by the 2040s, and make the UK the 'foremost naval power in Europe'. Little is known about these vessels, like the Type 83, other than they will follow on from the Type 31 Frigates, and will likely be built in the mid-to-late 2030s. It is highly likely that these ships will effectively be a 'Type 31 Batch 2', with upgrades to their armament and design, as well as a 'autonomous and minehunting capability'.
Escort Numbers: 3 cheap (and simple) ways to increase numbers and lethality
As shown in the previous section, the Royal Navy under current plans as of December 2022 is on track to achieve a force of 24 escorts by the 2040s, as long as funding is secured for the construction of the Type 32s. However, there are ways in which the Navy could (for a fairly low price) increase both lethality and overall escort numbers; giving the RN more 'bang for your buck', so to speak.
The first step in increasing lethality has already been (partially) solved; the procurement of an Interim Anti-Ship Missile. With the retirement of the old Block IC Harpoons in 2023, it looked increasingly likely that the RN would be forced to suffer without an effective counter to large warships until the joint Anglo-French FCASW Missile comes online (optimistically) in 2028. However, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced whilst in Norway last month that the Royal Navy would procure the Norwegian Naval Strike Missile (NSM), with the aim of integrating this onto 3 ships by the end of next year, and on 11 Type 45s and 23s in total. However, a simple way to make this good news even better would be to buy enough NSM to equip 21 vessels in total, which will make sense soon.
Secondly, the Navy can increase its future lethality through upgrade programmes for both the Type 45s and the Type 31/2s. The Type 45 Destroyers are already currently allocated a refit from 2026 onwards in which they will gain 24 Sea Ceptor cells, as well as full Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) capability, alongside the current PIP work which the class are undergoing. Whilst this leaves the Type 45s as extremely capable warships, the Type 31s are, as they stand currently, very undergunned. With the 5 Type 31s predicted to be in service for 2028, it should be top priority for these vessels to either undergo upgrades during their construction, or in a refit soon after commission. This refit will consist of the upgrade of the Type 31s to enlarge their Sea Ceptor cells from 12 to 24 cells, as well as fitting NSM on the upper deck, as well as outfitting the vessels with Mk 41 VLS cells, which they currently 'fitted for but not with'. This work will hopefully be fitted into the plans for the follow-on Type 32s, which will have this work, among other upgrades, integrated into their designs.
Finally, the Royal Navy has an affordable option for increasing escort numbers to 29 vessels with the refitting of the Batch 2 Rivers, as touched upon in great depth by Navy Lookout. In my view, a mix between the OPV Max and Corvette models that Navy Lookout discussed would be best for these upgrades, with the main 30mm gun being replaced with the 57mm main gun of the Type 31/2s, as well as a pair of 30mm guns on the bridge wings. Moreover, as mentioned previously, the OPVs would be equipped with NSM launchers on their aft superstructure, adding much needed lethality to these vessels, as well as light countermeasures. Finally, a small containerised hanger should be fitted to the aft deck for a medium sized UAV, which could be capable of equipping a small towed array, or a couple Martlet missiles. Whilst these 2,000 ton vessels are too small to adequately operate at great distance, and are too small for work with the Carriers, their inherent forward-deployed nature and decent sea-keeping would, if upgraded, make them a very useful escort for the Littoral Strike Groups (LSG), with LSG (North) being deployed to the High North and the Mediterranean, and LSG (South) being deployed to their main base in Duqm, Oman in 2023 for deployments in the Indo-Pacific.
Bibliography:
Comments