33: Making the Royal Navy More Lethal

Our guests on this episode of the podcast are Dr Emma Salisbury and Will Freer, who recently wrote a commentary for Warships IFR, headlined ‘How to Achieve a More Lethal Royal Navy’, which was based on their recent report for the Council on Geostrategy.

Here they discuss various topics associated with the report with podcast host Iain Ballantyne. They include the Royal Navy’s role today, what ‘being more lethal’ means in reality and also component parts of ‘more lethality’.

In addition, the ideal size of the Royal Navy’s destroyer and frigate force is touched on and also the importance of fleet size, especially in the drone era. Other aspects of lethality are highlighted, including the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and the importance of an efficient recruitment system for the RN (along with retention of those already in the Naval Service).

Iain asks if, in light of the new UK Government, how likely we are to see a pruning back of current warship orders, for the Type 26 and/or Type 31 frigates.

With the scars of the notorious 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) still running deep - and the state of UK Defence not getting much better during subsequent reviews - can we be optimistic about the defence review now underway, especially with Lord Robertson at the helm? Or can we kiss hopes for a more lethal Royal Navy goodbye?

To read Emma and Will’s report, called ‘A more lethal Royal Navy: Sharpening Britain’s naval power,’ in full https://www.geostrategy.org.uk/research/a-more-lethal-royal-navy-sharpening-britains-naval-power/
Follow the Council on Geostrategy on X @ConGeostrategy
Web site: geostrategy.org.uk

To read a concise summary of the same report, written by its authors, get the July 2024 edition of Warships IFR https://warshipsifr.com/issues/

•Dr Emma Salisbury is a fellow at the Council on Geostrategy, specialising in naval matters, defence-industrial policy, and military procurement. She recently completed her PhD with a dissertation focused on the history of the US military-industrial complex. She is also a senior staffer for a Member of Parliament and an assistant editor at War on the Rocks.
Follow her on X @salisbot

•William Freer is a Research Fellow in National Security at the Council on Geostrategy, where his work centres around the Council's 'Strategic Advantage Cell' exploring the key foreign and defence policy issues facing the UK. Before joining the Council he did War Studies at King's College London and went on to work in the world of consulting. He is also an Associate Fellow with the Royal Navy's Strategic Studies Centre.
Follow him on X @william_freer

•Iain Ballantyne is the founding and current Editor of Warships IFR (first published in 1998) along with its ‘Guide to the Royal Navy’ (since 2003) and ‘Guide to the US Navy’ (since 2018). Iain is also author of the books ‘Hunter Killers’ (Orion) and ‘The Deadly Trade’ (Weidenfeld & Nicolson), both about submarine warfare, plus ‘Arnhem: Ten Days in The Cauldron’ and ‘Bismarck: 24 Hours to Doom’ (published by Canelo). In 2017 Iain was awarded a Fellowship by the British Maritime Foundation, which promotes awareness of the United Kingdom’s dependence on the sea and seafarers. Visit his web site Bismarckbattle.com and follow him on X @IBallantyn

The next (Sept) edition of Warships IFR is published on 16.8.24 in the UK and also deployed globally. Visit the magazine web site http://bit.ly/wifrmag Also, follow it on X @WarshipsIFR Facebook @WarshipsFR and Warships IFR TV on YouTube @warshipsifrtv3668 For more on various editions of the magazine https://bit.ly/wifri