Max Hastings has today launched a withering attack on the Royal Navy for its inability to intervene effectively to prevent piracy. He cites the case of Paul and Rachel Chandler who were abducted from their yacht under the noses of the crew of the RFA Wave Knight. Despite warning shots fired to deter the pirates they managed to escape with their prize.
Initially the Navy reports had said that the Wave Knight encountered the couple’s empty yacht. Only a leak from a crew member revealed the truth.
A truth that caused the MOD some embarassment.
Citing the Royal Navy’s heroic and glorious past Max Hastings avers that the crew should have done more. Although he hints at the political and legal position in his article, for me he misses the point.
When embarking on operations, each vessel’s Commanding Officer (CO) will be given a sometimes lengthy list of ‘Rules Of Engagement’ (RoE) to follow. The CO is not given carte blanche to act at will. These RoE can be quite prescriptive and include assessments of direct threat to life against actions available. Should the ship’s CO wish to have these amended he can signal up the chain of command to gain the required amendments, but there is no guarantee these will be forthcoming. With today’s extremely powerful naval communications systems a CO will always be expected to use this route.
RoE are issued on a political basis to ensure that forces at the front line act in accordance with the aims of the conflict and within the rules of law and war. One prime example of the RoE system at play is the case of the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands war. Commanders at sea had to wait for a war cabinet meeting to agree to amend the RoE allowing the Conqueror to sink the Belgrano.
Apart from basic infantry training on joining and maybe the odd short refresher course I would suspect that the modern sailor’s training revolves around large scale technical naval operations.
They do not receive the same day to day exposure to hand to hand combat principles and training as their counterparts in the army and marines. And the SBS and SAS would not want their valuable and very finite personnel tied up on a ship thousands of miles away.
I do not doubt the Navy’s willingness to embark on robust anti-piracy operations, but they need the correct training at all levels and most importantly the correct RoE, which is down to the politicians to get right. If they want action then people on both sides as well as the innocent and hostages are going to get hurt and die. This must be reflected in the RoE or the CO’s hands will always be tied.
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Tags: chandlers, max hastings, News, opinion, pirates, Politics, royal navy, somalia, wave knight
Wave Knight is not a Royal Navy vessel, it is a Royal Fleet Auxilliary. These vessels are deployed to support the Royal Navy. Wave Knight is actually a tanker – she is armed (albeit lightly). RFA’s are expected to go into harms way, but are manned by civilians (merchant seamen). The RFA ships belong to the MOD. They undertake essential and potentially dangerous work in support of the fleet. Max Hastings is missing the point. This situation wouldn’t have arisen if the Royal Navy was equipped with adequate numbers of fighting ships (frigates and destroyers). RFA’s now find themselves being deployed to the fill the gaps. This wont be the first time nor will it be the last. In my view the rise of the Pirates can be attributed to our own fleets decline.
The previous comment is quite right. The RFA’s are not equipped or trained to fight Pirates, and if succesive Governments had not cut the number of Frigates and Destroyers we would not be expecting tankers to go in all guns blazing. Even a Royal Navy ship would not be able to go in all guns blazing at will. And while it is of course unfortunate that kidnappings happen, sadly anyone sailing off the East Coast of Africa is taking their fate in their own hands at the moment.
As noted in previous comments, Wave Knight is not a warship, but a naval tanker and its crew are civilians and not naval personnel.
The tone of the article is well in line with the general principle of the said publication, whereby everything is run down. They appear to frequently lament the lack of respect people in their view show, yet one can ask what exactly is it that the said publication respects?
In any case, the Rules of Engagement are a key issue here and by allowing warships to pursue and destroy pirate’ vessels and accepting that this could lead to pirate casualties, the issue could probably be tackled more efficiently.
The current half-hearted action of not just RN but at least European navies in the region in general seems to focus more on enshrining the human rights of the pirates and avoiding litigation etc.
[...] are ready to step up to the mark to be counted and do their job. The recent operation involving the RFA Wave Knight and Mr and Mrs Chandler, which attracted some adverse comment about the Royal Navy, was not a failure of front line staff [...]
[...] … we met 3 amazing peeps; Mikko Reinikainen, Maija Itkonen from Powerkiss and RedDot award …Max Hastings has a pop at the Royal Navy The Economic VoiceMax Hastings has today launched a withering attack on the Royal Navy for its inability to intervene [...]