Welfare of submariners and their families at forefront of Royal Navy chief's mind
The head of the Royal Navy has said the welfare of the Navy’s personnel and their families is at the forefront of his mind, particularly submariners due to the isolated periods they spend at sea.
Admiral Sir Ben Key, who was giving evidence to the Defence Select Committee as part of an inquiry into the military's readiness, said the wellbeing of sailors and submariners keeps him awake at night.
"We ask a huge demand of them, of which the submarine service... go through significant periods of real social isolation from the people they love," he said.
"Therefore, always at the forefront of my mind, is whether or not we are supporting them and their families as best we possibly can to ensure the pressures that are inevitably felt by them are mitigated or eased or supported as best we can."
Admiral Sir Ben was also asked by former defence minister Mark Francois why all six Royal Navy attack submarines were in dock at the same time.
"I don't think any of us at the moment feel particularly comfortable with some of the really challenging length of submarine maintenance periods that are necessary and what that plays out," he responded.
He also said there's a lot of work between the Navy, industry partners and the submarine delivery agency on working out how to be more targeted, effective and productive over the necessary maintenance that older submarines require.
"These very complicated, complex bits of kit have a very demanding safety case associated with them and meeting the requirements of that safety case is, to my mind, absolutely critical as well as the operational capabilities," he explained.
"We have to find ways of being as effective as possible so that the burden that is felt by the sailors and their families is minimised.
"Have we got that right yet? No we have not."
Mr Francois said "it was all over the internet" that the UK did not have a single attack submarine at sea.
"That is operational failure isn’t it?" he asked.
But Admiral Sir Ben replied: "If there was no need for those boats to be at sea, that’s not operational failure.
"The boats on that particular day, we were meeting the readiness profile that was required and you can be alongside and at very short notice to sail, and if that's the right place to put a boat at the time then that’s entirely sensible.
"We've got to be very careful that we don’t confuse being at sea with readiness."
Mr Francois argued the Royal Navy's submarines could not be monitoring their Russian counterparts if the Navy's submarines were "tied up alongside".
But Admiral Sir Ben said: "If there are no Russian submarines in the North Atlantic, why would we need to deploy one of our own submarines?
"Then we are burning up core time, we’re burning up sailors' time, we're using time that could be used more efficiently and effectively elsewhere."
However, Mr Francois said not having one at sea was "an embarrassment".
Admiral Sir Ben said he refuted Mr Francois' statement, adding there was "no need for any of those submarines to be at sea that day".
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