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Navy News JULY 1993
BATTLE OF THE
A windy day at Liverpool — the Prince and Princess of Wales on the steps of the cathedral for the Battle of the Atlantic commemoration service. Inset: one of the Royal Marines Bands taking part in the biggest Naval parade since World War II. • Special supplement inside.
RNR loses minesweepers, manpower cut by 25 per cent
After more than 30 years' part-time service, the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service is to be disbanded — and the Royal Naval Reserve will be cut by a quarter. The reduction in the naval reserve forces announced by Defence Secretary Malcolm Rifkind will save about £8m a year. The change in the international situation with the demise of the Warsaw Pact had largely obviated their major roles in the defence of ports and anchorages and Naval Control of Shipping.
Nuclear refits go to Buzz Devonport Dockyard has won the long battle for the r e f i t t i n g of the Royal Navy's nuclear submarines after putting in a bid £64m lower than its Rosyth rival. R o s y t h , however, becomes the principal refit dock yard for surface warships with an allocated programme over 12 years, comprising over half the total and including all aircraft carriers, almost all the Type 42 destroyers, all the Hunt MCMVs and other refits of Type 23 and Type 22 frigates. Flag Officer Plymouth Vice-Admiral Sir Roy Newman said he was delighted that Oevonport was the Government's preferred location for the nuclear work. "At the end of the day the Navy's interest is best served by w h i c h e v e r arrangement is designed to refit and maintain our ships and submarines efficiently and cost effectively," he said.
"The Royal Navy has reviewed the continuing need for those tasks and concluded that the scale and immediacy of a perceived threat to the western alliance has reduced to such an extent that it is no longer sensible to earmark discrete forces for them," he told the Commons. "In the extreme circumstances of a rise in tension and a direct threat to this country, there will be sufficient time to provide such forces by an appropriate expansion, if necessary, of the Royal Naval Reserve or regeneration of the exregular reserves. "The end of that requirement removes the need for 710 RNR personnel and all but 135 of the RNXS ratings. After careful • Turn to page 32 Right: last of the 'Reserve Fleet' — HMS Roebuck leads a squadron of nine mine countermeasures vessels — including HM Ships Arun, Dovey, Itchen, Orwell, Spey and Waveney, manned entirely by Royal Naval Reserves — on Exercise Linked Seas 93 south of Portugal. The biggest NATO exercise for ten years also attracted HNS Chiddingfold, Mlddleton and Quorn, under the control of MCM1.
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