Navy Lookout – HMS Stirling Castle sailed from Birkenhead on 22nd October to begin sea trials, four months after transferring from the RFA to the RN. The ship, which will be based in Portsmouth, is the first dedicated mothership designed to support autonomous mine countermeasures systems.

Navy Lookout – Having been inactive since June 2024, primarily due to the shortage of personnel, RFA Tiderace will soon return to active service.

Council on Geostrategy – For this week’s Big Ask, we asked eight experts: Is the Russian Navy a capable threat to Britain?

Navy Lookout – In this guest article, Tom Hoyland considers the parallels between mass-produced wartime corvettes and today’s uncrewed systems as a means to increase anti-submarine effect.

Navy Lookout – Defence Eye reports that General Sir Gwyn Jenkins has launched an urgent 100-day drive to tackle systemic submarine maintenance delays. He has ordered the creation of a new Submarine Maintenance Recovery Plan designed to urgently address issues causing extended patrols for the Vanguard-class and the chronically poor availability of Astute-class boats.

Navy Lookout – Towed array sonar is a sinuous cable of hydrophones trailed astern of warships and submarines, a technology that has taken ASW from speculative hunting at short range to a long-distance pursuit. Here we look at this key sensor and its development.

Navy Lookout – After a visit to Japan that marked deepening UK-Japanese defence cooperation, HMS Prince of Wales and the UK-led Carrier Strike Group have begun the return leg of their global deployment. Departing Tokyo on 2 September, the group has continued to conduct a succession of multinational exercises.

Navy Lookout – The RN has launched project VANQUISH, seeking proposals from industry for a Fixed-Wing, Short Take Off and Landing, Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP). This is the first step towards meeting the First Sea Lord’s vision for a large technical demonstrator UAS to be flown from an aircraft carrier in a very short timeframe.

Navy Lookout – The Fleet Air Arm’s Wildcat helicopters have achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) with the Sea Venom missile, bringing a modern long-range strike option into front-line service. The weapon can now be carried on global deployments, restoring a capability absent since the retirement of Sea Skua in 2017.

Navy Lookout – As part of the Royal Navy’s Future Air Dominance System (FADS) concept, BAE Systems has proposed low-cost, rapidly-built uncrewed/ minimally crewed vessels to supplement the Type 83 destroyer. Drawing on the legacy of the Triton trimaran demonstrator built for the RN in 2000, the proposed Sensor-Effector Platforms (SEP), could form a key element of the disaggregated air defence architecture.

Navy Lookout – In what is becoming the new normal, an RN submarine returned to Faslane today after another lengthy patrol lasting more than six months, maintaining the nation’s nuclear deterrent.

Navy Lookout – With HMS Lancaster about to leave Bahrain for the last time, the Royal Navy is weighing options for maintaining a forward presence in the Gulf. One proposal under consideration is to deploy a Batch II River-class Offshore Patrol Vessel equipped with the Peregrine Rotary Wing Uncrewed Air System to cover some of the departing frigate’s capabilities.

Navy Lookout – Following the outline FADS requirement issued by the RN earlier this year, BAE Systems has begun development of its Air Warfare Command Ship solutions and other supporting elements. At DSEI 2025, the company shared their initial design ideas, including increased automation, modularity, and efforts to ensure affordability.

Navy Lookout – We visited HMS Mersey to speak with the Commanding Officer and learn how this Batch I OPV continues to make a valuable contribution to UK maritime security. Now more than two decades old, Mersey remains an active and adaptable platform, with recent upgrades and new ways of working helping to extend her utility.

Naval News – After a gap of two decades, the UK Royal Navy (RN) is reintroducing an influence minesweeping capability as part of the broader recapitalisation of its mine countermeasures (MCM) force under the Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme.

Navy Lookout – The new First Sea Lord, General Gwyn Jenkins, used his opening address at DSEI 2025 to set out an uncompromising plan to move the Royal Navy to full war-fighting readiness within four years. He stressed that the era of incremental change is over and that taut delivery timelines must drive every programme from now on.

Navy Lookout – HMS Tyne has already steamed more than 32,000 nautical miles in 2025 on operations close to the UK. Here we look briefly at the activity of the ship and the value of the OPVs

Navy Lookout – The current condition of the RN is alarming, with almost every aspect of its capabilities understrength or overstretched. This long-form article assesses the current situation, analyses the root causes, and considers how improvements can be achieved.

Navy Lookout – HMS Prince of Wales has completed a double replenishment at sea in the Philippine Sea, receiving fuel, ammunition, and stores from a US supply ship while continuing fast jet and helicopter operations. The evolution highlights RN reliance on allied logistics support amid the absence of a dedicated solid stores replenishment ship.

Center for Maritime Strategy – The ongoing deployment of the British carrier strike group to the Indo-Pacific, named Operation High Mast,” was in the news this week for both regular and unusual reasons. The strike group is  participating in the semi-annual Pacific exercise Talisman Sabre but it also came under fire from American Under Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who purportedly commented that the United States did not want the U.K. naval group in the Pacific and preferred that it instead cover Britain’s own near abroad, perhaps in the North Atlantic or Mediterranean Sea. Opinions differ on where and when U.S. allies should deploy in support of U.S. operations, but Operation High Mast is not a new concept. It is a scaled down version of the early twentieth century global voyage of the U.S. Great White Fleet. This concept, with the modern label of a “cruising strategy,” has been employed by the U.K. Royal Navy on numerous occasions; from the largely successful Empire Cruise of 1923-1924, and the disastrous mission of Force Z, which included the namesake of the present HMS Prince of Wales currently conducting Operation Highmast. A cruising strategy is a good way for a power with limited resources to “show the flag” with its arguable best ships in support of wider geostrategy. It does however have significant limitations in that the cruising force might not be in the right place at the right time to directly impact national policy.

Navy Lookout – The RN has re-established a minesweeping capability for the first time in nearly two decades with the acceptance of three USV-based autonomous Combined Influence Sweep systems, developed and delivered under the Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) Block 1 programme.

Navy Lookout – RFA Argus arrived in Portsmouth on 8th June, but is now unable to sail to Falmouth for repair as her safety certification has been withdrawn. This means the Royal Navy / RFA currently does not have a single active amphibious vessel.

USNI News – U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II fighters will join Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales (R09) on its Pacific deployment, according to the Royal Navy.

The War Zone – After a four-decade period of service, the UK has called time on the Trafalgar class, as it looks to an expanded future force of hunter-killers.

NavyLookout – HMS Anson arrived back on the Clyde this morning. This confirms no RN submarine has been deployed in support of the Carrier Strike Group deployment for the Indo-Pacific leg, and there are no RN SSNs at sea for now.