Royal Navy Forced To Retire Frigates Due To Personnel Shortages: Report
The two Type 23 frigates on the chopping block, HMS Argyll and Westminster, have recently been overhauled at major expense to the taxpayer.
BY
OLIVER PARKEN
|
PUBLISHED JAN 6, 2024

有消息稱，英國皇家海軍將因人手短缺被迫退役2艘護(hù)衛(wèi)艦
即將被退役的兩艘 23 型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦“阿蓋爾號”和“威斯敏斯特號”最近剛進(jìn)行了大修，納稅人為此花費(fèi)了巨額資金。
作者：奧利弗·帕肯
發(fā)布時間： 2024 年 1 月 6 日

The U.K. Royal Navy is so short on sailors that it is reportedly having to decommission two Type 23 class frigates in order to staff its new class of frigates. If this comes to pass, it would reduce the service's current fleet of 11 Type 23s to nine. That the frigates may be decommissioned comes at a time when the Royal Navy's major surface combatants are in high demand, including in the Red Sea.
Details on the Royal Navy's possible decision to decommission the Type 23, or Duke class, frigates HMS Argyll and Westminster, commissioned in 1991 and 1994 respectively, were originally reported by The Telegraph newspaper, citing unnamed defense and government sources. The Royal Navy and the U.K. Ministry of Defense have neither confirmed nor denied the claims thus far, and The Telegraph was seemingly unable to establish a timeline for when the frigates' retirement may occur from its sources.

英國皇家海軍面臨嚴(yán)重的人力資源危機(jī)，有報(bào)道稱，英國皇家海軍將不得不為此退役兩艘23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦，以便將其艦員分配給其他的新型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦。如果這一計(jì)劃成為現(xiàn)實(shí)，其23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦部隊(duì)的規(guī)模將由現(xiàn)有的11艘減少到9艘。然而在這些護(hù)衛(wèi)艦可能退役之際，皇家海軍對主要水面作戰(zhàn)艦艇的需求量卻很大，包括在紅海海域執(zhí)行的任務(wù)。
英國的《每日電訊報(bào)》最早報(bào)道了英國皇家海軍可能決定退役分別于 1991 年和 1994 年服役的兩艘23 型（亦即“公爵”級）護(hù)衛(wèi)艦“阿蓋爾”號和“威斯敏斯特”號的細(xì)節(jié)，該消息來自未透露姓名的國防部和政府信息源。迄今為止，英國皇家海軍和英國國防部既沒有證實(shí)但也沒有否認(rèn)這一說法，《每日電訊報(bào)》似乎暫時無法從其信息來源確定上述護(hù)衛(wèi)艦退役的時間表。


HMS Argyll at sea. Royal Navy

“阿蓋爾”號


HMS Westminster off the British coast in 2018. Royal Navy

正在離港的“威斯敏斯特”號，攝于2018 年

"We will have to take manpower from one area of the Navy in order to put into a new area of the force," the newspaper reports, citing an unnamed defense official. Once in service, the crews from the two Type 23 frigates will be sent to work across the future Type 26 fleet, the publication notes. Following their decommissioning, Argyll and Westminster will either be scrapped or sold, according to the newspaper.
An unnamed Whitehall source who spoke to The Telegraph confirmed the personnel changes and retirement plans for the vessels, stating that they will allow the service to focus its attention on "updating the Navy into a modern, hi-tech fighting force."
"It is always emotive when ships that have a long history of service come to the end of their working life," the source claimed. "They and the sailors who crewed them have done the country proud. But decommissioning them is the right decision."
The Royal Navy has already reduced its fleet of Type 23s since they were first introduced. In total, 16 of those vessels were commissioned from 1990 to 2002, and five have been decommissioned thus far. Three of those decommissioned frigates — HMS Norfolk, Marlborough, and Grafton — were sold to the Chilean Navy in the mid- to late-2000s.
Eventually, the Royal Navy seeks to retire all its Type 23 frigates by 2035, which currently form a critical component of its front-line fleet safeguarding British maritime trading routes and other interests. Those frigates will be replaced by Type 26 City class frigates and less capable Type 31 Inspiration class frigates.

該報(bào)援引一位拒絕透露姓名的國防部官員的話說：“我們將不得不從海軍的一個領(lǐng)域抽調(diào)人力以便將其投入到一個新的領(lǐng)域。” 該報(bào)指出，這兩艘23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦一旦退役，其艦員將被派往未來的26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦上服役。據(jù)報(bào)道，“阿蓋爾”號和“威斯敏斯特”號退役后可能將被拆解或出售。
一位不愿透露姓名的白廳消息人士在接受《每日電訊報(bào)》采訪時證實(shí)了關(guān)于這些艦艇的人力變動和退役計(jì)劃，并表示這將使海軍部門能夠集中精力“將海軍升級為一支現(xiàn)代化的高科技戰(zhàn)斗力量”。
消息人士稱：“當(dāng)擁有悠久服役歷史的軍艦即將結(jié)束其使用壽命時，人們總是會感到情緒激動?！?“它們和艦員讓國家感到自豪。但讓它們退役是正確的決定?！?br /> 自23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦首次入列皇家海軍以來，它的數(shù)量一直在持續(xù)減少。1990年至2002 年間，總共有16艘該級護(hù)衛(wèi)艦投入使用，迄今已有5艘退役。其中的三艘——“諾福克”號、“馬爾伯勒”號和“格拉夫頓”號——在2000年代中后期被出售給智利海軍。
最終，英國皇家海軍計(jì)劃在 2035 年之前讓所有的23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦退役，這些護(hù)衛(wèi)艦?zāi)壳笆瞧浔Ｐl(wèi)英國海上貿(mào)易路線和其他利益的前沿艦隊(duì)的重要組成部分。這些護(hù)衛(wèi)艦將被26型“城市”級護(hù)衛(wèi)艦和能力相對較差的31型“靈感”級護(hù)衛(wèi)艦取代。
（譯者：吐槽一下，31型5000多噸的艦體就帶一門57牙簽炮，24發(fā)點(diǎn)防導(dǎo)彈加1拉姆1近防炮，完全就是條巡邏艦，把它歸類為護(hù)衛(wèi)艦實(shí)在是恬不知恥，而且居然還要被用為“威懾”中國？！）


Future Type 26 frigate rendering. BAE Systems

未來的26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦效果圖


Future Type 31 frigate rendering. Babcock

未來的31型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦效果圖
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Previously, the U.K. Ministry of Defense intended to build 13 Type 26 frigates, construction of which began in 2017, which will be larger and more capable than the in-service Type 23s. You can read more about the various features and capabilities of the Type 26 in our previous feature here.
However, in 2015 the total number of Type 26 frigates to be built was reduced to eight, with the remaining five to be made up of smaller Type 31s.
From a numbers perspective, the total crew complement of nine Type 23 frigates would be roughly comparable to eight Type 26s and five Type 31s, if Argyll and Westminster are indeed retired. Type 23 frigates boast a crew complement of 185, with accommodation for up to 205. Type 26 and Type 31s feature crew compliments of 157 and 80-100, with accommodation for up to 208 and 180, respectively. As such, the total number of staff needed to operate nine Type 23s stands at 1,665. The equivalent number for the future fleet of Type 26s and Type 31s ranges from 1,656–1,756.

此前，英國國防部打算建造13艘26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦，該級艦于2017年開始建造，它將比現(xiàn)役的23型噸位更大、能力更強(qiáng)。可以在本網(wǎng)站以前發(fā)布過的文章中詳細(xì)了解26型艦的各種特性和功能。
然而到2015年，計(jì)劃建造的26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦總數(shù)被削減至8艘，其它5艘將由較小的31型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦替代。
從數(shù)字角度來看，如果“阿蓋爾”號和“威斯敏斯特”號確實(shí)退役，那么9艘23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦的艦員總數(shù)將大致相當(dāng)于八艘26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦和五艘31型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦。23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦的艦員編制為185人，其居住空間最多可容納205人。26型和31型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦的艦員編制分別為157人和80-100人，居住空間最多可容納人數(shù)分別為208人和180人。因此，運(yùn)作9艘23型艦所需的人員總數(shù)為 1,665 人。未來26型和31型艦隊(duì)的等效人員范圍為1,656至1,756人。

Irrespective of its future plans, however, the Royal Navy is stretched extremely thin across its global requirements; both in terms of manpower and available vessels.
While U.K. government budget cuts have partly been responsible for manpower shortages in recent years, the service has also experienced a recruitment crisis as of late. Between March 2022 and March 2023, intake for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines dropped some 22.1 percent according to U.K. Ministry of Defense figures, The Telegraph reports. Those figures represent a sharper decline in recruitment compared to the Royal Air Force and the British Army across the same period; which saw a 16.6 percent and 14.6 reduction in recruitment. To put it in other terms, between July 2022 and July 2023, the total workforce of the Royal Navy shrank by some 4.1 percent. As of October 2023, U.K. government statistics note that the total combined strength of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines stood at 37,960.
Critics have decried the possibility of the decommissioning in light of the Royal Navy's shrinking fleet size and broader readiness concerns. The former chairman of the U.K. Parliamentary Defense sext Committee, Tobias Ellwood, described the decision as "baffling" given the U.K.’s surface fleet already remains "massively overstretched."

然而，無論其未來計(jì)劃如何，英國皇家海軍在其全球需求方面都顯得捉襟見肘。無論是在人力還是可用艦艇方面。
盡管英國政府對預(yù)算的削減是造成近年來人力資源缺口的部分原因，但軍方最近也出現(xiàn)了人力招募方面的危機(jī)。據(jù)《每日電訊報(bào)》報(bào)道，根據(jù)英國國防部的數(shù)據(jù)，2022年3月至2023 年3月期間，皇家海軍和海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)的應(yīng)募入伍人數(shù)下降了約 22.1% 。這些數(shù)字表明，與同期的皇家空軍和陸軍召募人數(shù)分別下降了16.6%和14.6%相比，海軍的募兵人數(shù)下降幅度更大。換句話說，在2022年7月至2023年7月期間，皇家海軍總?cè)藬?shù)減少了約4.1%。截至2023年10月，根據(jù)英國政府的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)據(jù)，皇家海軍和海軍陸戰(zhàn)隊(duì)的總兵力為 37,960 人。
鑒于皇家海軍艦隊(duì)規(guī)模的不斷縮小和更廣泛的戰(zhàn)備問題，批評者譴責(zé)了可能退役上述戰(zhàn)艦的決定。英國議會國防特別委員會前主席托比亞斯·埃爾伍德表示，鑒于海軍水面艦艇部隊(duì)已經(jīng)“嚴(yán)重超負(fù)荷運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)”，這一決定“令人費(fèi)解”。


Tobias Ellwood speaking at an event organised by the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA) in Feltham, U.K., August 15, 2023. Photo by Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images

托比亞斯·埃爾伍德于 2023 年 8 月 15 日在英國倫敦費(fèi)爾塔姆由“阿富汗和中亞各國 ”協(xié)會舉辦的活動上發(fā)表演講講話。
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"During the Gulf War the Royal Navy boasted 51 frigates and destroyers," he said. "That number will soon fall to just 16. Yet our world is more dangerous than [at] any time since 1945. The strength of today’s Royal Navy is simply inadequate to handle the ever-complex threat picture that is harming our economy."
Others have pointed to the critical short-term capability gap retiring the frigates may generate, with reference to the recent chain of events to have unfolded in the Red Sea. As it stands, the U.K. has the Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond in the region to protect merchant shipping vessels from Houthi strikes as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian. However, The Telegraph claims that HMS Lancaster, a Type 23 frigate in the region, could be moved in order to support Diamond.

“海灣戰(zhàn)爭期間，皇家海軍還擁有 51 艘護(hù)衛(wèi)艦和驅(qū)逐艦，”他說。“這個數(shù)字將很快會下降到只有16艘。然而，我們當(dāng)前的世界局勢比1945年以來的任何時候都更加危險(xiǎn)。當(dāng)今皇家海軍的實(shí)力根本不足以應(yīng)對危害到我們經(jīng)濟(jì)的日益復(fù)雜的危險(xiǎn)形勢?！?br /> 其他人則指出，鑒于最近在紅海海域發(fā)生的一系列事件，退役上述護(hù)衛(wèi)艦可能會在短期內(nèi)造成嚴(yán)重的軍力缺口。目前，作為“繁榮衛(wèi)士”行動的一部分，英國在該地區(qū)部署有45型驅(qū)逐艦“鉆石”號，以保護(hù)商船免受胡塞武裝的襲擊。然而，《每日電訊報(bào)》稱，23 型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦“蘭開斯特”號可能會被調(diào)動部署至該地區(qū)以支持“鉆石”號。


HMS Diamond at sea. U.K. Defense Ministry photo

英國皇家海軍“鉆石”號驅(qū)逐艦

"We are losing operational ships — which is all very well as long as there's no war in the next few years," said the former First Sea Lord Alan West.
"With the number we’ve got, if we get involved in any action we are really poorly placed. If the government had taken seriously the issue of frigate numbers over the last 10 years, there would be sufficient [numbers] to meet the requirements of trade protection in the Red Sea."
The possible decision to retire Argyll and Westminster could therefore leave a capability gap for the Royal Navy in the near term, especially given that Type 26 frigates are years away from entering service. Both Argyll and Westminster were expected to remain in service until the late 2020s. The first Type 26 frigate, HMS Glasgow, is expected to reach Initial Operating Capability around 2028, while all Type 26 frigates are likely to be completed by the mid-2030s, which lines up with the current retirement plans for the Type 23 fleet.

“我們正在失去作戰(zhàn)艦艇——這一切其實(shí)都挺不錯，如果未來幾年沒有戰(zhàn)事發(fā)生的話，”前第一海務(wù)大臣艾倫·韋斯特說。
“如果以我們現(xiàn)有的（艦艇）數(shù)量參與任何行動，處境確實(shí)都很糟糕。如果政府在過去10年里認(rèn)真對待護(hù)衛(wèi)艦數(shù)量問題，本來可以有足夠的數(shù)量滿足紅海的貿(mào)易保護(hù)需求的?！?br /> 因此，“阿蓋爾”號和“威斯敏斯特”號退役的可能決定可能會在短期內(nèi)給皇家海軍留下軍力缺口，特別是考慮到26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦距離服役還需要好幾年時間的話。“阿蓋爾”號和“威斯敏斯特”號本來預(yù)計(jì)將繼續(xù)服役到20年代末。第一艘26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦“格拉斯哥號”預(yù)計(jì)將在2028年左右達(dá)到初始服役能力，而所有26型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦可能會在30年代中期完工，這與23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦隊(duì)原定的退役時間表相符。


Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Argyll is pictured at the end of Exercise Goalkeeper in the Middle East. U.K. Ministry of Defense

23 型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦“阿蓋爾”號，拍攝于其參加“中東守門員”演習(xí)結(jié)束后

On top of this, opponents have pointed to the many millions of pounds that have been invested in the HMS Argyll and Westminster to have elongated their service lives to the end of the decade. Both vessels were upgraded as part of the Type 23 LIFEX program, completed in 2015 and 2017 respectively, with each refit costing at minimum ￡35 million/$54 million dollars, roughly equivalent to $70 million dollars adjusted for inflation today. More recently, Argyll underwent another multi-million-pound overhaul, while a refit for Westminster that was expected to last less than two years — which began in October 2022 but was suspended in May 2023 — bore an estimated cost of ￡100 million ($127 million).
"That the Royal Navy is forced by a lack of sailors to mothball ships shortly after refits that cost millions of taxpayers' money is further evidence of ministers failing to get to grips with deep problems in defense," The Labor Shadow Defense Secretary John Healey said more recently. "Ministry of Defense mismanagement has wasted at least ￡15 billion of public money since 2010."

除此之外，反對者還指出，英國皇家海軍為“阿蓋爾”號和“威斯敏斯特”號已投入數(shù)百萬英鎊進(jìn)行維護(hù)，以將其使用壽命延長到本世紀(jì)末。這兩艘船都作為23型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦延壽計(jì)劃的一部分進(jìn)行了升級，分別于2015年和2017年完成，每艘艦改裝費(fèi)用至少為3500萬英鎊（約合5400 萬美元），大致相當(dāng)于今天根據(jù)通貨膨脹率調(diào)整后的7000萬美元。最近，“阿蓋爾”號進(jìn)行了一次耗資幾百萬英鎊的大修，而“威斯敏斯特”號則正在進(jìn)行一次升級，預(yù)計(jì)持續(xù)不到兩年 ——該工程于 2022 年 10 月開始，但已于2023年5月被喊停——估計(jì)成本為 1 億英鎊（1.27 億美元）。
工黨影子內(nèi)閣的國防部長約翰·希利表示：“皇家海軍在剛剛才耗費(fèi)幾百萬納稅人資金進(jìn)行改裝后，就由于缺乏人力而被迫將艦艇封存，這進(jìn)一步證明政府部長們未能解決國防領(lǐng)域的深層問題?！弊罱！白?010年以來，國防部因管理不善已經(jīng)浪費(fèi)了至少150億英鎊的公共資金?！?/b>


John Healey MP speaking on the second day of the Labour Party conference, October 9, 2023, in Liverpool, U.K. Photo by Andrew Aitchison / In Pictures via Getty Images

國會議員約翰·希利于 2023 年 10 月 9 日在英國利物浦舉行的工黨大會第二天發(fā)表演講

Then there is the biggest elephant in the room — the Royal Navy's two large Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. Since their genesis, one of the key reasons opponents of procuring the ships put forward was that they would be too expensive and manpower intensive and they would end up robbing from the surface combatant fleet. That is the same fleet that is also tasked with protecting the carriers while on cruise.
The carriers have crews of around 700, but those numbers swell when the air wing is deployed to well over double that number. While this is efficient by large aircraft carrier standards, the cost to build, maintain, and operate these vessels, and provide them with air wings, has been the greatest concern. While carriers are incredibly powerful, they can only be in one place at one time, and that is usually tied up at the pier. Having persistent presence around the globe, especially for a country with a rich naval power history and global interests like the U.K., is increasingly crucial as recent events have highlighted. On the other hand, the carriers provide the U.K. with a power projection capability that is only possessed by a handful of nations. So, whether the huge investment in two carriers was the proper decision or not remains up for debate.

然后是房間里最大的大象——皇家海軍的兩艘大型“伊麗莎白女王”級航空母艦。自它們誕生以來，反對者一直反對采購這級艦艇的主要原因之一是它們過于昂貴且占用過多艦員，最終會從水面艦艇部隊(duì)中掠取人力資源，而水面艦艇部隊(duì)還得負(fù)責(zé)在巡航時為航母保駕護(hù)航。
該級航母（一般情況下）擁有大約 700 名艦員，但當(dāng)部署艦載機(jī)后，艦員數(shù)量將大幅增加一倍以上。雖然按照大型航空母艦的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)來說這仍是高效的，但建造、維護(hù)和操作這些艦艇以及為其提供艦載機(jī)的成本一直是最令人擔(dān)憂的問題。雖然航母非常強(qiáng)大，但它們一次只能出現(xiàn)在一個地方，而且大部分時間都停泊在碼頭上。正如最近（在紅海）發(fā)生的事件所凸顯的那樣，在全球范圍內(nèi)持續(xù)保持軍力存在，對于特別是像英國這樣擁有豐富的海軍歷史和全球利益的國家來說，變得越來越重要。另一方面，航母為英國提供了只有極少數(shù)國家擁有的軍力投放能力。因此，對兩艘航母的巨額投資是否是個正確的決定至今仍存在爭議。


HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Queen Elizabeth pictured at sea for the first time. Wednesday 19 May 2021 saw a historic moment in Britain’s carrier renaissance as HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales met at sea for the first time. Petty Officer Photographer Jay Allen

2021 年 5 月 19 日星期三，皇家海軍“威爾士親王”號和“伊麗莎白女王”號首次編隊(duì)航行，見證了英國航空母艦復(fù)興的歷史性時刻

It remains to be seen if the claims published by The Telegraph are, in fact, official policy. However, if the two frigates are to be decommissioned sooner than previously expected, this would very much fit a pattern of retiring key capabilities in order to free up both funds and personnel. U.K. Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has recently proposed retiring the Albion class Landing Platform Dock (LPD) vessels HMS Albion and Bulwark, the possibility of which raised back in 2019, specifically to free up available manpower.
We will keep our eyes peeled for if, and when, the Type 23 frigates get their decommissioning orders.


《每日電訊報(bào)》發(fā)表的聲明是否確定是官方政策還有待觀察。不過，如果這兩艘護(hù)衛(wèi)艦的退役時間比之前預(yù)期的要早，那么這非常符合退役軍事裝備以向關(guān)鍵軍力釋放資金和人力的模式。英國國防部長格蘭特·沙普斯最近提議將全部兩艘“海神之子”級船塢登陸艦——“海神之子”號 和“堡壘”號退役 ，在 2019 年就提出了這一可能性，特別是為了釋放可用人力。
我們將密切關(guān)注 23 型護(hù)衛(wèi)艦是否以及何時收到退役命令。