UK must focus on the Atlantic, ‘foundation’ of Britain’s security: Navy chief

PARIS – The United Kingdom must strengthen naval readiness to keep the Atlantic open and protect the sea lanes, undersea cables and energy infrastructure vital to the country, the chief of the Royal Navy said.

Britain faces threats not seen since the Cold War, with Russia increasingly probing the North Atlantic and around critical underwater infrastructure, First Sea Lord Gen. Gwyn Jenkins said in a speech at the historical Admiralty House in central London on Wednesday, with repeated references to the Battle for the Atlantic during World War II.

Jenkins cited the memoirs of Winston Churchill on the significance of the Atlantic, saying the wartime leader understood the sea is not peripheral to Britain but existential. The Atlantic remains central to U.K. security and to NATO’s ability to reinforce Europe, according to the First Sea Lord, who said a “whole-nation effort” is required to defend the sea.

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“We must know what is happening in the Atlantic, protect what matters, keep open the sea lanes, and convince any adversary that the cost of coercion or aggression would outweigh any possible gain,” Jenkins said, according to a transcript of the speech. “If we are to prevail in the Atlantic again, we must strengthen our warfighting readiness and rediscover what it means to be a maritime nation.”

The First Sea Lord said British dependence on the Atlantic has grown in the past 80 years, with almost all of the U.K.’s trade moving by sea, and almost all its energy, food, raw materials and exports flowing via maritime routes. He noted a “dangerous paradox,” saying that while the Atlantic has arguably never mattered more to the country, the sea is increasingly invisible in the public’s mind.

Control of the Atlantic has always been closely linked to control of its northern approaches, the Navy chief said, citing the defeat of Norway during World War II that allowed the Nazis to threaten allied shipping lanes, and the importance of the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap during the Cold War.

The Norwegian Sea, the Arctic and the northern approaches are not distant theaters but “form our open sea border with Russia,” according to Jenkins, who said the Joint Expeditionary Force is increasingly important there. The U.K.-led military alliance includes the five Nordic countries, the three Baltic states as well as the Netherlands.

Jenkins said the ten JEF countries will finalize a “Northern Navies” agreement this year to move beyond what he called episodic activity and to create a persistent, integrated maritime force, in response to the security threat presented by Russia.

Russia has advanced submarines that are increasingly difficult to track, long-range precision weapons and specialist deep-water systems, and is “probing, testing and mapping,” Jenkins said. The Royal Navy is spending a growing amount of time and resources to monitor Russian vessels, on average deploying two British warships every week for that purpose, according to the navy chief.

The First Sea Lord defended plans to create a “hybrid Navy,” saying future advantage will come from integrated networks linking crewed vessels, drones, sensors and data. He said that while there are skeptics, the concept is not optional.

“It is no longer possible to defend a vast, contested ocean with crewed warships alone,” Jenkins said. “A ship operating alone is now vulnerable. But a ship commanding a network of large uncrewed escorts, drones and autonomous sensors, that is a different proposition. That’s why we must blend old and new, crewed and uncrewed.”