28 NAVY NEWS, JULY 2010


Fleet Ops – nerve centre of the Navy


WHO runs the Navy? That’s a big question, and it all depends in what you mean


by ‘runs’. The Government has a pretty


big say, as does the top brass – the title ‘Commander-in-Chief Fleet’ is a bit of a giveaway. But who actually runs the Navy – who are the people (figuratively) pushing little models of Type 23s and commando units around a map of the world? To meet these people you have


to travel some way inland, to Fleet Operations at Northwood in Middlesex – the nerve centre of the Royal Navy. Part controller, part emergency call centre,


ongoing tasks) and Effects Requirement Documents (specific one-off requests) are put to the Fleet Ops Policy team, which will determine exactly what the customer is trying to achieve, and work out the best way to achieve it.


Once the details are finalised, the proposal is passed on to Fleet Commitments in Whale Island, which feeds it into the main plot, along with manpower factors and long-term ship programmes, taking maintenance and training into account.


The result is a Long Term Operational Schedule


(LTOS) – part agony aunt,


part diplomatic fixer, Fleet Ops sends out men (and women) and machines to achieve a result, and they keep our shores safe. And if anything untoward happens anywhere in the world affecting a vessel,


aircraft or


vehicle from the Senior Service, or to a sailor or Royal, these people are the first to know and the first to react. It’s a big job for a diverse team, led by Commander (Operations) Rear Admiral Mark Anderson. And it’s a job which requires a breadth and depth of knowledge in a specialist field which can only come from experience. Fleet Ops is the sharp end of a mechanism which turns raw materials (ships, people, aircraft) into deployments and taskings. The process can start way back, sometimes decades ago, with the identification of a need. That might come from the


a naval Five-Year Plan. Using the LTOS as a guide,


planners can then create the tools to turn the plan into reality, a process known as force generation.


Picture: Carrillion


highest levels of Government – such as the old Armilla patrol and its modern Telic equivalents, keeping Gulf sea lanes safe. Or it may be another


Government department acting as a ‘customer’, such as defence diplomacy events for the Foreign Office or fishery protection patrols for DEFRA. There may even be an urgent and specific request for a short- term Naval presence in a particular area at a particular time, perhaps arising from intelligence garnered by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) or HM Revenue and Customs. These Maritime Regional Engagement Plans (the strategic,


All the elements of a deployment – submarines,


ships,


aircraft, Royal Marines – are earmarked, equipped, and handed over to Flag Officer Sea Training to make sure they are fit and ready for the job in hand.


Once FOST has ticked the


box, the force – be it a single minehunter or a carrier task group – is ready to go, and that is where Fleet Ops takes over. They run the detailed short-


term programme, out to around six months – longer in some cases, such as submarines and surveying.


They keep an eye on each


and every unit, making sure it is achieving the agreed aim. And they spring into action if things go awry.


The only exceptions are those units under the command of Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ), such as the Middle East and the Falklands, though full command, together with functions such as engineering and logistics support, remain with Fleet Ops. And the bombers – Britain’s


Trident nuclear deterrent submarines – are dealt with by a discrete unit ‘down the hole’, i.e. in the Northwood bunker, but still part of the Fleet Ops team. The key to Fleet Ops’ success is the flow of information, both official and informal, and the ability to tackle crises both large and small.


Fleet Ops is a classic example of the whole being very much more effective than the sum of its parts. DACOS (Ops),


currently


Capt Paul Abraham and always a submariner, is the man linking the team to the upper echelons of Fleet. In terms of the daily spadework, the Ops team is headed by Fleet Operations Officer (FOO) Cdr Tim Peacock, an aviator who drove HMS Monmouth on her round- the-world deployment a couple of years ago, and the Submarine Operations Officer (SOO) Cdr Mark Honnoraty, who drove HMS Shoreham, HMS Vigilant and HMS Vengeance,


Around FOO and SOO are a cluster of desks, each dealing with a particular element or facet of the Naval Service, from engineering to Royal Marines. The proximity means that a problem with the Merlin flight on a frigate can be bandied about so that all aspects of the problem can be explored from the outset, from changes to an operational programme to logistical support through the provision of spare parts.


l You are never alone, even in an empty sea... any concerns can be passed straight on to Fleet Ops, who will take it on and sort out an answer


Picture: LA(Phot) Caroline Davies Just as importantly, the Marine


Engineer Officer or logistics linchpin in a far-distant ship is not merely a disembodied voice at the


l Major surface ships programmer Lt Cdr Charlie Guy gets to grips with one of the day’s issues at Fleet Ops in Northwood


Picture: Carrillion sailors,


l Astute prepares to vent her tanks (thank you submariners far and wide who reacted to last month’s story – a boat vents its tanks to submerge, blows its tanks to surface. We will pass that piece of information on to the skimmer officer concerned... ). The new submarine was conducting trials off Scotland – and the safe water she required to dive into and manoeuvre was overseen by Fleet Ops


end of a telephone line, because every unit that deploys sends its command team and Heads of Department to a pre-deployment brief at Oswald Building. By chewing the fat with their


own ‘minder’ at Fleet Ops, key personnel on a deploying ship or task group can talk about any potential Pooh-traps or problems which other ships have highlighted.


FOO and SOO are the point of contact for the Commanding Officer, and the various HoDs will disperse around the office to talk to their Fleet Ops counterparts. Once the ship is on task, any causes for concern will be raised first with Cdr Peacock or one of his colleagues, who between them man the desks day and night, 365 days a year. Two of those desks are occupied by the Fleet Operations Maintenance Officers,


one


dedicated to submarines. FOMO (SM) Cdr Richard Hutchins said: “On a day-to-day basis we get the operational defect (Opdef) reports from submarines, and it veers and hauls on a daily basis – sometimes it is relatively calm, other days it’s a bit frantic.” Crucial to any action taken on an Opdef is its consequences, which can ripple far and wide – what are the implications for Fleet and other interested parties, and how can the problem be fixed? “We work very closely with other departments, which is why this open floor plan is very useful,” said Cdr Hutchins. “I sit next to SOO, and we


have a continuous dialogue about the effects on an operation of a defect. “We pick things up as we go along – you can pick up the buzz, and tell when things are changing. “That way we tend to hear things much sooner and get in at ground level. “We need to look at major opdefs


which might affect the programme or keep a submarine alongside, preventing it from delivering what was promised, whereas the lower- level, niggly stuff we just keep a weather eye on.”


SOO has a dedicated team


that also provides safe water for submarines to dive in, as was the case with Astute’s recent deep- dive trials off Scotland. Cdr Mark Irwin, the surface ship FOMO, explained how a typical scenario might play out. “For example, a Type 23 might


have defects with her diesel generators,” said Cdr Irwin. “The ship calls us to explain


what the problems are, what they are doing about it, what they need and what the effect on current and future tasking may be. “We then contact the team at DE&S that supports diesels and discuss repair options, availability of spares and start to formulate a plan for rectification of the defects.


“The loggies’ desk here at Fleet Ops can tell us the best way to get spares to the ship quickly with the minimum of risk. “We may then need to talk with the surface ship scheduler – who is just a few desks away – to change the ship’s programme to optimise the repair plan and the maintenance of the ship’s capability. “As well as dealing with the


high level – such as recommending changes to ship’s programmes – my team also get involved in the real detail, from identifying sources for needed stores using Google to arranging for people joining ships to take much-needed stores with them. Only smallish items, obviously! “We almost go from the sublime to the ridiculous, but the bottom line is we are available 24/7 and always push to keep ships as operationally capable as possible.”


Once again the key to a


successful conclusion is that the Fleet Ops team faces both ways – troubleshooting and solving the problem in theatre while also feeding timely and accurate information back up the chain of command to those who need to know.


The same ethos is espoused by the Operational Logistics team, according to First Officer Ed Read RFA. “We act as a broker or liaison, sitting in between the front line and logistics,” said 1/O Read. “While we do not actually move


anything we facilitate it, which is why we have 24-hours-a-day logistics cover. “We can start pushing and


prioritising, making sure it gets done – and maybe come up with novel answers if needed to speed up the process. “If everything works perfectly


we do not have a role, but if it doesn’t we troubleshoot and get it operating. “We are three pussers on the end of a phone to talk through any issues or offer advice. “We bounce ideas around and, if something is not quite right, we go in with the appropriate level of authority.”


Each desk in the operations centre fulfils similar roles for the aviation, small ships, mine warfare and others. And from time to time – perhaps in the shadow of a cloud of volcanic ash, or with cold water gushing into the bowels of a Navy ship – these specialists put their heads together to sort out or avoid a crisis as part of the Fleet Incident Response Cell (FIRC), a brains trust with considerable knowledge (and an unrivalled list of contacts) which is expected to handle a hot potato while still keeping the rest of the Fleet programme running smoothly.


See next month’s Navy News for more from Fleet Operations and the FIRC.


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