Ministry of Defence says Ben Key’s conduct fell far short of standards expected after investigation
The former head of the Royal Navy, Ben Key, has been fired and stripped of his commission after it was discovered that the married admiral had been having an affair with a female subordinate.
The Ministry of Defence said Key’s behaviour had been found to have fallen far short of the standards expected, after an investigation triggered when the woman’s husband made a complaint.
Continue reading...Royal Navy leader also accused of overseeing denial of resettlement claims made by Afghans who aided UK forces
A general accused of failing to report evidence of war crimes committed by the SAS in Afghanistan has been appointed as the new head of the Royal Navy.
Gen Sir Gwyn Jenkins – the first Royal Marine to become First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff – replaces Adm Sir Ben Key, who was removed from it last week while under investigation over allegations of misconduct.
Continue reading...Lt Cdr Martyn Mayger, who took charge of HMS Tyne in February, under investigation over sexual allegations
A Royal Navy commander has been removed from his role less than three months into post while he is investigated over sexual allegations.
Lt Cdr Martyn Mayger took charge of HMS Tyne, a warship that operates in UK and European waters on security tasks, in February.
Continue reading...Adm Sir Ben Key has been asked to ‘step back’ as first sea lord, after MoD said he had departed for ‘private reasons’
The head of the Royal Navy has been suspended pending an investigation.
Adm Sir Ben Key has been asked to “step back” as first sea lord, sources at the MoD confirmed on Friday.
Continue reading...Bridget Phillipson calls 2.5% target ‘ambitious’ days before PM meets with Donald Trump in Washington
Keir Starmer is unlikely to set out a plan this week for when the UK will increase its defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, a cabinet minister has indicated.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the target was ambitious, despite Labour previously claiming it would set out a path to meeting the spending goal after the strategic defence review in the spring.
Continue reading...Decision to change name of new submarine to HMS Achilles is ‘craven political correctness’, says ex-navy officer
Downing Street has defended the government’s decision to change the name of a new attack submarine from HMS Agincourt to HMS Achilles, after critics accused ministers of trying not to upset the French.
A No 10 spokesperson called the decision to change the planned name of the vessel “appropriate and fitting”, despite criticism that ministers were being “craven”. Officials say the name Achilles had been chosen in part to pay tribute to an earlier ship of the same name.
Continue reading...Deteriorating security environment and incidents in Baltic have forced military reassessment in northern Europe
Submarines normally operate in secret, lurking in the deep. So when the British defence secretary, John Healey, authorised a Royal Navy Astute-class attack sub to surface close to the Russian “spy ship” Yantar south of Cornwall in November, it was unusual enough.
What was even more notable, however, was that the minister went on to tell the House of Commons on Wednesday what he had done. It was, Healey said, conducted “strictly as a deterrent measure”, as was his decision to accuse the Kremlin of spying on the location of undersea communication and utility cables that connect Britain to the world.
Continue reading...UK defence chiefs see no need to recruit extra sailors as maritime force will become hybrid with uncrewed systems
The Royal Navy of the future will be dominated by robots, drones and uncrewed vessels, leading chiefs to conclude there is no need to try to recruit extra sailors as part of the forthcoming defence review.
Adm Sir Ben Key, the first sea lord, believes the navy has to focus on recruitment and retention rather than seeking more personnel numbers because crew sizes are inevitably falling as military technology evolves.
Continue reading...Lord West says Republican victory is chance to show Britain is willing to prioritise military by allocating 3% of GDP
Keir Starmer is being urged to consider an emergency cash injection into defence and to accelerate Britain’s planned review of its military capabilities before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Senior defence figures are now assessing how Trump’s victory will shape a strategic defence review (SDR) that was already under way in Whitehall, whose findings are due to be reported in the spring. The SDR comes alongside a crucial review of public spending.
Continue reading...Residents told to stay indoors with doors and windows closed as emergency services say there is no nuclear risk from ongoing fire at BAE Systems complex
Two people have been taken to hospital after a fire broke out at BAE Systems’ Barrow-in-Furness shipyard in Cumbria, police said.
Cumbria constabulary said the fire at the nuclear submarine shipyard broke out at about 12.45am and was ongoing.
Continue reading...Keir Starmer to announce expansion in region that will also include business club to increase economic ties
The UK will increase its military and economic presence in the Indo-Pacific to support regional stability, Keir Starmer will announce on Saturday.
In an effort to counter China’s influence, ministers will expand the Royal Navy’s presence in the region and carry out more joint patrols with Pacific island nations.
Continue reading...Former UK spy says in new book Trump ‘apparently unauthorizedly’ took secrets with him
Donald Trump took “British naval secrets” to Mar-a-Lago after he left the White House, the former UK spy Christopher Steele says in a new book.
“I was reliably informed by impeccable sources that among the classified documents which Trump, apparently unauthorizedly, took with him to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency were British naval secrets, some of the most sensitive ones in our governmental system,” Steele writes.
Continue reading...Ben Key confirms several personnel have been sacked, demoted or disciplined as a result of investigations
The head of the Royal Navy has issued an unreserved apology for “intolerable” misogyny in the Submarine Service, after a series of investigations across the navy exposed sexual harassment, bullying and assault of women within its ranks.
First Sea Lord Adm Sir Ben Key said he was “truly sorry” to the women who had suffered “misogyny, bullying and other unacceptable behaviours” while serving their country. “We must be better than this and do better than we have,” he said.
Senior figures forced juniors to tell them ‘shagging dits’, or personal sexual stories.
“Sniffing”, the practice of following the few women around, was “rife”, with women seen as “legitimate targets”.
“At least” one report of rape.
Those in command forced juniors to show them “sports photos”, compromising pictures of their partners, before allowing them to leave the room.
Women’s underwear going missing.
Continue reading...Jonathan Reynolds says he expects Royal Navy ships will continue to be built at the struggling Belfast yard
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has said he is confident that the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast will continue to build ships for the Royal Navy, despite ruling out government support for the struggling company.
Harland & Wolff is part of a consortium on a £1.6bn contract to build three naval fleet solid support ships to supply the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. However, it has faced months of uncertainty over its future.
Continue reading...Payroll data at risk includes names, bank details and addresses of current and former force members, government sources suggest
An estimated 270,000 payroll records belonging to nearly all members of Britain’s armed forces have been exposed to Chinese hackers in a breach at a third-party contractor that was discovered a few days ago.
The data at risk includes names and bank details for full-time military personnel, part-time reservists, including at least one MP, and veterans who left after January 2018. It was managed by a private contractor, SSCL.
Continue reading...Whoever wins the next election, a reckoning is overdue on the costs of Britain’s nuclear deterrent
When Rishi Sunak visited Barrow-in-Furness on Monday he said the Cumbrian town was “mission critical for our country” because of its role building four new nuclear submarines to carry the UK’s nuclear weapons. If you believe Sunak’s erstwhile ally, Dominic Cummings, then that mission faces serious problems.
Cummings, once Boris Johnson’s most powerful adviser, said this month – in characteristically aggressive terms – that spiralling costs were making a mockery of the government’s budget plans. He wrote on X: “the nuclear enterprise is so fkd [sic] it’s further cannibalising the broken budgets and will for decades because it’s been highly classified to avoid MPs thinking about it.”
Continue reading...Nicolás Maduro orders ‘defensive’ manoeuvres as British Navy deploys vessel in territorial dispute
Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro has ordered more than 5,600 military personnel to participate in “defensive” exercises, after the UK deployed a warship to waters off the coast of Guyana in a show of support for the former British colony.
Maduro said he was launching an action “of a defensive nature in response to the provocation and threat of the UK against peace and the sovereignty of our country”.
Continue reading...HMS Trent will take part in exercises with Guyana as tensions over mineral-rich Essequibo region raise anxieties
A Royal Navy patrol ship will be sent to Guyana in a show of British support for the Commonwealth country.
The South American country is in a dispute with Venezuela over a mineral-rich border region.
Continue reading...Defence secretary says proposal being discussed would reduce reliance on UK and other Nato members’ bases
The new defence secretary, Grant Shapps, said he has held talks with army leaders about deploying British troops within Ukraine for the first time for a training programme.
Shapps, who met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for talks in Kyiv earlier this week, said the proposal being discussed would reduce the reliance on the UK and other Nato members’ bases.
Continue reading...Worlds Beneath the Waves at the National Museum of the Royal Navy marks 150 years since HMS Challenger expedition
From the early days of deepwater exploration when it took a crew of 250 to keep the ship steady enough to collect samples, to the modern-day era of hi-tech minisubs, a century and a half of oceanographic missions is being celebrated.
An exhibition at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth has been launched to mark 150 years since HMS Challenger’s remarkable circumnavigation of the world in search of the mysteries of the deep – a mission that led to the discovery of thousands of new species of sea creature and the Mariana Trench.
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