The UK has set out plans to create an alliance of “northern navies” to strengthen defenses in northwestern Europe and the Arctic, according to a report by The Times citing remarks by First Sea Lord Gwyn Jenkins, the head of the Royal Navy, at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). A full transcript of Jenkins’ speech was published on the UK Government’s website.
“The need for us to provide real meaningful deterrence, remains essential…just maintaining the ‘capable status quo’ is simply not good enough. This need has come into focus as threats have developed and evolved over the last decade – but it became irrefutable in 2022 with Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the combined naval forces of the UK and its allies would be “operating common systems and platforms, shared digital networks, logistics and stockpiles.” The allied fleets would be commanded from London.
The new alliance is expected to be created on the basis of the Joint Expeditionary Force, or JEF, which includes forces from Britain, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway. The alliance is expected to be fully combat-ready by 2029. Jenkins said the partnership among northern European countries “must now deepen and evolve…if we are to generate the collective combat power necessary to provide conventional deterrence along our open sea border with Russia.”
In late March, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that he had authorized Britain’s military to detain sanctioned ships from Russia’s “shadow fleet.” Since then, however, no such detentions have taken place. Reuters recently counted that at least 98 ships under UK sanctions passed through British waters over the past month, roughly the same number as in previous months.
