Royal Fleet Auxiliary Lyme Bay has just left Gibraltar carrying autonomous mine-hunting systems designed to keep the Strait of Hormuz open if Iran tries to close it. Nearby, uncrewed vessels are being prepared to patrol Gulf waters. Together they will test the Navy’s new ‘hybrid’ concept, a force in which traditional warships operate alongside autonomous systems above, below and on the sea.

General Gwyn Jenkins – First Sea Lord and the first Royal Marine to hold the position – has said that the Navy has no choice but to pivot to this hybrid future to deliver more platforms at sea, more firepower, and more flexibility within constrained finances.

Enthusiastic Defence Minister Luke Pollard has gone further, claiming that the ‘hybrid navy’ concept is ‘the most exciting transformation of the Royal Navy since its creation nearly 500 years ago’. He wants a ‘thousand-ship navy’ of mostly uncrewed vessels.

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