No duty-free, just duty: Personnel cross North Sea by civilian ferry ahead of Nato exercise

The sight of more than 1,400 British Army personnel was not what holidaymakers had expected as they prepared to embark on their 16-hour North Sea voyage to the Netherlands.

Soldiers from the 7th Light Mechanised Brigade – known as the Desert Rats – boarded a DFDS ferry from North Tyneside, not for a jolly, but to demonstrate the Army's readiness to respond should Nato's Article Five be triggered by an attack on mainland Europe.

The exercise marked the first time since the Iraq War in 2003 that a whole ferry has been chartered for military use by the Army and comes as the Desert Rats head further afield to Germany to take part in the large-scale Nato exercise, Rhino Storm.

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Bingo, karaoke and live music

Company Commander Charlie Gilmore of Right Flank, The Scots Guards, based in Catterick, North Yorkshire, described using a civilian ferry for a large-scale deployment as "unusual in recent times".

"We used them a generation or two ago in the Falklands and a generation ago in the Gulf conflict," he said, adding that it demonstrates a "kind of flexibility".

"If we were to rely on the strategic airlift that's provided by the Royal Air Force, we would clog all of that up to move the circa 1,400 people that are going – it would take about seven flights to do that.

"So we can move by air, by sea, we can move by rail, and it allows us to force-project to the location we need to get to."

Despite no alcohol or duty-free available for service personnel, there was still some entertainment to be had by way of bingo, karaoke and live music.

Having begun the deployment phase of Ex Rhino Storm, British troops will undergo weeks of live-firing and brigade tactics with Nato allies, designed to rapid, large-scale deployment capabilities.

Second Lieutenant Ben Claxton, of the 1 Royal Yorkshire Regiment, said: "It demonstrates our ability to move troops from the UK, specifically from the north, to anywhere in Europe, en masse, rapidly, using a variety of forms of transport.

"It's a good way to prove we can do it, and it leaves our airlift and sealift capability free to then bring over vehicles and equipment if need be."

Article 5 exercises of this nature reflect the cornerstone of Nato's commitment that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all.

No-notice mobilisation 

The British military has been conducting large-scale mobilisation and manoeuvre exercises for centuries.

Far and above the most mammoth, Exercise Lionheart – conducted in 1984 – involved around 131,000 personnel, including regulars and reservists, and was designed to test Nato's ability to reinforce West Germany in the event of a Warsaw Pact attack.

It was the largest British Army exercise since the Second World War, with the MOD chartering civilian aircraft and ferries to move more than 50,000 personnel into Germany.

A total of 290 flights departed the UK, transporting around 32,000 personnel. This was followed by 150 sailings across the North Sea and the English Channel using civilian ferries, which carried a further 23,600 personnel along with 14,000 vehicles and trailers.

The exercise also involved 13,000 Royal Air Force personnel, with the RAF deploying Harrier jets into the field and operating the then newly introduced Tornado aircraft, which retired from service in 2019.

Ex Trident Juncture in 2018 saw roughly 50,000 personnel from 30 nations mobilise to Norway and the surrounding areas of the North Atlantic and Baltic Sea to test the alliance's ability to operate in cold weather and defend a member state under Article 5.

With some 150 aircraft, 65 vessels, and 10,000 vehicles, it marked the largest collective defence exercise Nato had conducted in more than a decade.

As ever, a key lesson in wartime is the importance of diversifying transport routes to avoid a single point of failure, something exercises like this are designed to replicate.

It may be fair to note that the Royal Navy is currently short of amphibious platforms such as the retired HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion, which might have been involved in this type of tasking.

However, the Desert Rats embarking on the civilian ferry is not due to a lack of military transport, but rather for a deliberate strategy that will prepare the UK Armed Forces for the realities of a future conflict.