British military personnel have been training and touring in Hawaii as the United Kingdom seeks to boost its presence in the Pacific and bolster ties with the United States.
Royal Navy ships HMS Spey and HMS Tamar trained with the U.S. Coast Guard off Hawaii on Nov. 1 before docking at Pearl
Harbor for a scheduled maintenance stop. British Ambassador to the U.S. Dame Karen Pierce and British Defense Attache to U.S. Air Vice-Marshal Michael Smeath, who were in Hawaii for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack, visited the crew of the Tamar.
“This is such a model ship in all senses of the word, she’s fast, she’s manoeuvrable, she’s a great flag ship for Global Britain and she is really giving meaning to the Indo-Pacific tilt that we are now following,” Pierce told the crew according to a Royal Navy news release.
While docked on Oahu, British sailors went ashore to explore the island, underwent more training and celebrated Thanksgiving with pizza courtesy of the Navy League Honolulu Council. Meanwhile, on Nov. 19,
Lt. Gen. Sir Christopher
Tickell, deputy chief of general staff for the British Army, met with U.S. Army commanders and toured training grounds on Oahu.
British warships and aircraft periodically operate in the Pacific, but this year the British military has made a major push to reassert itself as a player in the region. Over the summer the Royal Navy deployed its newest aircraft carrier, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, to the South China Sea in the first deployment of a British carrier group in the Pacific in decades.
As the carrier group transited the Pacific, American, British and Australian
officials announced they had signed a new trilateral security pact called AUKUS, which would strengthen military cooperation between the three countries amid rising tensions with China.
The South China Sea is one of the world’s most critical waterways, with at least one-third of all global trade passing through the area. China asserts the entire sea is its sovereign territory, which has led to tensions and confrontations at sea
between the Chinese military and neighboring countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines as they compete over navigation, fishing and deep sea exploration rights.
“The U.K. sees the importance of the Indo-Pacific as the most consequential region of this century,” said Suzanne Vares-Lum, the incoming president of the East-West Center and a retired Army general. “Those international waters that ensure free trade are critical to their economy and the economies of all the countries in the region.”
The British military has downsized significantly in recent years due to budget cuts and had to turn to other countries for additional personnel and equipment for the carrier group’s Pacific voyage. A portion of the fighter jets aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth were American F-35s flown by U.S. Marine aviators, and the carrier group was joined by U.S. Navy destroyer USS The Sullivans and a frigate from the Netherlands, HNLMS Evertsen.
But the partnerships are critical for both sides. The British military maintains an Army garrison in Brunei and the British Defence Singapore Support Unit in Singapore, a critical naval facility that the U.S. Navy regularly uses to support its own operations in the South China Sea.
Hawaii, which is home to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s vast Pacific Fleet, is the nerve center for all U.S. military operations in the region. In addition to roughly the 42,500 active-duty U.S. military service members in Hawaii, dozens of troops from the U.K., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other countries are stationed in the islands with American units and commands to help coordinate international operations and training.
The Royal Navy ships Spey and Tamar arrived in Hawaii on the heels of the Elizabeth’s Pacific voyage.
“HMS Spey and HMS Tamar have deployed to the Indo-Pacific where they are exercising side by side with our like-minded partners, helping to tackle shared
security challenges in the region alongside our closest allies,” said a Royal Navy spokesperson.
The two ships, relatively small River-class vessels crewed by a mixture of British sailors and Marines, are on a five-year mission in the Pacific. They’re not set to home port in the region,
instead relying on friendly ports such as Pearl Harbor between operations while “flying the flag for Global Britain,” according to a news release announcing the deployment.
During their stop in Hawaii, the crews of the ships trained with U.S. Coast Guardsmen on law enforcement and boarding techniques on a simulated “suspect vessel.” Royal Navy officials said monitoring smuggling routes and other crimes at sea will be key parts of the Spey and Tamar’s mission.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced last year that illegal fishing has surpassed high-seas piracy as the top ocean security threat. In particular, regional coast guards and navies are more closely watching China’s large fishing fleet. In addition to fishing, Chinese long liners have served as members of the “maritime militias” assisting the Chinese military with surveillance and staking out disputed territory in the South China Sea.
Chinese officials have been deeply critical of the British deployments and the establishment of AUKUS,
accusing the U.K., U.S. and Australia of stoking tensions in the Pacific.
The Royal Navy was absent from the 2020 iteration of the biennial Exercise Rim of The Pacific, the world’s largest multinational naval war game, which the U.S. Pacific Fleet hosts in Hawaii. American officials had hoped last year’s iteration would be the largest yet, but the rapid spread of COVID-19 led to a heavily scaled-back version of the exercise.
But as the U.K. tries to make a comeback in the
Pacific and deepens cooperation with the U.S. military, it will want to establish and maintain a visible presence in the region.
