Submarine exam resits ‘put Britain's nuclear deterrent credibility at risk'

Telegraph

2 days ago

Britain's nuclear deterrent risks a 'potentially catastrophic' loss of credibility because submarine captains are being allowed to resit their command exams.
The Royal Navy's Perisher course, which tests whether officers are made of the right stuff to take charge of a nuclear submarine, is revered by navies around the world because students only have one chance to pass its gruelling final test.
Yet the Navy has now admitted that students are being allowed to retake Perisher's final sea phase.
Former submariners expressed concern to The Telegraph about the change in policy, warning that the watering down of the course risked jeopardising the credibility of those in charge of Britain's nuclear deterrent.
There is growing public concern over the state of the Navy, with unprecedented numbers of ships and submarines unable to put to sea through a combination of mechanical defects and crew shortages.
Rob Forsyth, a former Teacher, or chief instructor, of Perisher in the 1970s explained that the course's famous pass-or-leave ethos had bred the best of submarine captains among Western navies.
'The commanding officer is akin to God and must not be thought to have a weakness,' said Mr Forsyth. 'My view then, and still is, that there were some who could, some who never could and a very few who could but lacked the confidence at first to know this and needed a push to show them they could be safe and competent COs [commanding officers].
'Some of these got there fine, always viewed as my success stories, but some remained marginal and had to be failed. To give them a second go would have been to weaken the whole concept of Perisher and undermine the relationship of trust between crew and captain who would know that he was a 'round again' qualifier.'
His sentiments were echoed by another former Teacher from the early 2010s, Ryan Ramsey, who said: 'I have two issues with reruns. First, if you've already seen the sea phase, you know the scenarios. That short-term familiarity can hide the true weaknesses the course is designed to expose.
'Second, this isn't a driving test. Passing Perisher means you're trusted to take a nuclear submarine and its crew into harm's way. If you fail, fail again, then pass, you may carry a credibility problem into command, and credibility is everything when the stakes are military, political and potentially catastrophic.'
Student evades four 'enemy' warships'
During Perisher, would-be captains are put in charge of a submarine under the watchful eye of a qualified Teacher. Students are put through a gruelling four-phase course lasting up to five months.
The final phase of Perisher is a practical exam with the student evading up to four 'enemy' warships trying to hunt down and sink the trainee's boat.
A naval insider said that if Perisher staff feel a student needs more experience, he can be sent back to sea and retake the course again later in his career.
'This normally only happens during Phases 1-3. It would be exceptional to happen on Phase Four but is not excluded,' said the insider. It is not known whether any current submarine commanders have passed after resitting Phase 4.
A Royal Navy spokesman said that 'unsuccessful candidates on the Submarine Command Course have been able to reapply since 2013' and said 'the high standards required to pass have not changed'.
'Candidates who are initially unsuccessful may go on to be reselected, but only once they have demonstrated their potential while gaining additional experience in the fleet,' the spokesman said.
Mr Ramsey said: 'In 2013, I became the first Perisher Teacher to take a rerun student – someone removed from the Submarine Command Course before the sea phase,' he said.
'I didn't ask why at the time; I wanted my assessment to be entirely objective. He was the lead student in the simulator phase, but when we went to sea, I failed him. Later, I learnt my predecessor had removed him for the exact same reason. We agreed as an organisation not to try that again.'
When asked if his statement claiming that students have been able to resit the Perisher course since 2013 was accurate, the Navy spokesman said he had nothing to add.