The establishment is based on manning a 8 ship fleet and allowing for ship/shore rotations (which the CRE figures could well have changed).
However if there is a shortage of 20 L/EAs or PO /RRTs you are in trouble.
Without being derogatory toward any group or rank the structure must be looked at in dept and ranks vs manning levels needs looking at. Take for instance the Rank of SEior Chief Petty officer.... origin of the rank.... BQMS.. out side the Q branch the rank doesn't exist anywhere lese but every division in the NS has a couple ... because its a pay grade! I stand to be corrected on the actual year but prior to the 19890s the rank didn't exist in the NS as there wasn't the correct establishment figures to justify it.
The same is true of senior officer ranks based on size Lts could have commanded minesweepers and PVs.....so when Eithne came along..., no offence to the first OC... an extra Commander post was created... at a time when there were already 4 executive branch Cdrs in Service, the NS at one point had 172 officers for just under 1000 men...and all the structures to support the rank.. except ratings. It wasn't uncommon to see the representetives on entire divisions on the square every morning made up entirely NCOs.
So while the NS may be crying out for appointments to be filled, I wonder at the very end of the food chain how many they are actually short..as these are the people who do the duties and stand the watches and get paid the least!
No back to the facilities element. The NS has dodged the bullet of having to have its own dry dock for many years because of the availability of other dock in the country. As these become unavailable or unsuitable we could very well see the day when ships won't be able to go to sea. The shift towards larger vessels and more arduous mission overseas will lead to increase in depth maintenance requirements and like the Aer Corps the outcry will only be made the day we need a ship and it wasn't available because of investment.
Personnel issues and capital investment programmes need to be kept separate. The DF need two budgets, a running cost budget and a capital investment budget and neither should be dipped into to prop up the other.
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