The Royal Marines have been shrinking due to a recruitment crisis which has placed the elite force in severe crisis. According to data released this week, the Royal Navy currently commands only 5,500 Royal Marines Commandos, which is under the minimum needed to form a single brigade.
In the year leading up to March 2023, the intake for both the Navy and the Marines fell by 22.1 percent according to reports.
This comes amid Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’s most recent proposal to decommission the amphibious assault ships HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark.
These ships are required for Marine Commandos to conduct beach landings, which have historically been an important aspect of their operations.
HMS Queen Elizabeth would normally take part in operations as part of a Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group (CSG).
However, the only support ship available to keep the CSG supplied, RFA Fort Victoria, cannot carry out the job due to a lack of manpower.
RFA Fort Victoria reportedly requires a crew of 100 but is currently manned only by a skeleton crew.
