LESSONS FROM THE ROYAL NAVY

About a decade ago I was browsing in the history shelves of my local bookstore and found a paperback copy of To Rule the Waves by Arthur Herman. His book is a history of the British Royal Navy from its beginnings to the modern era and how it shaped the modern world. It is richly detailed providing more than enough information even for the serious reader like myself. Yet the book contained several nuggets of wisdom for the disinterested reader of naval affairs, so much so that as an elementary school principal I shared that wisdom with my teachers and will also do so now.

The first nugget is that an organization have been founded in a morally muddled morass but may become a truly moral agent for good. Francis Drake, Martin Frobisher, John Hawkins, and their ilk are not only considered Britain’s earliest naval heroes, but they were also state-sponsored pirates. The Royal Navy rose from a government sanctioned sea terrorist operation to defend their homeland from the Spanish Amanda to assisting in crippling the global slave trade to again defending their homeland, with the assistance of the Royal Air Force, from Nazi aggression. Organizations can indeed do good notwithstanding the purposes of their founding or past derelictions.

The second nugget is that as character is vital for persons, reputation matters for organizations. In 1940 as Greece was collapsing to advancing German forces the Royal Navy began rescuing British soldiers and their allies from the island of Crete. As the German air force was pounding the British ships and in the midst of the attack ships’ captains requested permission from Admiral Andrew Cunningham to break off the evacuation. Cunningham replied, “It takes the Navy three years to build a ship, it would take three hundred years to build a new reputation. The evacuation will continue.” So it did at the cost of eleven ships sunk and eight others heavily damaged but the Royal Navy count be counted on complete their missions despite adversity.

The third nugget is thinking “inside the box.” As organizational resources become scarce and growing wish lists are unfulfilled, effective leaders must look inside their organizations to secure resources to get the job done. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Henry Leach on March 31, 1982 found himself uninvited to the meeting called by Prime Minister Thatcher to plan a response to the Argentine attack on the Falkland Islands. But Leach persisted and got himself into the room. Finally Thatcher asked him, “First Sea Lord- what precisely do you want?” To which Leach responded, ‘Prime Minister, I would like your authority to form a task force which would, if you so required, be ready to sail for the South Atlantic at a moment’s notice.” “You have it,’ Thatcher said.

In three days a fleet task force sailed- two aircraft carriers and an amphibious assault ship, all soon to be slated for scrap; merchant and cruise ships converted to troop transports; and four deep-sea fishing trawlers converted to minesweepers as well as 16 destroyers and frigates. This motley group sailed eight thousand miles and won a victory to take back the Falklands. Leaders, like Leach did need to look first inward for needed people and resources instead of issuing unrealistic wish lists.

Finally, all organizations, including the Royal Navy, have cycles of growth and decline. Britain’s “first service” grew from isolated ships exploring and pirating the globe to massive battle fleets to ad hoc task forces. Mission must always be primary to organization and resource allocation. Wise leaders know and understand the “times” and make their plans accordingly.