Housing and family pressures drive Royal Navy retention problems

The Royal Navy's personnel problem is sharper in retention and housing than in recruitment. People often leave when they marry, have children, and no longer want to live in service accommodation, while recruiting is doing fairly well but remains below the desired level. Uncrewed vessels still require shore teams, maintainers, communications specialists, weapons engineers, and support from crewed ships. An estimate of about forty people ashore per vessel, with possible additional maintenance teams at sea, raises the possibility of higher overall personnel costs. Moving sailors off a hull changes the workforce model without eliminating the demand for skilled personnel.