In capability terms, Proteus has been procured – as the lead platform of a two-vessel Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS) programme – to provide seabed surveillance and response capacity in UK and Northern European waters. Broadly, the ship’s concept of operations is that it will conduct patrol tasks, but will be prepared to undertake reactive operations.
The navy can use Proteus to develop its understanding and capability in two ways, First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sir Ben Key told the RN/Council on Geostrategy annual ‘First Sea Lord’s Sea Power Conference’, which took place in London on 14-15 May. The ship itself was moored in London during the event.
First, in capability development terms, “Proteus will have onboard an array of survey capabilities: some of which will be reasonably well-established, and will be helping us build the database of what’s on the seabed; and some of which will be cutting edge, and … will be there for us to test and trial new technologies.” Both these capability sets will help the RN “[build] up what we need to know”, said Adm Key.
“We will test and trial a range of new technologies that will give us an understanding of what is on the seabed, what are the threats in our coastal and economic waters, and how we respond to them,”
First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sir Ben Key
Second, in operational terms, “Proteus will be working alongside other navies and contributing to our understanding of what’s on the seabed, and therefore being able to spot any changes,” said Adm Key. “We will then use the information that Proteus is developing to investigate those changes, which we may or may not find suspicious.”
“The ability to test and trial new technology very cheaply, and to use established survey capabilities to build our own understanding, are the two facets to what Proteus offers,” Adm Key added.
The seabed warfare threat to UK and allied and partner interests is recognised in both theoretical and practical contexts. Adm Key noted that the UK National Maritime Security Strategy had identified threats and vulnerabilities that Proteus would provide the agility and adaptability to address. He added that the September 2022 Nordstream gas pipeline attacks in the Baltic Sea had demonstrated that the UK and its allies and partners could be challenged in waters very close to home. “That threat is moving, ever present, and ever closer,” he said.
The Proteus procurement process also demonstrated how the RN is adapting its acquisition approaches to bring critical capability into service more quickly.
“Proteus is [an] example of how we are trying to break some of the old paradigms and set up a new one,” said Adm Key. “A ship bought within a year of the idea being [conceived]: we didn’t design it from scratch; we saw what was available on the market. It is an example [through] which we are going to develop and prove the [Ministry of Defence’s] new integrated procurement model: be agile, be adaptable, fail fast, learn more, move on.”
“We’ve got so much to learn on this journey, but through that ship we have an opportunity to learn,” Adm Key concluded.
The ship’s procurement timeline highlights the MoD’s aim of purchasing new equipment at pace. Bought from the commercial offshore support sector in January 2023, the platform underwent conversion work to prepare for military operations, with this work being completed in September. The vessel’s dedication ceremony took place in October. The ship has been continuing with the task of testing new technology. It is also set to navigate the navy’s fleet operational standards and training (FOST) process and undergo a brief maintenance period, as part of its preparation for operational service. This preparation includes development of standard operating procedures.
A tour of Proteus demonstrated to Naval News that the ship’s spaces and systems are well suited to preparing, positioning, and operating capability that will tackle the seabed warfare task.
The single bridge space is divided into two distinct bridges: the for’ard bridge for operating the ship; and the aft bridge for deploying its capabilities, including via the ship’s 120-tonne offshore crane. The two bridges provide redundancy in ship control and operation.
A core component in ensuring the ship can hold station in a stable and sustainable manner over a point of interest on the seabed is the ship’s dynamic positioning capability, itself underpinned by five thrusters: two bow thrusters; a ‘drop’ thruster, which is lowered to three metres below the hull; and two azimuth, 360-deg thrusters. The collection of different thrusters provides redundancy in dynamic positioning capability.
Proteus’s presence in London provided opportunities for the RN to demonstrate the kinds of capabilities the ship can embark. While the flight deck (atop the ship) and working deck (aft) can accommodate uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs), primary capability focus falls on uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), both autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs).
On the working deck was a Perry XLX-C 11 work-class ROV, manufactured by UK company Forum Energy Technology (FET) and being operated onboard by MoD salvage and marine operations (SALMO) team personnel. This ROV was the first piece of equipment to be embarked in Proteus, and is onboard for six months. The XLX-C system is designed for monitoring, and can descend to 4,500 m; if actions need to be taken, including object recovery, it can use its two manipulator arms. The ROV comes with a self-contained launch-and-recovery (LAR) capability, using a davit and 20-tonne winch. The vehicle is powered by an umbilical cable connected to a portable generator, and can deploy underwater for up to five days.
On the ship’s ROV deck, several RN teams had embarked for the visit, including hydrography, diving, and mine-countermeasures (MCM) units. These mobile teams can deploy across vessels of opportunity, and can all contribute to the provision of RN seabed warfare capability.
Here, several different systems were embarked. The Fleet Hydrography Unit displayed, for example, a Teledyne Gavia AUV fitted with a T200 modular multibeam sonar. The RN’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group (MTXG) Zulu Squadron displayed, for example, HII REMUS 100 and L3Harris IVER3 AUVs. The IVER3 is fitted with a side-scan sonar and camera, which are used to detect issues and items of interest on the seabed; an ROV – such as an Atlantas Marine VideoRay Mission Specialist Defender – can then be deployed to conduct identification.
Proteus is also fitted with a moonpool, a capability that can be exploited in different ways.
