The Royal Navy has ships deployed around the globe 365 days a year, and 2024 is going to be no different.
With tensions in the Red Sea, deployments to the Indo-Pacific and Russian ships continuously needing to be shadowed, the Royal Navy needs to be at the top of its game.
But what is the strength of the service?
The Royal Navy has 29,220 full-time, trained personnel – as well as 2,730 reservist personnel.
With 12 different ship classes plus submarines, the Royal Navy has a number of personnel deployed on each vessel at any given time.
Starting with the largest and most powerful warships ever built for the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales can each operate with a crew of 679 but can accommodate up to 1,600 personnel.
Next in size order are the Albion class vessels, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark – tasked with delivering the punch of Royal Marines by land, sea or air.
They can carry six Challenger tanks, or around 30 armoured all-terrain tracked vehicles, with a floodable well dock, as well as four Landing Craft Utility boats.
These ships operate with a crew of 325.
Six destroyers make up the backbone of the Royal Navy, designed for anti-aircraft and anti-missile warfare they can operated on a crew of 190.
The Navy has 11 Type 23 frigates, which were originally designed for anti-submarine warfare during the Cold War, which are operated with a 181-strong crew. The Navy also has a specialised fleet of patrol and mine countermeasures vessels.
This includes six Hunt Class vessels looking for mines and lost explosives, crewed by 45 personnel; three Sandown Class ships, clearing UK waters of ordnance, crewed by 37 personnel; and two Cutlass Class vessels, used to patrol naval and territorial waters around Gibraltar, crewed by six personnel.
It also includes eight River Class offshore patrol vessels, designed to secure territorial waters and support law enforcement missions, each crewed by 28 personnel and 16 Archer Class fast patrol boats, each crewed by five personnel, operating across the UK and Europe.
The Royal Navy also has a fleet of submarines.
This is made up of four Vanguard Class vessels, the protectors of Britain's nuclear deterrent, crewed by 132 personnel, and five Astute Class submarines currently in service, with two more set to join the fleet this year, which each take 98 crew.
Finally, there is also one Trafalgar Class submarine, adapted for covert surveillance and inshore reconnaissance, which is crewed by 97 personnel.
In total, that means 7,141 Royal Navy personnel are needed to crew the current fleet of vessels.
The Navy's personnel numbers have received a lot of attention lately and, in November last year, a senior Royal Navy officer called on the service to review its medical standards for people wanting to join.
Rear Admiral Jude Terry, the Royal Navy's Director of People and Training, said medical provision and technology has advanced, while the service's standards have not changed for more than 20 years.
RAdm Terry was commenting on social media in response to an article which references findings from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request that Royal Navy recruitment has dropped to its lowest number since 2017.
The service was also reported to be offering a bounty of £500 to personnel who refer a candidate to the service.
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