Ministry of Defence Case Study
Ship and Submarine Text Messages
"I think it's excellent. I recommend it to everybody."
The challenge
Royal Navy personnel are located across the globe making it difficult to contact groups of people quickly & efficiently.
Mobile phones are a vital part of the communication chain, and the Royal Navy’s Fleet Telephone Services Team is responsible for around 6000 mobile phones within the organisation. The team is also responsible for providing HM Ships & Submarines with a system for alerting crew members when they are needed to return back on board.
The solution
The Royal Navy use the Rapide service for all sorts of important and urgent communications - from recalling the crews, to alerting personnel in the event of a disaster involving nuclear submarines. Incidents vary in scale, so regular testing is very important for all the users.
Accident Response
The Nuclear Accident Response Organisation (NARO) rely on Rapide to quickly and efficiently alert staff in the event of a nuclear disaster onboard a submarine. Over the last few years, Rapide has helped them to achieve a 100% success record through their incident training exercises across many of the UK’s main naval dockyards and ports. Rapide is used to recall the specialist teams that can deal with nuclear accidents.
Mobile Phone Auditing and Management
The Fleet Telephone Services Team endeavours to ensure that all Royal Navy phones are being used correctly and are in the right end users’ hands. If the phone is suspected to be in the wrong hands, the team will send a text message through Rapide’s desktop service asking the end user to confirm their details. If the phone has been used to call premium rate lines, such as game show quizzes or chat lines, a text message warns that the phone has been misused and contravenes Royal Navy regulations.
Recalling Crew
The Royal Navy uses Rapide to recall crew from shore leave back to ships and submarines for missions. Crews vary from 4 on a small vessel, to over 1000 on a large vessel when extra crew is embarked. If there is an emergency, a text message is sent to the crew on leave telling them that the ship is under Sailing Orders and they need to be back on board fast! Sometimes the text message tells the recipient to call a number to confirm their availability to return to port.
“It’s the best out there. We have seen other messaging systems that work on similar principles to Rapide, but none of the others have offered us the same services with such good value for money. We wouldn’t change from using Rapide.”
“At Rapide we know who to talk to and the staff understand what our needs are, so it’s very easy to achieve results.”
The crew on HMS Montrose praise Rapide,
“It works really well. We can’t be without it now.”
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