Now it was the Greek logistics lieutenant colonel who looked confused, although whether it was lack of understanding of the English language, or naval tactics, McKinlay could not be sure. But instead of getting angry, McKinlay reined himself in. With Greece so unexpectedly falling into line behind Germany and signing up for Article 5, he was going to have to be extra diplomatic and keep the Greeks well on side. The time-honored NATO “two-step”—the time-and-energy sapping diplomatic waltz, anathema to a fighting soldier like him—was just beginning.

“The point is this.” He held up his hand to Black to show he would explain. “Only a headquarters can properly control information and order action. So, if a German maritime aircraft or a Danish frigate detects a Russian submarine in the area, they will report it back to their own national headquarters. That information should then find its way to the Queen Elizabeth and other NATO shipping, but,” he shrugged for effect, “how long will that take? An hour? A day? Queen Elizabeth needs that information instantly, if she is to be able to act on it straight away.

“Conversely, if one of Queen Elizabeth’s escorts spots a Russian sub anywhere in the area, she needs aircraft up, or escorts over it, to scare it away or sink it. That order will need to be actioned in seconds. At this moment, a request could easily take hours to be received and actioned through the different national headquarters, by which time it will be too late. There’s no point in having all the depth charges and missiles in the world, if they are pointing in the wrong direction, or not ready to fire when they are needed, where they’re needed. So the answer is simple: all maritime assets need to be under NATO command and that includes the Queen Elizabeth Task Group.”

The Greek nodded his understanding, while the Turk shook his head in mock bewilderment that he had even needed something so basic explaining to him. Heads were going to need to be cracked together, McKinlay decided, as he waved to Fritz to continue.

“The bad news is that the land component is in trouble. As you’ll recall, Sir, we had serious problems filling the gaps in the force structure at the recent Global Force Generation Conference back in March.”

McKinlay nodded. He remembered that tortuous conference only too well.

“The nations have not forgotten you being very blunt, Sir,” added Hansen. “You were very clear that if the NRF was to be credible as a NATO reserve, the nations would have to step up to the mark with properly trained forces . . .”