Olympic swimming pools and London buses all in one press release from Truth Central

[airborne_artist]

A new generation of 37,000-tonne tankers have been ordered for the Royal Navy fleet, the MoD announced today. The new Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tankers will maintain the Royal Navy’s ability to refuel at sea and will provide fuel to warships and task groups.

At over 200 metres long, the four tankers will be approximately the same length as 14 double decker buses and can pump enough fuel to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools in an hour. :\

[Helol]

Built in South Korea. Although:

"Despite being built in Korea, the UK has won £150m of associated contracts to assist the project.
These include £90m on UK contracts for equipment, systems, design and support services.
There will be a further £60m investment in the UK to be spent on customising the ships for the Royal Navy, trials and specialist engineering help"

BBC News - South Korea wins Royal Navy tanker deal worth £452m (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17127488)


UK firms took part in the tender, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said none made a final bid to take part.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Presumably this
BMT Defence Services - MARS Tanker (http://www.bmtdsl.co.uk/?/309/1978/)

"Flight deck for 1 medium helicopter" + hanger
Does that mean no Chinook capability? Seems short sighted

Marketing blurb for the Aegir range, on which its based
http://www.bmtdsl.co.uk/BMT/bmt_media/bmt_media/33/2011-08,%20AegirA4%20Brochure%20-%20For%20Web1.pdf

[Lowe Flieger]

At over 200 metres long, the four tankers will be approximately the same length as 14 double decker buses and can pump enough fuel to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools in an hour.Our navy seem to have a fixation about Olympic pools as the linked interview confirms: Bird & Fortune The Admirals Interview - YouTube

[NutLoose]

In-flight refuelling capability

You wouldn't think that a ship of that size would keep up with a Tristar. :}

VERTREP using organic helicopter

what the heck is an organic helicopter?

[Milo Minderbinder]

One definition of "Organic" is " Constituting an integral part of a whole; fundamental."

Or,

"Assigned to and forming an essential part of a military organization. Organic parts of a unit are those listed in its table of organization for the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, and are assigned to the administrative organizations of the operating forces for the Navy."Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms. US Department of Defense 2005."

yeah, it does sound daft

[NutLoose]

So it is not MOD speak for full of natural sh!te and no unnatural fertilisers used in the procurement.

Suppose your answer is more PC though :ok:

[Bunker Mentality]

Organic helicopter = sycamore.

A tree that size would look good in a big grey tub.

[Jumping_Jack]

What size are the tankers in comparison to Wales?

[OvertHawk]

JJ - why is that important - or are we planning on trading Wales in against the new vessels? (now that's not a bad idea..) :E

[Milo Minderbinder]

I think he means whales.....

[Pontius Navigator]

A new generation of 37,000-tonne tankers have been ordered for the Royal Navy fleet, the MoD announced today. The new Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) tankers will maintain the Royal Navy’s ability to refuel at sea and will provide fuel to warships and task groups.

At over 200 metres long, the four tankers will be approximately the same length as 14 double decker buses and can pump enough fuel to fill two Olympic sized swimming pools in an hour. :\

You couldn't make it up.

Oh, they did :(

Mind you given the drought could they get a tanker in time to dump a load of sea water in the pools? That would play havoc with the Olympic swimming records. Now there's a thought, is there a standard chemical mix for Olympic pools?

[VX275]

what the heck is an organic helicopter? Organic helicopter = sycamore

Well the Bristol Sycamore had wooden rotor blades so I suppose it was part organic.

[charliegolf]

4000 ish cubic metres of fuel an hour. Really?

CG

[Pontius Navigator]

4000 ish cubic metres of fuel an hour. Really?

CG

Ah so they could fill my pool in 9 seconds. Not bad.

[newt]

Who the hell needs tankers when you don't have a fleet?


Let alone a task force!!!

[Dockers]

perhaps they converted it here: Weird Converter - Translate Babies to Blue Whales to Polar Bears (http://www.weirdconverter.com/)

[WillDAQ]

What size are the tankers in comparison to Wales?

But Wales is a measurement of area, where 1 nanoWales = 20.78m2

[EODFelix]

Maybe the plan is fill the tankers with water from the water rich north and porridge land and transport it to the drought ridden south east.

[NutLoose]

Oddly enough that is not as stupid as it sounds, Gibraltar when isolated from Spain used to get a tanker full From the UK at regular intervals to supplement the rain catchment slope on the back face of the rock. I don't know if it still does it.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Would've been cheaper and simpler to tow an iceberg there

[Willard Whyte]

I know it's not aircraft, but one's gotta love this analogy:

Film director James Cameron leads submarine race to the bottom of the Mariana Trench - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9106185/Film-director-James-Cameron-leads-submarine-race-to-the-bottom-of-the-Mariana-Trench.html)

crushing water pressure of 16,000 pounds per square inch – equivalent to 8,000 elephants standing on a Mini Cooper

Not any old Mini, you'll note, it has to be a Mini Cooper.

[NutLoose]

New BMW mini or old BMC Mini?

They get around BTW one of the RR displays in the old Silk Museum in Derby said if you connected a Mini to an uncontained blade failure on an RB211 it would lift it some 100 feet vertically.

[Milo Minderbinder]

The original 997cc Mk1 Mini Coopers had special lightweight bodies with thinner gauge steel.
So if they're thinking of one of those, its a different unit that for a later Mini Cooper...

[mmitch]

I wonder how many Mini Coopers would fit on to one of our new carriers? :p
mmitch.

[Willard Whyte]

Or indeed elephants, mmitch.

An elementary error by The Telegraph by not specifying African or Indian either. Elephants, not Mini Coopers that is.

Would 16,000 psi would be enough to wipe the smile of Sir Richard's face? Probably, particularly if the pressure hull failed.

[Wokkafans]

mmitch - quiet day so:

3023 classic Mini Coopers, 1822 BMW plastig pigs, or 0 Harriers :E

I didn't know they were made of thinner steel - this would explain why mine concertinaed when I hit some armco in mine :{

WF:ok:

[mmitch]

Thanks for the calculations! Useful info for NCP. They could use them while the Navy wait for their F35s!
mmitch.

[Milo Minderbinder]

I don't believe that figure for the old Coopers, My 1964 "Observers Book of Automobiles" says the 1071cc Mk1 Mini Cooper "S" weighed 12.5cwt
If you do the maths, 3023 Minis = 1889.375 tons
I'm sure the new carriers can carry more than that in weight? Or were you basing it on the cube......

However it does beg an interesting question. How far could an EMALS system throw a 1400lb shot?

[Wokkafans]

:8 mode on...

Fag packet calculation...

Classic Mini Cooper 3.05M x 1.41M = 4.3005 M2

BMW Plastic Pig 3.73 x 1.913 = 7.1355 M2

QE class flight deck ~ 13,000 M2

Classic MC = 3023 per QECC

BMW = 1822 per QECC

I'll give you that you might have to chop them up a bit use every bit of space on deck :E

WF:ok:

:8 mode off...