It was better in the old days? Phantoms and Buccs better than F-35B? Sea King HAS3 better than Merlin HM2? Escorts with updated versions of Second World War radars and sonars (and things like Sea Cat) better than ones with SAMPSON radar and Sea Viper, or Sea Ceptor and towed array sonar?
During one of the episodes on the 1976(?)
Sailor a Buccaneer pilot takes six attempts to land on - not a problem with the F-35B.
With something like a thousand hours of footage to edit into six one hour programmes, a lot had to be left out. They did not mention the participation of the
Queen Elizabeth group in the NATO Exercises
Steadfast Defender 21 - a transatlantic reinforcement exercise. I wonder if the role of the other ships will be mentioned properly - for example the destroyers controlling intercepts and the frigates working with ASW helicopters from the carrier to keep tabs on hostile submarines?
From the
Future Carrier thread -
by yours truly on 21 May 21:
Ten hectic days for the Royal Navy's Carrier Strike Group
The Royal Navy was central to the maritime phase of exercise Steadfast Defender 2021, the first large-scale test of NATO’s adapted command structure, with the involvement of two new commands – for the Atlantic in Norfolk, Virginia and for logistics in Ulm, Germany.
As NATO’s biggest exercise this year, it aims to test readiness and military mobility, with forces deploying across land and sea, from North America to the Black Sea region. Twenty ships were involved in the maritime phase 20-28 May. A ‘free play’ scenario involved ships of SNMG 1 and SNMG 2 attempting to attack the carrier strike group charged with protecting merchant vessels crossing the Atlantic to Europe.
This was also mentioned
here on another carrier related thread (focusing on sea control in the NATO theatre) on another website. I expect the following episodes will include intercepts and submarine hunting.