Originally Posted by NAB
That's half their remaining SHAR force on deck in the piccy, which are allegedly getting Derby from the Red Sea Pedestrians which makes them BVR capable. They have the Helix variant with an AEW radar and they can run some mid-80's vintage SeaKings and Helix in the ASW role.
Which means they can at least have a go at keeping MPA a reasonable way off and is more than we can do right now at any sort of distance from land.
However, availability is apparently a bit of a mare for both cabs and ship. The pic may show her at sea with a deckful, question is how long she could stay there.
It is also likely that the stability standards of Viraat have been eroded over the years. It doesn't mean she's about to roll over, but it does mean that the amount of damage sustained before she would be lost is probably a bit less than it was in RN service and a lot less than what QEC (irrespective of relative size) is designed to survive.
She'll be carrying a bit more stress in her structure as well, which won't help reduce incidences of fatigue cracking, which can hit availability as well.
Nice to see such an old ship still operational but I dread to think what condition she is in. My memory takes me back to 1963 when a flange in the bolier room on HMS Centaur had problems and this killed everyone on duty in that space (I believe there were 5 deaths) Hermes is the same class ship and this is now half a century on and she must have an awful problem with corrosion.
Would we have removed all of the catapult systems and more to the point when we sold hermes to the Indian Navy would we hand over all the drawings, paper work etc regarding her previous fitment of cats and traps?
I believe China purchased an Australian carrier just to get access to this design information but that might just be an old sea story that I have been told.
uick drying cement