Originally Posted by
4Greens
With the side lift down a Somali pirate in a speed boat can sink a carrier with a hand held missile. Lots of fuel etc.
Best not to go near the Somali coast with the lift down then? But remember a hand held missile means RPG or similar - short range and unstabilised. The ship has a number of stabilised weapons to deal with this sort of threat, and can manoeuvre aggressively.
I also suspect that the designers considered things like fire.
SpazSinbad
Thanks for more interesting stuff. Just out of interest, what did you do after you stopped flying and left the Navy? Maybe you should have become a Maths teacher?
HH
The Navy's real problem is lack of people, which is largely due to the way the axe was swung wildly in October 2010 without much thought after the intervention of Dopey Dave. Likewise, in 2015 he stopped both the RN and RAF getting thousands of extra people.
The Type 45 has had problems that have been greatly exaggerated, and are being resolved. However you need an awful lot of provide to same level of defence against air threats as a fighter (and cannot possibly match the ability to visually ID or intercept at range), and interestingly F-35B can be used to cue a ship's weapons.
As for frigates - again we being hurt by manpower shortages, and I wonder if this is one of the reasons why there seems to be a drive to fit the not yet tested (I am unaware of any test firings, and MOD does not have a 100% record when it comes to integration) Sea Ceptor aboard ships in upkeep (therefore keeping them in upkeep) in place of the tried and tested Sea Wolf. Sea Wolf armed ships will continue to be sent possibly into harm's way for years, such as when there was a real threat of anti ship missiles being used against shipping off the coast of Yemen a few months ago. Existing systems still need supporting.....
However - their main role is Anti Submarine Warfare. The eight T26s are one for one replacements for the T23s fitted with 2087 towed array sonar and Merlin, the others will be replaced by Type 31.
On the subject of ASW, the primary ASW assets of the surface fleet are Merlin HM2 with dipping sonar and frigate borne towed array sonar. Consider a task group with a carrier, a couple of Type 23s (with Merlin and sonar 2087), and somewhere an SSN: I am leaving Maritime Patrol Aircraft out for the moment.
SSN scouts ahead of a task group, Merlins fly long range sorties from the carriers (and also from the T23s), and T23s use their quiet propulsion and towed array sonar for long range detection.
Off the top of my head a Merlin has a cruising speed of 150 knots and an endurance of five hours, so can maintain station quite some distance from the high value unit (carrier, amphibious ships, important RFA, STUFT or Chartered vessels), but doing this means you need quite a few of them - hence the carrier. Remember the previous carrier design (
Invincible class AKA CVS) was originally designed to carry about ten ASW Sea Kings, which led to a class of ship that could be adapted to carry Sea Harriers.
Additionally non 2087 fitted Type 23s have hull mounted sonar (not sure about Type 45), and carry Wildcats which can carry ASW weapons (as does the T45). Most RFAs will also carry either Merlin or Wildcat.
Until the 1970s, the US Navy operated attack carriers (CVA - lots of jets) and ASW carriers (CVS - ASW aircraft and a handful of jets for defence), until they realised it was better to integrate the two types.
Do we want a Navy built for war or one intended for peacetime tasks?
Si Vis Pacem Para Bellum!
glad rag
Oh dear. Only one Type 45 seaworthy? I wonder does that include HMS
Duncan (
on NATO tasking). HMS
Defender - recently
returned from the Middle East, HMS
Daring - also
returned from deployment not so long ago, or HMS
Diamond -
deploying later this year?
Or maybe someone with an axe to grind saw only one is deployed right now, and simply jumped to a conclusion?
As for carriers without aircraft, maybe some people have not heard of the F-35B? Perhaps they might like to hear of
all the integration work being undertaken, or that HMS
Queen Elizabeth will have them embarked next year?
PeterGee
Just seen your reply. I wonder if certain parts of the media could do with employing someone for basic fact checking?