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RN's new carrier


Lancman

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A wee bit excitement in and around Edinburgh today as the Royal Navy's new carrier left her dock to head out for her sea trials, she is now sitting in the Firth of Forth waiting for low tide which should be around midnight so she can make her way under the 3 bridges. She is due to be away for 6 weeks out in the North Sea where I am sure there will be a bit of snooping going on :fight:

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-40402153

 

Graham

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It's admittedly a strange looking affair with two islands.

 

 

Even stranger that they have squat aircraft to operate off it, won't for several years and when they do get them, they still won't have a full complement, so much so that the US Marines will be using it, that and they saved money by not fitting a catapult on it that means cross decking is limited. Then there is the number they bought, two, you need three really, so one is in refit, one working up post refit and one on operations... With two that's impossible. Very strange indeed.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/0/what-is-britains-new-f-35-jump-jet-and-is-it-any-good/

Edited by TonyT
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Odd looking beast.  

Gotta love BBC:  "Weighs 65,000 tonnes" - Please Google "ship displacement".  My bet is she weighs a LOT more than 65,000 tonnes.

Excuse my ignorance, but isn't the weight of water displaced exactly the same as the weight of the ship, per Archimedes?

 

What basis are you saying it weighs a lot more than 65,000 tonnes? 

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Interesting that the UK F-35B's will land on a rolling basis, rather than vertically, in order to not jettison any ordnance they may be carrying.

 

Still think it's bonkers to build a 65,000 tonne carrier and not put an angled deck, catapults & arrestor wires on it. Severely limits the breadth of aircraft, so that it will be inferior to pretty much every other CATOBAR or STOBAR carrier.

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There was a huge and very expensive debate over the choice between F-35 B's or C's, It boiled down to the fact it would take a lot more time and effort  and of course money, to keep a relatively small number of pilots carrier qualified  , than it would to keep them qualified for what amounts to normal operations , albeit on a big metal deck.

 

The proposed changes to the design to incorporate , and delete an angled deck and cats came in at more than £1Bn, and helps explain the delay in the project ,  

 

I know no Politics, but when you see Politicians who know Zilch about military ops start designing hardware .. Its time to start to run for the hills!

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, "the RN and RAF have little to no experience in CATOBAR operations. Training up the required skills would take too long and cost too much."

 

They have Zero carrier operational skills of any sort, bar the odd pilot seconded to foreign navies, that went with the Invincible, all of it will need to be re-learnt, that is what you get when you lose the skill base that you have built up over decades, you have no one to pass those skills over to new crew members. Exactly the same deficit they have in the maritime and sub hunting role, with the loss of the Nimrod that skill base was lost.

 

Totally agree with Scotsman post above, narrow thinking means that a ship designed to operate 40 aircraft will have possibly 24 on it even during conflict and to place a carrier where it is useful means your allies can not make use of the facility to increase the air power in the region due to the blinkered approach of the UK GOV.PLC.

 

It reminds me of the plan to not fit a gun to the Typhoon to save money in supporting the maintenance of the gun, instead BAe  said it was going to cost millions to build a ballast block to replace it as it would effect the C of G, in the end it was cheaper to install the gun which had been paid for then just not use it..... fast forward a few years and they realise they need the gun, so end up having to go through the process of activating it.

Edited by TonyT
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Nice replacement for the Mallorca beaches after Brexit and leaving the EU :whistle:

 

 

Without working armament (aka known as fighter/bomber/attack aircrafts) it is just this. A movable beach resort.

OK, I am a bit harsh. It is a nice helicopter carrier. Bether than nothing :whistle:

 

Regards

- dutik

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Nice replacement for the Mallorca beaches after Brexit and leaving the EU :whistle:

 

 

Without working armament (aka known as fighter/bomber/attack aircrafts) it is just this. A movable beach resort.

OK, I am a bit harsh. It is a nice helicopter carrier. Bether than nothing :whistle:

 

Regards

- dutik

Nowhere near as good as Germany's carriers.

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