Audacious is in the water outside the main hall. I think it's been there since autumn last year IIRC. If all is going well I would expect her to sail for sea trails very soon but I haven't seen any progress reports. You would think they would be trying to push the last 3 boats a bit quicker as the D...

By the way, are you familiar with the Type 42 story? Cut down in size and capability in order to provide more hulls at the expense of capability. Doesn't really matter who made the decision: RN or Treasury. Two sunk in the Falklands war against a 3rd world navy and an air force flying obsolete jets...

I see Wave Ruler has been laid up at Birkenhead for a while now. 2 years? Also Wave Knight has just arrived perhaps for a refit period. Are we now rotating the Wave tankers due to manpower shortage. I feared that once the tide class tankers started arriving it would be difficult to keep the Wave's g...

I don't see how anyone here can expect the T31e budget to rise. The 250m price has been set in stone. I doubt it will suddenly increase midway through the design phase.. In my view it could be a good thing as we could end up with a good hull design with space to fit the toys later. Hopefully it will...

Do we believe that the T31 will be withdrawn from RN after 15 years service? I doubt it. I can see them being too relied upon due to low escort numbers and then the T31 replacement won't be forthcoming as money will be tied up in other projects such as T45 / Astute replacement etc.

Although this is a fantasy thread. I will take a more realistic approach if more money was available. We cannot build any more SSN. More Type 26 is unlikely due to build schedules. 1. Manpower 2. Increase budget & numbers of T31 inc ASW variant 3. More P8 4. Start the ball rolling with FSS with ...

I’m not in favour of merging T31e with MHPC as we would end up seeing a drop in hull numbers. We require the 5 T31e to make up our current 19 so called escorts and our current MHPC are already cut to the bone as it is. I don’t see a need for CAMM and 57mm gun etc as they would be wasted in the envir...

yeyyyyyy more ships sat collecting dust and rust in Portsmouth, politicians can correctly claim the RN mothball fleet is growing like never before. i share your cynicism but seriously the river cant be that costly to mothball with their limited weapons fit etc. At least they are going to be kept in...

With the Russian spy episode lately there has been murmers on the news regarding increasing defence spending. Although not directly related to our conventional forces, i hope events like this are a wake up call and our budget is upped to around 2.5% GDP. If this happened i would: Add additional x2 T...

Interesting, i wasn't sure of the basing of RFA's either. It seems Falmouth is where the bays and Argus go for maintenance / lay up. The solid stores and oilers + Diligence normally use Birkenhead for the same purpose.

Just reading an article from circa 2013 on defense industry daily website regarding T45’s and future upgrades. It specifically mentions a plan to add CAMM to type 45 to suppliment the Aster missiles and that these can be quad packed in the Sylver launchers. It also suggests this would be a simple up...

I thought that construction started on the 7th a few years ago. I suspect a lot of long lead items are already purchased. This would be crazy to cut the 7th. That would really be cutting to the bone. But i suspect if it were a hard choice between cutting the Albions or the 7th Astute it would be eas...

I hardly see the point of the T31e if it is going to be a lightly armed GP patrol vessel built to commercial standards. They will not compare to the 5 GP type 23 which are reasonably armed and could be updraged with a TAS in times of need. In fact due to increased threat we keep reading about latel...

I hardly see the point of the T31e if it is going to be a lightly armed GP patrol vessel built to commercial standards. They will not compare to the 5 GP type 23 which are reasonably armed and could be updraged with a TAS in times of need. In fact due to increased threat we keep reading about lately...

The only way we could get an 8th Astute is if the Dreadnoughts were scaled back from 4 to 3. But i am unsure how the CASD could operate with only 3. I see in Parliament today it wasnt confirmed whether the 7th boat had even been funded yet which sounds worrying. Surely the 7th boat is already in ear...

Watching further now I'm home again. Still with this "but if you need to land quietly". For goodness sake all you need to ask is "How would you land a Challenger 2 with a QE?" and you'll have nailed Fallon to the wall in one sentence. They need to be vastly more incisive with th...

Does this sound like we’re not going to upgrade 2/3 T23’s and flog them instead? the plot thickens...

Gabriele wrote:Ocean without the LPDs is almost pointless.

Correct me if im wrong but there was no LPD involved in Al Faw peninsular. so i guess she was useless there?

I hope we relearn the value of numbers and not just focus on a small number of top end ships. One of the RN lessons from the Falklands war was that this was the wrong way to go. Smaller numbers of more capable ships has been the policy since. The correct policy that is. I agree personally. especial...

Seems to me like the manpower crisis is taking it's toll on the RN. I consider it a convenient way to reduce costs by removing rhe Albions which could free up man power for POW and the escort fleet. What is a shame is we are just about to plug a 10 year capability gap but create another gap in the a...

True she will be more of a shell when the Brazilians get her.
I'd prefer we keep her in service for another 10 years and mothball both LPD's now. Only use POW as LPH when she is fully worked up to bridge the capability gap before a new LPH is commissioned.

I thought with the tory party conference and recent tradedgy we could have had HMS Manchester anounced this week?

Cammell Laird certainly have history in building warships. The last frigate i think being the T22 B3 HMS Campbeltown in 1987. They certainly have the facilities but i suspect the workforce and skills won't be what it was 30 years ago. I suspect it is possible for them with the T31 expected not to be...

Interesting piece http://www.wirralglobe.co.uk/news/15560 ... ref=twtrec

Suggests Cammell Laird want to take all 5 T31s on.

Smokey wrote:

MRCA wrote:Belfast, London or Cardiff, they’ll go for the capitals

Has Edinburgh fallen out of favour then ?

£5.00 of fake, old style, pound coins on "Liverpool"

I would agree. but, isnt POW already affiliated to Liverpool?