My initial thoughts on the T31s were very much to spread them out similar to River B2s to cover: 1) Carribean and western Atlaew\ntic 2) Falklands and South Atlantic 3) Gibralter and Med 4 & 5) Indo Pacific Each of those cover such a huge area that two ships is nt too much IMO. E.g. might have ...

The River all over the press is being described as a warship and I can't see why the Venezuelans would see the distinction either. Poor defence reporting is what it is - one thing for sure is that will not a centre spread about how many missiles it has etc. Regardless, if a T31 turned with its cove...

We’ll be sending them to the gulf next.

Ian Hall wrote: ↑24 Dec 2023, 08:37 Interesting viewpoint, wider than just defence.

https://dgap.org/en/research/publicatio ... ink-bigger

They could easily replace the word Germany with the uk in that article.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/c-17-airlifts-royal-navy-merlin-back-to-uk-from-middle-east/ The Royal Air Force Air Mobility Force has carried out sorties to recover this year’s exercise equipment from the Middle East, including a Royal Navy helicopter back to the UK just in time for Christmas. The...

Not difficult, seal off the compartment and loose it, then pump everything like crazy. The automation is noting challenging. More challenging is making everything redundant to mitigate failures, and even more challenging is the cultural changes needed to make it happen. Pumping doesn’t fix the prob...

I get inert gas for fires but how would flooding be dealt with in such a small crew in damage control situations giving that’s how the navy in peacetime have nearly lost several ships and how would they man the defence watches and air warfare battle staff with a crew of just 50?

Our Japanese friends seem to be moving forward on their [definitely not] AAW cruisers. https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2023/12/japan-mod-secures-2-5-billion-to-build-two-asev-for-fy2024/ The ministry pointed out that the size of the ASEV will be 1.7 times larger than the US Navy’s latest Fligh...

“The first duty of government is safety of its citizens” It’s a true phase but does that mean more money on military equipment? This country isn’t going to be invaded by a foreign army nuclear weapons have seen to that. I would argue the same for nato territory. There will be provocative actions al...

….the recent Yemen actions have exposed how light both ships are on VL....decisions from the past now looking rather silly... At present RN could do with 8-10 T45 if not more. The T83 super cruiser procurement of 4 hulls just looks plain daft. Mass must be maintained or increased and the number of ...

“The first duty of government is safety of its citizens” It’s a true phase but does that mean more money on military equipment? This country isn’t going to be invaded by a foreign army nuclear weapons have seen to that. I would argue the same for nato territory. There will be provocative actions alo...

….the recent Yemen actions have exposed how light both ships are on VL....decisions from the past now looking rather silly... At present RN could do with 8-10 T45 if not more. The T83 super cruiser procurement of 4 hulls just looks plain daft. Mass must be maintained or increased and the number of ...

Greece, Turkey, Germany Egypt, Saudi, Oman India, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand To name a few a lot of fence sitters conspicuous by their absence who you would think all have a bun in this fight. Maybe we should start looking to buy goods from elsewhere if they are not prepared to help look ...

Greece, Turkey, Germany Egypt, Saudi, Oman India, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand To name a few a lot of fence sitters conspicuous by their absence who you would think all have a bun in this fight. Maybe we should start looking to buy goods from elsewhere if they are not prepared to help look ...

Greece, Turkey, Germany Egypt, Saudi, Oman India, Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand To name a few a lot of fence sitters conspicuous by their absence who you would think all have a bun in this fight. Maybe we should start looking to buy goods from elsewhere if they are not prepared to help look a...

United Kingdom, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain As usual, when it really comes down to it the vast majority of those international partners disappear when outside NATO. If alarm bells aren’t ringing in Whitehall they should be. The main naval militarys of n...

https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/3621110/statement-from-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-ensuring-freedom-of-n/ The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates intern...

Oman maybe stable or appear stable now but it is not sovereign, attitudes and stances may not align on all topics. There is only 3 ways stuff is getting into Yemen either from the sea, through Saudi or through Oman someone is helping. There has been many uprisings changes of attitudes over the years...

Despite the fact that we are actually contributing two ships, with Lancaster having left the Persian Gulf and steaming southwards (as of last night). Moving Lancaster to the Red Sea is a quick fix but now RN has no escort in the gulf. Another gap. Having Diamond and Duncan either side of Suez is gr...

Despite the fact that we are actually contributing two ships, with Lancaster having left the Persian Gulf and steaming southwards (as of last night). Moving Lancaster to the Red Sea is a quick fix but now RN has no escort in the gulf. Another gap. Having Diamond and Duncan either side of Suez is gr...

Are we relying on allies again to police the rules based order? What's the problem? The strait is used by dozens of nations. The whole NATO escorts may join. There are literally "dozens of" escorts there. Why would NATO get involved in the Red Sea? It has in the recent past. https://mc.na...

I think the gun systems on type 31 mean it doesn’t need to use missiles for every air target it can save missiles for the more difficult ones The T31 will have a single gun with a range of @9nm - it’s a narrow window here and primarily for self defence. I’m pretty sure it has 57mm and 40mm guns tha...

...with potential. Yes a lot more potential then any River Class Batch 1, 1.5, 2 or 3. Perhaps superficially. If a RB3 embarked 6x TEU each containing 12x CAMM that’s 72x CAMM with the Wildcat hanger and flight deck still operational. Backed up by the 57/40mm’s. If the T31 only has 12x CAMM fitted ...