The best chance of an 8th boat is during the Astute replacement program after the SSBNs. That would probably mean cutting steel for the new class as soon as HMS Dreadnought leaves the hall..

I would hope that, if QE was deploying to the gulf and we were short of escorts, the USN would provide at AB or Tico cruiser. But our shortfalls wouldn't be acceptable forever.

It might not be a bad idea mothballing POW for say 2-3 years. It could help the manpower shortage which could keep the 2 escorts currently laid up active. Also extend the life of HMS Ocean by another 5-6 years...

I've read a post on another forum that she won't be sailing for sea trials until July due to the deck coating not being complete and generally not 100% ready. This is meant to be from somebody working on her but could also be rubbish so take with a pinch of salt.

I guess the reason the Falklands are brought up from time to time is the fact the the UK did the heavy lifting by themselves with a little help from the sidelines from other nations, all other operations have never really tested the UK as they did in the Falklands under such extraordinary circumsta...

both Air & box launched hit UK ships in Falklands Sheffield & Atlantic Convoyer Air Launched Glamorgan Surface launched (converted from ship launched) I was referring more ship to ship ASM action in relation to the Harpoon discussion. But i forgot about the one that hit Glamorgan as you say...

Although ASM's didn't really feature in the Falklands (Exocet box launched) as such. I think if the Belgrano wasn't sunk we could well have seen action against her and her escorts. Am i right in thinking all 3 of their ships were equipped with Exocet as well?

Question is if QE or POW are in refit. Could one of them be deployed as combined LPH / Strike carrier alone. I wonder whether a mix of F35B and associated helicopters is possible to cover both roles in one. I would say this could be possible in an extreme case. But i guess if we are say using POW so...

CAMM should be fitted during the build so that it can be used during a high threat situation. or at least a provision for it. I believe this would be beneficial due to our current low escort numbers. If we had upwards of 32 escorts i doubt it would be a problem because we could probably spare one to...

im not sure why we don't see this design included in the shortlist for T31 http://www.military-today.com/navy/bung_tomo_class.htm maybe lengthened to include hangar.

Not seen many pics for a while. Found this one taken Nov 5th. Looks like she's had a repaint?

The hull itself can take a 5", as seen by the stretched version offered for the Type 31. Which is a very bad idea for the RN at present as all a politician would see if something that looks like a frigate. "To make that acceptable it would also need Artisan, CAMM, Phalanx, Countermeasures...

Because if you're patrol boat has come across something that needs a three inch shell you've sent the wrong boat. Non of the low intensity tasks we place on the river class require such a large weapon. I know what you're saying. However if say we were in a Falklands 2 scenario and given how low our...

I've always wondered by the B2 rivers aren't being built with 76mm Oto Melera like on the Thai version instead of 30mm canon. I know the arguments surface about re introducing a new weapon etc will come into it however it could increase their utility value massively as they could perhaps perform clo...

It's interesting when we talk about lessons learned (usually what happened in the Falklands War) The T21 come in for much criticism but we also lost 2 T42 in the same vein only more or less sticking 2 Phalanx on the rest of the class afterwards and keep them in service rather than ditch them. Althou...

Forts can be / are fitted with Phalanx. However it does make you wonder in a hot war situation would we have enough escorts to accompany a vessel like Fort Victoria if it were exposed to enemy aircraft at any point. The answer would probably be no as they would be protecting other valuable assets so...

I agree it looks like the Harpoon ramps are still there on HMS Montrose. If Harpoon was removed i'm sure they would have gone in the refit too.

As soon as Dreadnought departs Barrow we should be looking to start production of the replacement Astute program going on the basis that they have 4 subs on the go there at any one time. If this was started around 2025 and a plan for say 9 it could mean in increase in hulls. although i doubt that wi...

I would go with

Warspite
Valiant
Defiance

Don't be silly, the T26 is clearly a notch above the Venator design. Its a true top tier global surface combatant, the kind the royal navy should be full of if funds weren't limited. The Venator is still very much a compromise, and it might just end up being an acceptable one. True. but look at the...

Makes you wander what the point of the T26 is now. If the Venator could be configured for ASW we may as well just build those 8 + 8 GP thus increasing our hull numbers

I understand the T45 doesnt require CAMM due to carrying Aster 15 and 2 CIWS.
We'd be better adding CAMM to the carriers if the money were available.

Oddly Diamond only has 4 Harpoon fitted on the port side. seems a bit daft. surely it would have been better to fit 2 either side. is this because the decomissioned T22s only had 4 so there isn't enough to go around...?

I think they will be manned and equiped with a decent air group but i feel to achieve this the rest of the fleet will suffer, with a drop in escort numbers inevitable (as is the case now with lancaster / dauntless) similarly i doubt she will be putting to sea with a large RN group of warships. I rec...

not heard much about these in this discussion ? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bung_Tomo-class_corvette Exocet, Sea Wolf + oto malera up front. no hangar ? seems like a missed oppurtunity considering they were laid up in Barrow until recently. If nothing else they could have been more useful than t...