Poiuytrewq wrote: ↑29 Jan 2024, 11:39
Tempest414 wrote: ↑29 Jan 2024, 11:01
The simple fact is we had the perfect balance of flight deck and dock space with Ocean , 1 x LPD and 3 LSD's and we let it go
When all things are considered a completely conventional Amphibious force may still be the way to go.
Before even beginning on the MRSS design or considering an Enforcer LPD design I would ask a simple question - what are the major drawbacks of making the entire MRSS class flatop?
Initially the RN wanted 6*MRSS - not clear if their preference for the number of ships has changed at since then?
I have always thought that most likely to need two separate designs. One design (in effect replacing Ocean and both Albions) would be RN manned and this would be aimed at getting RM Cammandos to shore or extracting them, via a mixture of helicopters and fast landing craft like Caiman 90. So BOTH well deck and helicopter hangar (being linked to multi-mission bay via lift) is important. The MMB will be for deploying USV & USuV separate to well deck. I have said before that these 3 ships being flat tops is a nice to have, rather than must have on grounds of cost.
The second design would be more for ongoing RFA logistics support, effectively replacing the Bays but with better helicopter support. Designs like Enforcer and initial BMT Ellida might be suitable. If they had steel ramp on bow and/or stern, that would help getting stores ashore if performing HADR or resupplying RM Commandos without needing intact port infrastructure.
The top priority is the first design so both Albions and Argus can be retired ASAP. This is because the Albions are old, require too many crew to propery man, and lack hangars.
We have options for the second design for RFA including variety of Enforcer and BMT designs.
If the first design was to replace the Albions with one of the larger Enforcer designs, then that should be an improvement on what we already have, even if not ground breaking. Obviously a properly designed Damen LHD flat top would be ideal, especially if sharing these costs with Dutch. But until then this is more of a fantasy option and any based on Mistral etc would cost way top much.
All of the above is based on my statrting assumptions that both six amphib ships still wanted and that two separate designs needed to replace eventually all current Amphibs in the RN / RFA service.