Poiuytrewq wrote:
postby Poiuytrewq » 26 Oct 2021, 14:29
It is not controversial to argue that credible Frigates should be able conduct NGS, attack OTH vessels, track and destroy submarines or have enough SAM’s to repeal an attack from an adversary with a standard load of 8 AShM.
Quite as that is what makes a frigate; corvettes may have all that but are often more specialised as oiperating close to 'home' helps with numbers/ availability on the 'scene'.
- but then we come to the fact that the RN is not just blue-water, but also globally deployable
Poiuytrewq wrote:It could (and has) been argued that the T31’s increased range and endurance is an enhancement over the T23 along with higher habitation standards and improved availability. This is all true but how important are these attributes when the talking stops and the shooting starts? Are the hard lessons learnt in the Falklands still being applied or is a future conflict so unlikely now that it is just cheaper to focus on availability
- as the @Richard comment quoted further down shows the above operational imperative had to go hand in hand with the budget constraint. Whether the latter emerged as a result of long neglect or as a consequence of the RN 'paying for its carriers' with the numbers of the surface fleet (total displacement went up
) is a wider point than what will fit under the thread's heading
Repulse wrote:the main principle of the LRG would be to provide a low key forward based task group, capable of getting involved in low threat maritime environments projecting SF type formations on to the land or Littoral zones. The whole point is that there doesn’t need to be a show of force as such - you want it below the radar
Quite.
Repulse wrote:Anything above that should be with a RN CBG, or as you say an allied task group.
With the budget/ fleet numbers we can't have the in-between thing, like we used to have the FE Cruiser Sqdrn, to be backed up by battleships from closer to home
Lord Jim wrote: I thought we were looking at a multirole ship with almost the capacity of a Bay with aviation facilities for three or at most four helicopters, and a well deck. It would have accommodation for at most a Coy of Royal Marines or equivalents.
Yes, and the early renders tried to put this onto one vessel. As the T32 spec emerges, it might become more like as the Austal LAW concept cum a T32?
- we'll hear about the experimentation that is running, in due course
Lord Jim wrote: I am not a fan of classing then as escorts, gunboats seems more apt.
A patrol frigate does not escort anything, as a main rule
RichardIC wrote:5 GP Type 26 was never going to be affordable. Operational modelling showed they couldn't manage with fewer than 8 ASW Type 26, so something cheaper was needed to fill the GP role. It was a choice between that or nothing.
Yep
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)