We were still banging around with Avro Shackletons until the mid 80's
Queensferry Crossing, HMS Queen Elizabeth and all things Royal Navy
- Thread starter Greenlantern101
- Start date
Up until the 1957 Defence White Paper there were numerous manafacturers and they would either have to supply an almost fully functional prototype to meet a requirement or in some cases they would try and predict what was wanted and build a system on spec so that would be available off the shelf. Either way, it involved a high cost risk for the manufacturer but often produced decent bits of kit. Of course, once we started to merge companies together and then select designs off the drawing board, that's when we started to see costs rise, huge delays in production due to every Admiral and his dog wanting to leave their mark on a project to boast to their mates down the yacht club "I designed that bit" and so on.
The final joke of all, is that after years of rationalisation BAE is the only ship building contractor in the game while almost all of the electronics is in the hands of Thales and the engines by Rolls Royce. There's absolutely no choice at all.
Dartman
Pole Sitter
Well we all know the blame for that, the same lot that used the same system on the British car industry. Interestingly one can see who originally designed and built the jet engines by their names, RR engines were all named after rivers, Bristol the only other major designer builder were named after Greek mythology, if some names don't follow that, the they are scraps from smaller manufacturers that were bought out in the 50's by the big two and were so successful in their niche that they are still made albeit with modifications. RR were a small designer builder until the disastrous RB211 that forced them to be nationalised, guess who pushed them into that situation.
Thales bought out Racal the only opposition to MSDS but didn't have enough retired Admirals, Generals, Air Marchals and ex cabinet ministers on their board
Thales bought out Racal the only opposition to MSDS but didn't have enough retired Admirals, Generals, Air Marchals and ex cabinet ministers on their board
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Andyoak
Champion Elect
Had the opportunity to go around Devonport docks in the late 80's and saw Illustrious in dock and one of the atomic subs in for service.
Laughing at the warning notices around the old stone walls advising 200m evacuation in the event of an accident.
Good to know that the people of Plymouth were being looked after
Laughing at the warning notices around the old stone walls advising 200m evacuation in the event of an accident.
Good to know that the people of Plymouth were being looked after
1st July 1971. HMS Artemis, sister boat to HMS Alliance, sunk alongside in Gosport while being refuelled. Several crew members were trapped inside when she went down but subsequently escaped. No lives were lost.
Dartman
Pole Sitter
Trot sentry failed to inform the control room of the draught marks, duty senior rate failed to check the trim, seem to remember there were some sea cadets on board.
With reference to the safety zone, there is no nuclear danger, that is contained in the reactor compartment, the danger is the superheating of the water surrounding the submarine or water used to cool the reactor in the case of a thermal runaway, 200m is adequate.
With reference to the safety zone, there is no nuclear danger, that is contained in the reactor compartment, the danger is the superheating of the water surrounding the submarine or water used to cool the reactor in the case of a thermal runaway, 200m is adequate.
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Yeah there were but one of the crew went and got them out before the sub went under. I think a couple of the ships company got bravery awards.
The duty watch got a good kick up the arse though.
Back in the late 70's there was a panic about the Soviet Union having a capability to mess around with our under sea infrastructure, telecoms cables and the like.
As a result of this panic the Thatcher government invested a massive wedge of cash into a seabed operations vessel a.k.a HMS Challenger. She was eventuality delivered, late and over budget as usual only to find out that nothing on her worked properly. She spent about 4 or 5 years either welded to a dockyard wall or carrying out some low key trials. Eventually everyone gave up and she was quietly sold off and forgotten.
Now, there's a massive panic about the capability of Russia to mess with our undersea infrastructure, telecoms cables, pipe lines and the like so we've purchased a ship from trade, hastily and expensively converted it into a sea bed operations vessel, snuck it into the fleet auxiliary so we don't have to go to the expense of letting Royal Navy sailors crew her and will let this monstrosity sail around trying to look useful.
As a result of this panic the Thatcher government invested a massive wedge of cash into a seabed operations vessel a.k.a HMS Challenger. She was eventuality delivered, late and over budget as usual only to find out that nothing on her worked properly. She spent about 4 or 5 years either welded to a dockyard wall or carrying out some low key trials. Eventually everyone gave up and she was quietly sold off and forgotten.
Now, there's a massive panic about the capability of Russia to mess with our undersea infrastructure, telecoms cables, pipe lines and the like so we've purchased a ship from trade, hastily and expensively converted it into a sea bed operations vessel, snuck it into the fleet auxiliary so we don't have to go to the expense of letting Royal Navy sailors crew her and will let this monstrosity sail around trying to look useful.
Dartman
Pole Sitter
That is a conversion of an offshore tug/supply vessel, just checked it out, built in Norway in 2019, I think this time they may have got it right, purchased in January and now either on trials or semi operational, the hull is an ideal design for the task, they are easily adapted to operate various ROV's and or divers
The one furthest away in the picture is probably Hood as she had 4 twin 15" inch turrets so had two at the front and two at the back.
The one in the foreground is either Renown or Repulse, a Renown Class Battlecruiser which had 3 twin 15" turrets, one at the back and two at the front.
Unfortunately we didn't have a Battleship / Battlecruiser called "Reliant" as far as I know.
The one in the foreground is either Renown or Repulse, a Renown Class Battlecruiser which had 3 twin 15" turrets, one at the back and two at the front.
Unfortunately we didn't have a Battleship / Battlecruiser called "Reliant" as far as I know.
Dartman
Pole Sitter
You are probably right cider_and_toast , she is also flying an admirals flag as she was a flagship. She was really a battleship without armour which lead to her demise
Yeah. Jutland proved the concept was fatally flawed.
The Germans perfected the Battlecruiser idea with their Deustchland Class Cruisers which managed to combine Battleship armour with cruiser speed.
Having cruiser armour with Battleship gunnery and speed led to a lot of submerged steel.
The Germans perfected the Battlecruiser idea with their Deustchland Class Cruisers which managed to combine Battleship armour with cruiser speed.
Having cruiser armour with Battleship gunnery and speed led to a lot of submerged steel.
