Well that's the fault of the woke lot making them hire women....What does it matter if they cant crew them anywayNavy' biggest issue is lack of manpower at the moment.
(NB: The above is a joke).
Red Sea / Houthi rebels situation
- Thread starter Stu999
- Start date
(NB: The above is a joke).
Soldato
Doubt its Dragon. Last time I saw Dragon, she looked gutted and surrounded in scaffolding, that was just over a year ago. I'd have likely been aware of post refit assurance checks if it was going out soon.
*Obligatory groan...*
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In all fairness, we have the fifth* most powerful navy on the planet, despite not even being in the top 20 largest, so there is some truth to that.
*Japan aren't counted as their navy is only for defensive use not force projection.
Soldato
With the Type 45, I think the problem stems from the timing of the Power Improvement Program, with the MoD I guess having taken a gamble on taking more of them out of service at the same in order to get it done, but by doing so, getting it done quicker. Daring, Dragon and Defender are all in various stages of getting it done at the minute, while Defender’s also having the additional VLS module installed to allow her to fire CAMM/Sea Ceptor missiles.
Soldato
Many more Germans died then Brits in WW2 as a result of British bombs falling on German cities, does that mean Britain in wrong in WW2?
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Soldato
I was a Thatcherite but she has been out of power for 35 years. As for your 5% suggestion I totally agree and am on record here demanding it. Let's have the weaponry to deal with these ragtag armies.
Soldato
The issue with the type 45 is we cut the program so there aren’t enough of them to perform the job they were built for, compound that with the manpower issues and you realise why our carriers won’t be heading to the Red Sea anytime soon unless of course the US provides point defence for us as well as the planes and pilots to complete the air wing
Problem is we don't and won't do that either...
But covid contracts for mates....here's your billions...private companies making mega profits, can't tax them too much, oh look a massive corporation is possibly going down, ie banks and water etc, we will take your debt.
Everything gets cut or money goes to friends.
Any idea where would Japan rank if they were included?
Man of Honour
Their Navy is very capable with a lot of Classes derived from their American equivalents; they also have a decent capability with Helicopter/Light Carriers and Amphibious Warfare capability. They currently have 155 ships v the 68 of the Royal Navy.
In some respects looking at vessel numbers and capability I'd argue its more capable than the Royal Navy; the only thing the RN has in its favour are the two QE Class carriers and of course nuclear weapons in the Vanguard Class subs.
Soldato
Guess who is lacking although much of its Asian, far east trade comes via the Red Sea. Yes, only the Netherlands has turned up. The rest of the EU is waiting for the 19th of February to make their mind up.
Just looking at fleet readiness and lack of surface to surface weapons makes me question how we are placed so high up other than Trident
It certainly seems like a vanity navy doesn't it? All face and no marbles.
Carriers are a prime example, just missing the new brittania yacht really...
Man of Honour
Then you add in the complete lack of recruitment levels meaning we can't even man the vessels we have; there was talk of scrapping some ships to free up resource for newer ships.
Haha, the Houthi's have hit a Russian oil tanker, love to see it xD
While we may not be in the same league as the USA in that aspect we aren't that far off France and we're basically on par with China and India (however they can reliably deploy both of theirs at the same time hence ranking above us), there's then a gulf between us and other navy's who only have outdated carriers or simply no carriers (this is why Russia have dropped so far down the rankings as of late).
If it was kicking off in the pacific and they switched their navy to an offensive role they would have F-35s on four carriers, enough to knock France off the number 2 spot (and enough to make China think twice about any shenanigans even when their third carrier comes online).
I'm pretty sure it's basically, the aircraft carriers. Both the most important/effective and also the most expensive part of any navy.
While we may not be in the same league as the USA in that aspect we aren't that far off France and we're basically on par with China and India (however they can reliably deploy both of theirs at the same time hence ranking above us), there's then a gulf between us and other navy's who only have outdated carriers or simply no carriers (this is why Russia have dropped so far down the rankings as of late).
Second.
If it was kicking off in the pacific and they switched their navy to an offensive role they would have F-35s on four carriers, enough to knock France off the number 2 spot (and enough to make China think twice about any shenanigans even when their third carrier comes online).
Man of Honour
I don't think the 2x new carriers are anything but an expensive vanity exercise; we're no where near them being the most effective part of the Royal Navy; we will never have the aircraft to have a full air wing on both carriers (we're only ordering 74 F-35 split between the RAF and the RN).
I honestly don't know why we bothered; the costs of those two vessels has led to a massive hollowing out of the rest of the RN surface fleet; the money would have been far, far better spent on Frigates, Destroyers and at this point I'd actually also suggest brining back diesel submarines.
The Upholder Class would be ideal for some of the "cold war" tasking that the RN is going to have to start carrying out again in the GUIK gap.