Posted on 09/05/2011 4:14:05 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Designing the Type 26 frigate
05 September 2011 | By Stuart Nathan
The Royal Navy is going through one of the most tumultuous periods in its entire illustrious, five-century existence. It’s a time of conflicting emotions as the old flagship, Ark Royal, is sent into history before its time, according to some commentators while new Type 45 destroyers take their first trip down the Clyde and into service. The submarine fleet is also being refreshed, with the new Astute-class attack boats on sea trials. And nobody could fail to notice the massive sections of the new flagship, Queen Elizabeth, arriving at the dockyard in Rosyth to be assembled, with yet another wave of controversy over its initial lack of aircraft-launching capability and, indeed, aircraft.
Multi-tasker: the ships will be used for anti-piracy missions as well as warfighting
But the activity isn’t just confined to dockyards. Yet another of the navy’s ship classes is also approaching retirement, and this time it’s the Senior Service’s workhorse, the frigate fleet. Smaller and lighter than destroyers, the frigates referred to as Type 23s or occasionally Duke-class ships have been in service since the 1980s and are due to be decommissioned towards the end of this decade; three have recently been sold to the Chilean Navy. Although steel is as yet uncut on their replacements, which will be called Type 26s, the project to design the new backbone of the 21st-century Royal Navy is well under way.
’The Type 23 frigates were designed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They came into service from the late 1980s to 2001 and it was envisaged that
(Excerpt) Read more at theengineer.co.uk ...
What does a huge socialist country like America need with a navy?
The answer to both questions is: you really find out why you need a navy when you don’t have one.
Having a powerful navy prevents a lot of threats: these are threats that never come to pass because would-be enemies know that certain forms of global competition are simply a waste of time.
For instance: if there was no US Navy and no Indian Navy, there would be an adequate Chinese Navy - and no independent Taiwan.
That is so some people can escape when the rioters take over the place.
I saw that movie!
The answer is really simple: America has not fought a genuine naval battle since 1944 because we clearly have the greatest navy the world has ever seen, and everyone knows it.
That little factoid has saved us phenomenal amounts of blood and treasure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.