No Royal Navy warships left to guard Britain

The News, UK ^ | 1 November 2011 | Michael Powell

[Smokin' Joe]

so when will the argentinians take the falklands since the brits can’t do anything and president dumbo supports the argentinians?

I was wondering the same thing...

[Jeff Head]

Oh...by far and away. And they have had for some time.

The JMSDF is arguably the 2nd most effective and largest destroyer navy in the World next to the US.

Their AEGIS destroyers and newer flat deck helo carriers and amphibious ships are very powerful and they continue to upgrade and modernize.

They do a lot of training as well.

They have over fifty modern destroyers.

[Cheburashka]

Bet those Spanish are wishing they could get their armada together right about now....

---

At least the Spanish have aircraft carriers.

[RitchieAprile]

I am the monarch of the sea,
The ruler of the Queen’s Navee,
Whose praise Great Britain loudly chants.

When at anchor here I ride,
My bosom swells with pride,
And I snap my fingers at a foeman’s taunts;

But when the breezes blow,
I generally go below,
And seek the seclusion that a cabin grants;

When I was a lad I served a term
As office boy to an Attorney’s firm.
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor,
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!

As office boy I made such a mark
That they gave me the post of a junior clerk.
I served the writs with a smile so bland,
And I copied all the letters in a big round hand —
I copied all the letters in a hand so free,
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!

In serving writs I made such a name
That an articled clerk I soon became;
I wore clean collars and a brand-new suit
For the pass examination at the Institute,
And that pass examination did so well for me,
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!

Of legal knowledge I acquired such a grip
That they took me into the partnership.
And that junior partnership, I ween,
Was the only ship that I ever had seen.
But that kind of ship so suited me,
That now I am the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!

I grew so rich that I was sent
By a pocket borough into Parliament.
I always voted at my party’s call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.
I thought so little, they rewarded me
By making me the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!

Now landsmen all, whoever you may be,
If you want to rise to the top of the tree,
If your soul isn’t fettered to an office stool,
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule —
Stick close to your desks and never go to sea,
And you all may be rulers of the Queen’s Navee!

[60Gunner]

Amen to that. I imagine that Churchill is counter-rotating to reduce yaw.

What a sad state to which this once-great and powerful ally has been reduced by a spineless parliament afraid to offend the people who intend to kill them.

[Spruce]

For Sale
1 statue
Approx 17 feet high
(Corinthian column not included)

[sten]

don’t worry... the US has been following suit since bjclinton

[ken5050]

Ah, many thanks..I saw Victory in the early 60’s..for some reason I had it in my mind that she still floated

[Rannug]

Thanks. I borrowed it from “War and Peace.”

[The Old Commander]

So we do it. Just like what we do for the rest of Europe. Hope our credit with China remains good.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

Don’t talk to me about naval tradition. It’s nothing but rum, sodomy, the lash and exitinction....

[ops33]

If you don’t have a ship to defend your own country what’s the point in having a Navy?

[archy]

Formerly Great Britain. How sad.

Their present, America’s future, as we transform into welfare entitlement states.

It was not all that long ago....

[Travis McGee]

Hey Arch, on a related note, I just posted this request for help on a naval board. Any thoughts?

Hello,
I was Google searching for information on Norwegian “Storm” class PBs, and I came across a very interesting discussion of the Bofors 57 vs the Otto Malera 76. Now I can see that this is an excellent forum for posting a few questions. I’m a novelist, but in my youth I was a U.S. Navy SEAL lieutenant for a few years. (yes, really). During Operation Alloy Express 82 I was part of a combined USN and British Navy fleet operation in Northern Norway. One fine day while transiting toward the coast some of these Storm class PBs (anyway, that’s what I think they were) came roaring out of nowhere in the rain, mist and fog and ran at full speed criss-crossing among our squadron of big amphibious ships. I was impressed by their seamanship in coming out at such high speed in about Sea State 6 or worse. In fact, we were all cheering for the Norwegian “opfor” sailors, even though they had clearly “killed” us by already launching hypothetical missiles and torpedos at us long before we even saw them, or even knew they were lurking somewhere just over the horizon among a thousand little islands.

Anyway, I’m now a novelist, and my next book will feature an old Storm class patrol boat that has been handed down to the Latvian Navy, then finally to a private military “non-governmental organization” supposedly (but not actually) for use in enforcing the national fishing exclusion zones of some third world nation. In fact, it will be put to other more devious uses. Modern piracy, with lots of treacherous maritime skullduggery.

In the novel, the Penquin missile cannisters will have long ago been stripped off the aft deck, which will be modified with a ramp for launching and recovering large Rigid Inflatable Boats. (That’s the SEAL in me.) I am not sure if I want to stick with the original Bofors TAK 76 (as it’s listed on Wiki) forward, and the original Bofors 40mm aft. It would be easy enough (hey, it’s just fiction) to postulate a modern OM 76 forward, and a more modern gun aft. Or perhaps a Bofors 57 forward? The boat will operate totally unsupported: no big brother ships, no air support, just one small patrol boat on a big ocean. On the other hand, the fictional world economy is in semi-collapse, and there are almost no maritime patrol aircraft operating.

Any thoughts, any ideas? If you were outfitting this little ship with modern armaments, within plausible bounds, what would you choose?

And especially, if you know anybody who ever served aboard a Storm class PB, I’d love to be put into contact with them.

Thanks,

[Travis McGee]

“Does this mean that moslem pirates will again start raiding England?”

That’s the plot of my next novel, set against CW in Europe.

[the scotsman]

One carrier, two being built.

[the scotsman]

The British can do much regarding the Falklands.

There is a sizeable and heavily armed garrison on the island, which would cut any landing to ribbons (remember what just 50 Royal Marines nearly did to the landing force in 1982). There is a naval presence in the South Atlantic, and a nuclear sub in the UK on permanent standby.

[the scotsman]

Britain still punches above its weight as far as the military goes. We may not be what we once were, but we are not the useless dhimmi nation the myth would have us.

[cva66snipe]

Our U.S. Navy status will be much the same shape as the U.K. 10-20 years if DEMS and GOP stay on the same course as they are going now. Of course I am awaiting the obligatory GOP defenders and apologist saying we don’t need a large Navy anymore.

[archy]

Any thoughts, any ideas? If you were outfitting this little ship with modern armaments, within plausible bounds, what would you choose?

What, no sails? Okay, my first move would be to go with a Finnish R-boat rather than a Storm. Per Wiki:

The R class was much liked in the Finnish Navy, due to their low fuel consumption and their good sea-going qualities. They were in principle unsinkable (the vessels could have a list of 115 degrees without sinking and still return to upright position).

Armament depends to a large part on how many crew members you have to operate and pass ammo. The Norwegians had a crew of 19 men on their Storms, the Latvians two dozen. The R-boats were a bit slower, circa 20 knots, but had a bit more displacement and a bit more HP, I think.

Guns: well, if an Oto Melara twin 40/L70 DARDO is out [doubles as a CWIS] by virtue of weight- 6 tons before adding ammo- I'd think strongly about the Oerlikon Millennium 35 mm naval gun systen or its South African Denal equivalent. It'll fit a six square metres of deck space with no through deck penetration and needs no supply of coolant, air or ship's power to operate and a Millennium gun and 252 rounds weighs in at 3,200 kg. Of course, unmanned automated gun systems still have a few bugs to be worked out.

So far as a 76mm/3-inch gun goes, the Italian Otobreda 76 mm was flat-out designed for use on light patrol boats, and offer a turret-mounted autonomous gun that fits the footprint of the old US Navy Dual-purpose 3"/50 caliber guns- which weighed in at around 7500 pounds.

No room for the bigbore gun, or the weight penalty for the gun and ammo is too high? Out to around 6000 meters, a pair of 9M123 twin-rail mount Khrizantema AT missile launcher from the 9P157-2 Khrizantema-S tank destroyer, mounted port and starboard would be useful against both small surface vessels and low-flying helos or UAVs. As well as any tanks floating around....

But if nothing else is handy or available, one of the Israeli upgraded M55 quad fifty mounts refitted with a pair of 20mm autocannons [TCM-20] would do. And they're very available....