Model Boat Mayhem

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Author Topic: State of the Navy  (Read 11630 times)

sweeper

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #50 on: January 15, 2008, 11:45:39 am »

Taxi,
Some food for thought! If a larger navy means higher taxes, then just think of the number of ships that could be built using the cash poured into Northern Rock (on our behalf - of course).
The amount is reckoned to be greater than the WHOLE defence budget.

I see no ships.......
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Bryan Young

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #51 on: January 15, 2008, 06:14:44 pm »

So when did Invergordon close down? Still going strong and well used during the early to mid 1990s. Hated the port but what a lovely area...and the wee train service to Inverness was a wonderful throwback to the past glories of the railway system. Such nice people.
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Arrow5

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #52 on: January 16, 2008, 11:23:47 am »

By the 1990s the oil industry had taken hold with dozens of oil-rigs being built or serviced. An amazing sight to see twenty giant off-shore rigs all within a mile of the farmland all around the Firth. That has tapered off now too. Only one rig last time I passed plus two cruise liners. Dont know what the admiralty or military staus is now. The wee train is quite plush and regular these days with regular services.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #53 on: January 16, 2008, 09:18:18 pm »

The Type 42s have been described as "Rustbuckets". Some truth in that judging by the pics I took of HMS Exeter at the Boat Show today but an impressive ship nonetheless.
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John W E

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #54 on: January 16, 2008, 09:38:09 pm »

... and the rest of the world have spent literally billions and billions of dollars trying to develop a material to absorb radio waves and the British Navy knew all along that rust was the best radio wave absorbant.

aye
john e
bluebird
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Bryan Young

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #55 on: January 16, 2008, 10:57:02 pm »

Rust is not the "best". We (GB Ltd) have spent millions of £ developing the so-called "stealth" strategy. Basically this means having bulkheads sloping one way or another from the vertical. I really do think that the Naval Constructors (ie designers) ought to get out on real ships more often. If a ship is permanently upright (vertical) then it is possibly true that radar "bounces" would be deflected into the ether. But ships roll. What was a sloping bulkhead becomes a vertical one and is unmissable on a radar. A fortune spent to no avail. Years ago (1960s) somebody convinced the MOD to fit the "Agutti" propeller. (not sure of the spelling). This is a prop that had little air holes around the blades and when air was blown through them it was supposed to disguise the name of the paricular ship. Absolute rubbish. All it (they) did was to make the identity of the ship evident to the listener.
In the same vein I would like to tell you all about another great lump of MOD stupidity. The RFAs "Resource" and "Regent" were very large ships. They also had a duct keel that you could drive a mini-cab through. These ships were weapons carriers (of all sorts) and were "designed" (by MOD) to sink vertically if they were fatally damaged. What a load of hoo-ha. I have never before seen a ship(s) with thicker plating than the 2 "R"s. The deck plating alone must have been 1" thick. At the same time (1966'ish) Swan-Hunters came out with the "Ness" class. "Tarbatness", Lyness" and "Stromness". All had different functions. One was an "air-stores" ship, one "victualas" and the other "naval stores". They also had 3 different nationality crews. "Tarbatness" had a Maltese crew, "Lyness" had a UK crew and ""Stromness" had a Chinese crew. Joined up thinking?  (Because "Stromness" was always so "pretty" she was always known as "super-sampan"). Things have changed now, and the RFA is fully integrated into the RN...although the personnel are still civilians. And all this came about because of a comment about rust!
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Colin Bishop

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #56 on: January 24, 2008, 07:47:25 pm »

Taken at Portsmouth today.  Both carriers in commission parked up alongside – probably out of fuel.

In the foreground you can see the prototype of the Navy’s new all purpose ship designed to overcome the current budget restrictions. Based on a traditional design, it is powered by a single cylinder oscillating engine powered from an Aga cooker which delivers steam at 4psi. This gives it a service speed of 5 knots although 7 knots was achieved on trials with Gordon Ramsay in the engine room.

Main armament consists of two rifled breech loaders capable of firing either armour piercing cricket balls or high explosive tennis balls to a range of 300 yards depending on how worn the knicker elastic propellant is. Anti aircraft protection consists of two banks of Pains Skyrockets fired from bottles mounted in Sainsbury’s cardboard bottle carriers situated adjacent to the engine room skylight.

Anti submarine measures include effervescent bath balls which can be dropped over the side on the position of the suspected submarine. These release lots of bubbles causing the sub to drop like a stone to the sea bed bending the prop.

A full class of North London schoolchildren is carried on board. In case of incoming missile attack these are deployed from the Chav projector mounted inside the funnel

Due to restricted space only Chinese imported model helicopters can be carried. Some problems have been experienced with all the ones purchased to date operating on the same frequency. They have been modified to carry glass marbles which can be dropped on the crew of hostile vessels. However, only a limited number of marbles can be carried on board so an attack has to be broken off when the captain has lost all his marbles.

Navigation is by means of a Garmin hand held GPS linked to a laptop computer running Google Earth. A second laptop is carried in the ship’s safe for when the first one is stolen from the Captain’s car while visiting his mistress overnight.

A statement from the MOD says that these state of the art warships will restore the RN to its rightful place in the  ranks of the world’s navies. Number 10  says that Gordon Brown is confident that this innovative warship will win many export orders and bring about a revival in the British shipbuilding industry.
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Shipmate60

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #57 on: January 24, 2008, 09:25:26 pm »

Colin,
That sounds like a load of "MUGWUMP" to me  :)

Bob
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Colin H

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #58 on: January 24, 2008, 10:18:50 pm »

Not out of fuel the fridge broke?

A carrier returns to port because the fridge is broke they must be joking {-) {-) {-)

Surely with all the techies on board someone could fix a bl--dy fridge >>:-( >>:-( >>:-(

Yours In Deep Sorrow at the death of our Navy Colin H.
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farrow

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #59 on: January 27, 2008, 01:44:33 pm »

I think you will find that the old artificer branches of different specialist no longer exist, indeed I would not be surprised to hear that the Artificer as a whole will shortly become defunct. So it is difficult to repair at sea, plus more importantly most things bought and fitted to ships as well as in the home cannot be repaired onboard if they can it is with laptops loaded with specialist software, operated by specially trained people, Caterpillar engines are a prime example where ships engineers cannot repair them themselves. It is the world we live in and the way it is going, everything is now diagnosed by computers with special software, look at modern cars, I dare say Shipmate 60 can expand more on this subject as a qualified marine engineer and a good car mechanic he is well versed in this area.
By the way I found out we still have 45 Admirals, a larger number of Commodores, and several hundred Commanders, infact there is enough officers to man the fleet, with people spare with out having to use any rank and file.
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Bryan Young

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #60 on: January 28, 2008, 07:10:20 pm »

I think you will find that the old artificer branches of different specialist no longer exist, indeed I would not be surprised to hear that the Artificer as a whole will shortly become defunct. So it is difficult to repair at sea, plus more importantly most things bought and fitted to ships as well as in the home cannot be repaired onboard if they can it is with laptops loaded with specialist software, operated by specially trained people, Caterpillar engines are a prime example where ships engineers cannot repair them themselves. It is the world we live in and the way it is going, everything is now diagnosed by computers with special software, look at modern cars, I dare say Shipmate 60 can expand more on this subject as a qualified marine engineer and a good car mechanic he is well versed in this area.
By the way I found out we still have 45 Admirals, a larger number of Commodores, and several hundred Commanders, infact there is enough officers to man the fleet, with people spare with out having to use any rank and file.
Re. your last paragraph...well said! Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. BY.
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Bryan Young

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #61 on: February 24, 2008, 04:11:46 pm »

Anyone read todays Sunday Times?
Now they are talking about closing Plymouth Dockyard. Something to do with the lack of replenishable Nukes in the future, and only a "few" surface ships to call "home".
Never a mention that Plymouth has only comparatively recently taken over from Portland (now closed) as the FOST (Flag Officer Sea Training) that also trains Navies from all over the world. Lose Plymouth and we lose a lot more than just a Naval Base. We basically lose a city. (And I say this as a Geordie). Please also read Simon Jenkins (simon.jenkins@sunday-times.co.uk) re. MOD incompetence.
I hope (really) that I am wrong but as I have said earlier....do you really believe that the RN is going to get new aircraft carriers? I think they are doomed to die from the political equivelant of the thousand cuts. Weep. BY.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #62 on: February 24, 2008, 04:19:58 pm »

Yes, I read that too. You are probably right Bryan.
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Shipmate60

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #63 on: February 24, 2008, 06:12:14 pm »

With the new carriers going to be based at Portsmouth, FOST and most of the surface fleet is supposed to be based in Portsmouth leaving Plymouth free for Subs and a small surface presence.
Well that WAS the theory!!

Bob
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Shipmate60

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #64 on: February 24, 2008, 10:22:08 pm »

Not just Navy.
An Extract from 1 "Expert"

Defence chiefs are drawing up a hit list of equipment programmes which must be cut back to fill a £1bn hole in the annual arms budget.

Navy's order for Astute-class nuclear submarines could be halved
They are working with senior civil servants at the Ministry of Defence to reduce the £20bn major equipment budget by £4.5bn over the next three years.
Possible cut-backs include:
:: Halving to four the Royal Navy's order for Astute-class nuclear attack submarines;
:: Halving to six the number of Type 45 destroyers;
:: Delaying two new aircraft carriers already on order;
:: Reducing the RAF's order for more than 250 Typhoon/Eurofighters;
:: Cutting the number of Tornado squadrons and selling off airfields;
:: Delaying or downsizing the Army's planned £14bn battlefield vehicle fleet.
An unnamed senior defence official is quoted as saying the armed forces are heading for a "train crash" as funds are starved for vital equipment, and that the Government risks mortgaging the future of national defence.

Bob
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Bryan Young

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Re: State of the Navy
« Reply #65 on: February 24, 2008, 11:40:38 pm »

Not being political, but watch my lips!!!!!
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