HMS Hermes as Sea Control Ship

SSgtC said:
Yeah. The S-3 was 29'6" by 49'5" when it it's wings and tail were folded. She was a big girl.

And I misspoke a little earlier. Max catapult weight for the S-3 was 52,539 pounds. It's normal cat weight was 43,449 pounds. So end run speed is probably around 107 knots. Still that does, barely, give you the 5 knot margin to launch in zero wind conditions. And luckily for Hermes, her deck and arresting gear are already good enough to recover the Viking (max trap weight is 37,695 pounds).
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Yes, the short low pressure BS5 was about 25 kts weaker than the C-11. So @ 45k lbs, which looks like the usual mission weight from the SAC, ~10 kts WOD.

Arresting @33k lbs should be possible around 0 kts.



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I do not think the S-3 from Hermes makes much operational sense, but it would be nice as I have a weak spot for the Viking. It looks like the bastard child of a fighter jet and a panda bear.
 
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uk 75 said:
SACLANT asked the RN to look at operating S3 Vikings from her in addition to the Seakings.
Retaining the waist catapult would also allow the Hermes to retain Gannet AEW and COD aircraft to provide information for its T42 and County class escorts.
By 1974 Hermes had recommissioned as a combined Commando and ASW ship. 8 S3K Vikings on loan from the US joined the ship and the Gannets from her last fixed wing commission.
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Do you happen to have more information about this loan?
 

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