aonestudio
I really should change my personal text
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MdCN is sized for torpedo tube launch from submarines. That repackaging would have been done regardless of SCALP fitting or not fitting a VLS.I don't think Storm Shadow would fit in a Mk 41. If it did, the French would not have gone to the trouble of turning SCALP into MdCN to fit the similar-sized Sylver launchers.
MdCN is sized for torpedo tube launch from submarines. That repackaging would have been done regardless of SCALP fitting or not fitting a VLS.
Whilst i understand the supposed range/min-engagement performance, launch signature reduction and hull structure benefits for CAMM in soft-launch 'mushroom' cells - I don't agree that these benefits stack up against the opportunity costs of not integrating Mk41. This irks me as T45, T26 and T31 were (at the very least) designed for Mk41 on a 'fitted for but not with' basis anyway and recent developments in CAMM/Sea-Ceptor evolution will serve to negate the performance and range loss that soft-launching was supposed to ameliorate anyway. To my mind, why bother with a bespoke launching system when there was already a program to integrate CAMM (and possibly Aster/Sea-Viper) with Mk41 (or ExLS - which is nigh on the same thing) - just do that for naval applications from day one and reap the flexibility of hosting a plethora of other US-origin weapons (the catalogue is growing all the time), thereby future-proofing your platform and maximising bang for your buck!. Mk41 is a flexible, high volume, multi-user system so ongoing costs would be relatively reduced compared to CAMM-only mushroom farms (or aster-only hot-launch tubes - as an aside) which are (i believe?) comparatively low-uptake systems (notwithstanding gestating or new integrations of CAMM New Zealand and Canada, as well as proposed Brazilian, Polish and Indonesian future installations etc - which incidentally may well use ExLS rather than soft-launch tubes anyway (not 100% sure on this I must admit)).
Everyone in RN officialdom is harping on about FCASW, but the way that's tracking it'll end up just like Storm Shadow/SCALP: years late, high cost, low volumes (That's difficult to justify in the current fiscal environment - the arguments about maintaining a sovereign industrial and design capacity for such systems notwithstanding). Mk41 opens up the possibility of TLAM, VL-LRASM (when that comes online - being worked on in a US/AUST joint project right now), SM-3, SM-6 and VL-ASROC. There's even talk of integrating Aster-30 now... What's there not to like!
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ORIGINAL CAPTION: Scotland are busy building the Royal Navy's Type 31 frigates CREDIT: Barry Wheeler/Royal Navy
Young people must understand their freedom is at risk, says Babcock chief
Interview: Babcock boss David Lockwood on why Britain must raise defence spendingwww.telegraph.co.uk
With the general trend in birth rates, getting enough personnel to crew an enlarged fleet, a larger army, and a more powerful air force may require measures such as increases in military pay, at least after completion of recruit training.Ambitions and needs must first be met by the fundamental requirement of having a large enough body of trained personnel.
Immediately that hits a priority gradient. How much of a population should the military employ?
Type 31 at least has the merit of being lean in crew numbers.
Demography is certainly going to have a profound effect as a driver of the increased use of automated and autonomous systems.With the general trend in birth rates, getting enough personnel to crew an enlarged fleet, a larger army, and a more powerful air force may require measures such as increases in military pay, at least after completion of recruit training.
Scroll down to "A radical solution for Type 83":
The genius of the 4,000 ton concept is that it doesn’t need a high mounted radar installation when it’s operating with the carriers. As an escort, most likely in the company of allied ships equipped with SM-3, it also doesn’t need to be a primaryABM platform. That eliminates the need for an excessively wide hull. Moreover, with totally unmanned machinery and non-habitable spaces filled with inert gas, you can minimize hull and crew size. No need for damage control. Get rid of silly missions like anti-drug patrols and SAR and you don’t need a permanently embarked helicopter. The Type 45 was profoundly noisy and a hopeless ASW platform, so limit the minimal 4,000 ton ship to active anti-torpedo defense. No capability lost. It could work.If manpower is a pressing issue I expect that the Type 83 is going to be a much larger ship, to allow for greater automation and access for maintainence, and greatly improved crew quarters to improve retention.
The desire to put large radars as high as possible is also going to drive up ship size, and since it looks like every other European country is looking at splitting phased array radars between fore and aft superstructure blocks for survivability (as seen in the German F126 and F127, Italian DDX and Dutch FuAD), I expect the same will be done with Type 83, which will almost certainly drive displacement well beyond 4000 tons and very likely over 10,000 tons.
The genius of the 4,000 ton concept is that it doesn’t need a high mounted radar installation when it’s operating with the carriers. As an escort, most likely in the company of allied ships equipped with SM-3, it also doesn’t need to be a primary ABM platform. That eliminates the need for an excessively wide hull.
Moreover, with totally unmanned machinery and non-habitable spaces filled with inert gas, you can minimize hull and crew size. No need for damage control. Get rid of silly missions like anti-drug patrols and SAR and you don’t need a permanently embarked helicopter.
The Type 45 was profoundly noisy and a hopeless ASW platform, so limit the minimal 4,000 ton ship to active anti-torpedo defense. No capability lost. It could work.
On the other hand, retiring the Type 45s prematurely in favor of AAW optimized Type 31s could work as well. You might even be able to “recycle” much of the Type 45’s sensor suite, in the same way that the Type 26s do with the Type 23s.
You only have to look at Zumwalt as an example of IEP which did not go well both for its cost and extraordinary number of years in build, and do not want to repeat the experience, if you want a quiet ASW ship nearly all use hybrid propulsion system, otherwise for an AAW ship is there any reason that they have to be as quiet as an ASW ship when they will be escorting a much nosier carrier, if you need additional electrical power use larger DGs which would not be surprised if an order magnitude cheaper and faster to build than any IEP system.Better to build a 10-15,000 ton plus hull with IEP and a Type 26-esque mission bay
You only have to look at Zumwalt as an example of IEP which did not go well both for its cost and extraordinary number of years in build,
if you want a quiet ASW ship nearly all use hybrid propulsion system, otherwise for an AAW ship is there any reason that they have to be as quiet as an ASW ship when they will be escorting a much nosier carrier,
if you need additional electrical power use larger DGs which would not be surprised if an order magnitude cheaper and faster to build than any IEP system.
I agree. I've heard the V-class SSBNs have become maintenance nightmares as they've aged because they're very cramped and it's hard to access many parts. On the other hand, it's often said that steel is cheap and air is free - what mainly drives cost is complexity.If manpower is a pressing issue I expect that the Type 83 is going to be a much larger ship, to allow for greater automation and access for maintainence, and greatly improved crew quarters to improve retention.
The desire to put large radars as high as possible is also going to drive up ship size, and since it looks like every other European country is looking at splitting phased array radars between fore and aft superstructure blocks for survivability (as seen in the German F126 and F127, Italian DDX and Dutch FuAD), I expect the same will be done with Type 83, which will almost certainly drive displacement well beyond 4000 tons and very likely over 10,000 tons.
Understood Type 23 propulsion is a hybrid CODLAG with the Spey GTs driving through a reduction gearbox so not an IEP, the Type 45 IEP was a disaster as they kept breaking down, now class slowly undergoing expensive propulsion upgrade with more powerful diesels being fitted.Britain has made use of IEP and Electric drive on the Type 23s, Type 45s, Albion and Queen Elizabeth classes, the Royal Navy now has plenty of experience with it.
IEP does not add anything to the build time of a ship.
Don't disagree but would point to the new German 10,000t F126 class designed by Damen who had originally looked at GTs, but finally chose all diesel, CODLAD with the main MAN propulsion diesels equipped with a high displacement, soft resilient mounting system to comply with the latest regulations regarding shock and noise requirements.I would hope the Carrier, AAW escorts and ASW escort all have similar, and very extensive, levels of silencing. I would like to minimise undersurface threats to warships, especially assets as important as a carrier group.
Even if you're not worried about the noise signatures of your Carrier and it's AAW escorts, the ASW escort's job is made much easier if the radiated noise from its consorts are much lower.
Not saying if you require very high power GTs are not a good choice as the main propulsion engines for max speed but at anything other than max speed they are gas guzzlers, e.g. the all GT Burkes range limited to approx 3,000nm with the Navy standard min 30% reserve, would note have seen the 16,000t Zumwalt IEP all GT quoted max range 6,000nm, so approx. 4,000 nm actual with 30% reserve whereas the all diesel Iver Huitfeldt class max range 9,000nm plus gives approx. 6,000nm actual. Long range is what's required for USN ships operating in the Pacific unless relying on noisy oilers which will be one of the prime targets for the Chinese subs.At the expense of greater cost, size, fuel burn, worse endurance, more personnel for maintenance, and the small but glaring fact that nobody has built such a ship. When faced with the need for much greater power generation, defence bureaucracies around the world keep selecting IEP. I'm not aware of a modern CODAD surface combatant with the 120-140 MW of power generation capacity that DD-21 was intended to have, or for that matter the 78 MW of Zumwalt as built.
As far as I remember the situation of Type 45's IEP was due to the operating environment was very different from design (Middle East vs North Sea), as well as software setting issue that will overload the GTs.
...Gas Turbines and IEP go together so well BECAUSE they have a narrow efficient drive band. They only have to maintain one set of rpm when driving a gen set. If you need more power, you bring another GT, or some diesel gensets online.Understood Type 23 propulsion is a hybrid CODLAG with the Spey GTs driving through a reduction gearbox so not an IEP, the Type 45 IEP was a disaster as they kept breaking down, now class slowly undergoing expensive propulsion upgrade with more powerful diesels being fitted.
One of the reasons given for Zumwalts very long time in build was the IEP
Don't disagree but would point to the new German 10,000t F126 class designed by Damen who had originally looked at GTs, but finally chose all diesel, CODLAD with the main MAN propulsion diesels equipped with a high displacement, soft resilient mounting system to comply with the latest regulations regarding shock and noise requirements.
Not saying if you require very high power GTs are not a good choice as the main propulsion engines for max speed but at anything other than max speed they are gas guzzlers, e.g. the all GT Burkes range limited to approx 3,000nm with the Navy standard min 30% reserve, would note have seen the 16,000t Zumwalt IEP all GT quoted max range 6,000nm, so approx. 4,000 nm actual with 30% reserve whereas the all diesel Iver Huitfeldt class max range 9,000nm plus gives approx. 6,000nm actual. Long range is what's required for USN ships operating in the Pacific unless relying on noisy oilers which will be one of the prime targets for the Chinese subs.
Gas Turbines and IEP go together so well BECAUSE they have a narrow efficient drive band. They only have to maintain one set of rpm when driving a gen set. If you need more power, you bring another GT, or some diesel gensets online.
The problems are the GT engines not the IEP itself.Understood Type 23 propulsion is a hybrid CODLAG with the Spey GTs driving through a reduction gearbox so not an IEP, the Type 45 IEP was a disaster as they kept breaking down, now class slowly undergoing expensive propulsion upgrade with more powerful diesels being fitted.
Because the original electric motor was tbe problem. But then again zumwalt is a first case ship.One of the reasons given for Zumwalts very long time in build was the IEP
F-126 also got an IEP or AEP how MTU likes to call itDon't disagree but would point to the new German 10,000t F126 class designed by Damen who had originally looked at GTs, but finally chose all diesel, CODLAD with the main MAN propulsion diesels equipped with a high displacement, soft resilient mounting system to comply with the latest regulations regarding shock and noise requirements.
My understanding the German F126 is not an IEP it is a hybrid electric drive (HED), combined diesel electric and diesel (CODLAD) propulsion system, the two MAN 32/44CR main propulsion diesel engines use standard mechanical drive via RENK gearboxes to the prop shafts. The onboard power for the F126 is provided by the four MTU Series 4000 variable speed diesel gensets, the advantage of the variable speed generator sets is a reduction of fuel consumption at part load operation and reduced maintenance. Understand it is the first time that variable speed generator sets can be used on Naval vessels as it needs to be combined with a DC Grid. The MTU gensets also provide the power to the two RENK advanced electric drives (AED). These electric propulsion motors drive the propellers either individually or together with the MDEs. AED can be rated from 1.4 to 6MW , no knowledge of the power rating chosen for the F126 (for ref the RN Type 26 uses two GE 3.4MW electric motors, have seen no figures for the Constellation HED).F-126 also got an IEP or AEP how MTU likes to call it
No your right i looked into it again and mixed up which AED solution was used for it as one is an IEP.My understanding the German F126 is not an IEP it is a hybrid electric drive (HED), combined diesel electric and diesel (CODLAD) propulsion system, the two MAN 32/44CR main propulsion diesel engines use standard mechanical drive via RENK gearboxes to the prop shafts. The onboard power for the F126 is provided by the four MTU Series 4000 variable speed diesel gensets, the advantage of the variable speed generator sets is a reduction of fuel consumption at part load operation and reduced maintenance. Understand it is the first time that variable speed generator sets can be used on Naval vessels as it needs to be combined with a DC Grid. The MTU gensets also provide the power to the two RENK advanced electric drives (AED). These electric propulsion motors drive the propellers either individually or together with the MDEs. AED can be rated from 1.4 to 6MW , no knowledge of the power rating chosen for the F126 (for ref the RN Type 26 uses two GE 3.4MW electric motors, have seen no figures for the Constellation HED).
50 is not viable. Look at what the LCS ended up with. 80 or so will probably work.So, put you investments in robots and automation. The RN is certainly aware of its manpower issues and expects them to continue. Type 31 requires a crew of about a hundred and even a reduction to half that in the Type 32.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Babcock's corporate affairs chief John Howie discussed how how they were looking at significantly reducing the number of crew onboard future warships like the Type 32, stating that “People talk about a Type 32 frigate – we like to refer to it as Type 31 batch two. We’re doing a crew of about 105 on Type 31, so realistically we should be aiming to half that number for batch two.”
Steel is cheap. Steel is really cheap.The genius of the 4,000 ton concept is that it doesn’t need a high mounted radar installation when it’s operating with the carriers. As an escort, most likely in the company of allied ships equipped with SM-3, it also doesn’t need to be a primary ABM platform. That eliminates the need for an excessively wide hull.
And hand your opponents a free "We sank a Royal Navy warship"? Brilliant. How many of those crew are you planning on sacrificing at the same time?Moreover, with totally unmanned machinery and non-habitable spaces filled with inert gas, you can minimize hull and crew size. No need for damage control.
My response to "getting rid of search and rescue capabilities" would get me banned. Not to mention it being the obligation of the laws of the sea to render aid to individuals in distress.Get rid of silly missions like anti-drug patrols and SAR and you don’t need a permanently embarked helicopter. The Type 45 was profoundly noisy and a hopeless ASW platform, so limit the minimal 4,000 ton ship to active anti-torpedo defense. No capability lost. It could work.
Is the Type 45's sensor suite worth installing into a new ship, or is it 20+ years out of date?On the other hand, retiring the Type 45s prematurely in favor of AAW optimized Type 31s could work as well. You might even be able to “recycle” much of the Type 45’s sensor suite, in the same way that the Type 26s do with the Type 23s.
50 is not viable. Look at what the LCS ended up with. 80 or so will probably work.
Is the Type 45's sensor suite worth installing into a new ship, or is it 20+ years out of date?
As far as I'm aware it's not really out of date, but it would certainly need updates if it were to be recycled and put onto a new ship, especially one entering service in the 2030's. At that point one may as well design and/or procure a completely new system.Is the Type 45's sensor suite worth installing into a new ship, or is it 20+ years out of date?
Agreed, the US has been using the old "cruisers are named for cities" rubric for SSNs since the early 1970s.This, I think, illustrates the difference between frigates and destroyers, as it is emerging, while 'cruiser' is a term that is going to be retired. The cruiser's role as a powerful, fast, ship able to hunt and kill over long-ranges is fulfilled by an SSN now. The only thing an SSN can't do that old cruisers or battlecruisers did was general disaster relief and peacetime projection of soft power by 'showing the flag' (like the Hood). Those roles can be performed by frigates, carriers, and LHDs etc.
Strictly speaking, a Destroyer was a ship designed to chase down and destroy torpedo boats before they could attack the battleships. By WW1, Destroyers were big and fast enough to replace most torpedo boats, so they gained an offensive mission to attack the battleships with torpedoes as well as keep opposing Destroyers away from the battleships. (In WW1, submarines were basically separate from the battle fleet.)'Destroyer' is an imprecise term but by default, and applied to a Type 45, it denotes a vessel that is at its best monitoring and controlling the battlespace around a fleet. The Type 45 in particular is focussed on air defence. The situation has changed since the requirements for the 45 were formulated and that's why simply moving its equipment into a frigate's hull for future battles won't work. At the high end, ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles are increasing threats and at the low end the current situation in the Red Sea - and everywhere, actually - has shown that cheap, numerous drones are to be taken very seriously and using million-pound missiles to shoot them down or burn them on the water is unsustainable. From what I've gleaned, the Type 83 will be expected to deal with the high end, which makes situational awareness reaching into space will be essential, whether with on-board systems or by connecting with space-based capabilities. Dragonfire lasers can be expected for the low end. Certainly, they will be fleet defenders. The only reason why they wouldn't operate independently is that it would be overkill for most tasks, not inadequacy.
Overall, I think 'destroyer' is going to mean a vessel that is more than simply an escort and which, other than a carrier, might be the surface lookout and guardian for a fleet or other vessels such as carriers and amphibious or littoral vessels in a task force (along with the auxiliaries of course).
In the Age of Sail, Frigates were the largest ships that weren't in the Line of Battle.The Type 26 is specialised for anti-submarine warfare in RN service but is also called a 'Global Combat Ship' which denotes its other capabilities, not unlike those of an old-fashioned cruiser. 'Frigate' in this case, recalls the 'fully rigged' ship that is in fact quite sizeable and able to operate independently. Indeed, the Type 26 is very large compared with a 23 and not much smaller than a 45. Significantly, the 26 is optimised for ASW in the RN but in other navies - Canada, Australia, Indonesia - which don't have 45s, 26 variants will will be more multi-purpose. Again, since the RN has more diverse ship types, the 31 is called the 'General Purpose Frigate.'
Point of clarification: Age of Sail frigates were cruisers. As were corvettes and even sloops. Cruiser was a mission description, not a ship type.In the Age of Sail, Frigates were the largest ships that weren't in the Line of Battle.
When steam power overtook sails, the role of the Frigate was taken over by the Cruiser.
Fair enough, but the role of "largest ship not of the battle line" went from Frigates in age of sail to Cruisers today.Point of clarification: Age of Sail frigates were cruisers. As were corvettes and even sloops. Cruiser was a mission description, not a ship type.
And the JMSDF built 4 classes of "Helicopter carrying ASW Destroyers" - 2 with a small flight deck and a hangar for 3 helos, and two with full-length flight decks.TBH, it doesn't matter what you call the ship.
he French frégate is translated into English differently for AAW and ASW ships, even when those ships are the same size. The Soviet Union built 'Large Anti-Submarine Ships'.
The question is, what job does it perform? The rest is just politics.