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[tigers_gonads]

But I thought the French are our new best mates in the world 
Dave, our illustrious leader said so 
He even asked them to provide ASW cover for us while he was busy chopping up our nimrods 

[MR MISTER]

I don't know anything about this stuff, but I'll tell you what, I read every word of that thread. It's great to see some of you lads getting stuck in to things you are knowledgable about, and it makes for interesting reading. Good stuff.






I would put a 'thumbs up' smiley at the end of that but Broocie has killed them.

[LC0112G]

But I thought the French are our new best mates in the world 
Dave, our illustrious leader said so 

Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer. 

He even asked them to provide ASW cover for us while he was busy chopping up our nimrods 

Another bug bear of mine, and you aren't going to like my analysis of it any more than you liked the RAF/carrier stuff.

You mean when the RAF high command decided that ASW patrolling wasn't a job they wanted/needed to do, so they allowed the Nimmies to be chopped so they could use the money to fund a few dozen Tonkas for a few more years. MOD 'boffins' think they can do the job (plus SAR top cover) from a Herk with a pair of binos, and end up leaving the RN's submarine fleet with no way of leaving port without being sure they aren't being followed by a non friendly hunter killer? 

Not much point in having a sub based nuclear deterrent unless you can get the subs out to sea undetected. RAF lost the Nuclear role in the 60's to the RN, and havent forgiven it. So scrapping Nimrod suits the RAF because it inflicts yet more pain on the RN, and hopefully increases it's share of the defence budget. Some/All Nimrods should have been transferred to the RN back in the 60's/70's, and should have been funded from the same pot that the nuclear deterrent is. The admiralty should have kicked up a real stink before it was retired/cancelled/chopped up. The RN now urgently need at least four P8 Possidens to properly maintain the deterrent. What's the chances of the RAF allowing the RN to operate these If/when ordered? Virtually nill.

Other 'friendly' countries with the required ASW capability are limited - Australia, India, New Zealand, Norway, Germany, Italy and France. We can't nuke France - they supply half our electricity, and depending on the wind, we'd just get our own fallout back. Everyone else is either downwind or far enough away to not bother with, so fair game - hence French Naval Atlantiques now cover our subs as they leave port.

 

[chrisgixer]

Norfolk Naval station, Virginia US.

Plenty of "Diplomacy" there.

[05omegav6]

5 carriers, 4 amphibious assault/helicopter ships, not to mention the smaller bits and bobs moored up at the far end...

At least one of those carriers must be going begging

[chrisgixer]

5 carriers, 4 amphibious assault/helicopter ships, not to mention the smaller bits and bobs moored up at the far end...

At least one of those carriers must be going begging

we have nowhere to park it apparently

Next time your on google maps/earth have a look around Norfolk naval base VA. There's bloody great ships everywhere, not just pier 1-14. And that's just the Atlantic fleet.

[chrisgixer]

Actually goggle maps shows what looks like a Harrier on deck of the carrier north of pier 14.

[05omegav6]

Indeed there are the Marines use them to marinade provide air support against anyone that they are about to invade...

[Entwood]

ahhh .. Norfolk NAS .... had the best clam chowder ever there, and later the same week a seafood platter that was absolutely phenomenal.... met some very nice folks as well ... nice place all things considered .. but gets cold in the winter ..

[Rods2]

All I hear from the press is we have no aircraft carrier. No mention of this at all, on the whole. Or the fact Illustrious is still in service.

It's not carriers we don't have - it's aircraft capable of operating off them.

I remember sailing out of Portsmouth harbour on a friends 30ft yacht, and my mate nodding at what I thought was the doc side and general horizon. Only to finally see it was actually a Nimits class aircraft carrier. So big, I nearly didn't see it. It was too big to be a ship, way beyond the silhouette of anything else in the harbour.

If it was in the harbour, then it wasn't a Nimitz class. All American carriers (and all other nuclear carriers) always park in Stokes Bay - half way between the mainland and the Isle of Wight. Smaller Spanish, Italian and French carriers have visited in recent years, although the latest french jobbie is nuclear, so also parks out in Stokes bay.

Queen Elizabeth class being only 50odd metres short of that.

Yes - which makes it even more barking that we've decided to operate jump-jets off it. Twice the size of the old Ark Royal, which operated fixed wing Phantoms, Buccs and Gannets till 1977, yet we continue to hamstring ourself with jump-jets due to political infighting between the RAF and the RN. Criminal.

Given that we are supplying significant parts for theses...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II

Should address the aircraft issue nicely be a couple of years though as they've only just started production...

The Harrier is basically a glorified helicopter. Sure they're manoeuvrable, but they're slow as cufk

Actually the F35 is clearly named as the aircraft that the carriers are bering built for

The Wilson government cancelled the supersonic harrier, which used a modified RR Pegasus engine with afterburners for the supersonic dash capability.