Senior Member
Originally posted by Realjambo:
That said, however 'Butt Ugly' it is, if I'm on finals on a stormy night with bingo fuel I ain't going to complain what my home plate looks like!
Not if you are Nikki "Bling Bling" Sarkozy !
"Wat is sis Eh ? " "Daas se brituons trai tu make fun aut of me eh ?"..
"Iht luuks 'orrible"
--*Tricolore one , you are cleared to land*--
"Nevar i ville lant on sis inglish eyesore !"
"I voult raser praefaer tu draun !"
Sorry i couldn't resist
Senior Member
Let me clarify what I meant, perhaps I should have said ' immediately afterwards, the Falklands taught us a LOT of lessons about anti-ship missiles.'The Falklands War was 26 years ago: ....And it was a war against a third rate power.
"Smart" weapons have gone through three generations since then.
Any lessons learned there are now, in 2008, ....ancient history!
... Like not installing melamine faced compartment partitions inside our ships that splintered into deadly shards and causing all manner of injuries when a missile hit, for example.
@ Celeon - Your French accent is uncanny!
... Carry on!
Member
I think there is more to this design than meets the eye. Officially, the forward island is for ship operations and the 'midships island for air ops.
From what I have read the two-island superstructure doesn't have much to do with low radar signatures, it's more to do with separation of responsibilities to improve efficiency: ship handling is better done from the bow section while air ops. require a complete field of view of the flight deck, best done from amidships.
However, it brings to mind a phrase my father used (he was ex-FAA, 854 squadron, HMS Illustrious, 1944-45): "Fish-heads" is how the FAA refer to their non-flying RN cousins. Maybe this physical seperation is a sign of how bad relations have become between the two branches of service!
Also, the VSToL version of the F-35 (joint strike fighter), which is the intended air-arm of these ships, is behind schedule, suffering huge cost overruns amd might even be cancelled
The RN has a contingency plan to use Harrier GR7's as a stop-gap, but by 2014, when the first of these "ugly sisters" is due to enter service, only two squadrons of these planes will still be airworthy. A lot of ship for so little strength...
Banned
The RN has a contingency plan to use Harrier GR7's as a stop-gap, but by 2014, when the first of these "ugly sisters" is due to enter service, only two squadrons of these planes will still be airworthy. A lot of ship for so little strength...
Wow! .....That sounds like the sort of un-coordinated mess that I had previously thought was the exclusive prerogative of Washington D.C.!!
klcarroll
Global Moderator
You forget, we in England have had 700 years longer than the US to perfect the fine art of making bureaucratic balls ups.....Originally posted by klcarroll:
Wow! .....That sounds like the sort of un-coordinated mess that I had previously thought was the exclusive prerogative of Washington D.C.!!
klcarroll
Member
The MoD bought the steel for the basic hulls some months ago (65,000 tonnes of it). I suppose if they don't complete these ships we could sell it to the Chinese at a profit.Originally posted by andy3536:
What with the price of steel on the rise they'll probobly end up costing 7 billion a piece. (a proper billion, not a tiny US one)
Senior Member
The MoD bought the steel for the basic hulls some months ago (65,000 tonnes of it). I suppose if they don't complete these ships we could sell it to the Chinese at a profit. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Originally posted by Kielhauler1961:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by andy3536:
What with the price of steel on the rise they'll probobly end up costing 7 billion a piece. (a proper billion, not a tiny US one)
Very true! The rate at which China is allegedly consuming steel and wood is quite alarming. Of all things, wooden fence panels are scarce in the UK currently - and China is being blamed for that too!
If it isn't oil pushing up prices of general commodities, it's the China's huge expansion efforts
Member
The economic explosion of China, and other developing Asian countries, in the last ten years is phenomenal. I spend a fair bit of each year in the Far East and from my own observations, and talking to ex-pats, the "middle-class" over there has mushroomed, and with it the demand for consumer goods and a "western" lifestyle.
Where people used to ride bicycles, they now ride scooters; those that had scooters now drive cars. This is just one of the factors pushing up oil prices.
I have a house in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and 98% of the traffic there is comprised of Toyota, Mitsubishi and Nissan 4x4's, all brand new! Neon lighting floods the streets to a level that we, in England, would only find acceptable in Soho or Leicester Square!
It's all very well the west making efforts to cut its carbon footprint, the east is more than taking up the slack.
Senior Member
Banned
lok at the F/A 18 E or C