royal navy

Ever since the first Zeppelin raids in World War 1 the vulnerability of the civilian population of the UK to attack from the air has been a major factor in shaping our armed forces. The tile "Air Defence of Great Britain" comes from the organisation set up to meet the only air threat imagined in...

Trying to figure out which countries could actually handle the cost of light fleet carriers in 1946-60, so do we have any actual data at what prices the Colossus and Majestic class ships were sold by Britain in 1946-60? And for that matter how much their modernization with angled fight decks and...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/09/27/boris-johnson-diary-covid-vaccine-invade-netherlands/

https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADP010844.pdf Note that the mention of 'battleships' in the paper is likely a reference to the Arsenal Ship concept which was in vogue at the time. Incidentally, this paper was part of a larger NATO sponsored report called the Concepts de systemes pour la...

We have discussed Seaslug performance in some detail and speculated about what Seacat 2 might have been like, but original Seacat has not received attention. Widely fitted on British warships during the 1960s and 1970s its only combat use was during the Falklands war in 1982 where 40mm guns...

As any deeply invested Spitfire fan knows, the intended major developments never eventuated and the history of the Spitfire was one of interim variants that did very well. The dead ends are as follows: SPITFIRE III: Merlin 20 development with four cannon and major airframe revisions; abandoned...

The three Tiger class cruisers arouse strong opinions. As the only major non-carrier RN warships built after WW2 they mark the transition of the RN from a force built round its battleships' big guns to a missile dominated navy. The 6" and 3" guns fitted to them were supposed to be a new approach...

I an sure I will call down a whole host of ‘trouble’ on my head for raising this, but, Here we go… We all know that the Royal Navy post WW2 was in an invidious position regards available finance and the shifting sands of changing priorities. One thing I think was the (in retrospect at least)...

The saga of the Royal Navy's carriers after 1966 has been the main focus of interest here, but the workhorse of the RN then as now was the frigate. By the 1970s the RN had plans to replace its Type 12 Leander class frigates with the larger all missile armed Type 22. Leanders were designed...

Due to the jet age, various super props never go to production despite their high performance. Among those, it can be said that XP-72 and Spiteful F.16 were the most high capable design. So let say if these prototype got to production stage, which would be the ultimate piston fighter? XP-72...

Excerpt from i need to get pictures, real pictures of this beauty

the richelieu hybrid: https://www.laroyale-modelisme.net/t20387-jean-bart-hybride-1-400 (in french)

The possibility of the UK avoiding the 1965 aircraft cancellations has been discussed ad nauseam. I don't propose to get into it here - assume a collective delusion of the UK government, the discovery of a massive gold deposit, or intervention from extra-terrestrial intelligences, as you see...

Nothing in military history has given the RAF such a hold on the public imagination as the gallant Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of the Battle of Britain. Sadly in the postwar nuclear world their successors have only been tasked with wartime defence of key military infrastructure in the UK. It...

Stumbled across some early 1950s NATO documents concerning the defensive arming and equipping of Merchant Ships. SGS.1 and the 4" Mk 25 are briefly mentioned, although unsurprisingly the vast majority of equipment intended for DEMS was supposed to come from US stocks. There are more documents...

Dear Boys and Girls, here is a picture with a caption in French of what I believe to be the Sikorsky S-61N full-size mock-up brought to the 1959 Paris Salon; it shows an aerodynamic saucer-shaped fairing covering the main rotor hub. The accompanying article describes the Sikorsky S-61N as being...

When the UK gave up carriers in the 60s the alternative was supposed to be a family of helicopter, ship and sub launched missiles. In the event while Wasp helicopters did get AS12s it took nearly a decade before Exocet equipped some destroyers and frigates. Sea Skua for Lynx did not arrive...

Sad to hear Cdr N D 'Sharkey' Ward DSC, AFC has done one last transition. https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/659317-cdr-n-d-sharkey-ward-dsc-afc-rip.html Only met him once during a close session briefing in approx. 84. He owned the audience, we were just in awe, the energy in the room...

View: https://youtu.be/2LKS2kR4LJY https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R38-class_airship

Is it because the A-4Q has a shorter combat radius and the British aircraft carrier has not yet entered the strike range? Or is it because there has been no wind on the sea since the afternoon of May 1st? Or is it because the time is in the afternoon and close to evening, so it is difficult to...