royal navy

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...

In Friedman's British Cruisers book, he mentions that in the postwar fleet modernization plan (around 1947), where upgrades were being considered for existing cruisers, that "cruisers would retain their torpedo tubes wherever possible, so that they could fire the improved anti-ship torpedoes...

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...

Why did the Royal Navy choose to convert the HMS Ark Royal to carry Phantoms instead of the HMS Eagle? I read in Hobbs's book that the Ark Royal was in worse condition than the Eagle, so why not convert the better Eagle?

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...

Érase una vez sólo dos bandos (y sabías qué esperar) y había un país llamado Unión Soviética. Y el portaaviones era la especie dominante en los mares (Cuanto más grande era el portaaviones, más felices eran los almirantes), pero este tipo de barcos son muy caros, tan caros que parecía que iban a...

I'm putting this here because the premise is alternate reality. Its a world where the RN focuses on its big carriers, Eagle rebuilt as per normal, Ark Royal getting its 'Phantom' refit starting in 1964 and CVA01 & 02 getting started as soon as the Fearless class are off their slips at JB and...

When browsing Vickers Tyne & Wear Archive I noticed a really intersting and obscure design proposal. Not only by the strangely long barrel, sci-fi look turret (this is a 1946 drawing), but also the insane stats and unique operating mechanism. I also cannot find any information of this proposal...

I have various images of naval gun projects. I'll add them here as I scan them. Unless here is moved to a somewhere else. :) RP1