Angola buys Helicopter/ASW carrier

Grey Havoc

Grey Havoc

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In current news, it looks like the PRC may possibly be about to acquire an ASW deck through roundabout means:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?233023-Angola-Buys-Spanish-Carrier-Príncipe-das-Astúrias
 
XP67_Moonbat said:
WTH? :D
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A dodgy news story and nothing to do with secret projects. Take it to the bar please.
 
[shrugs] Just thought I would mention it, since it was a former Harrier carrier. Since it has become it's own topic, should it be in Military instead?
 
I was very suprised with this news,and i doubt that a country like angola, that never had a "proper" navy could operate such a ship,iam positive, that like ,grey havoc says, they are buing it for some other country, maybe to the chinese navy, because i don´t think spain would openlly sell it to china.




regards


pedro
 
I agree that it could be a useful ship for China, India or Brazil. I can hardly believe it could be operated by a minor navy like Angola.

Remember that Persia's Shah wanted to buy three Invincible class carriers but desisted because Iranian Navy lacked qualified crews to operate it. Operating a carrier is a matter of personnel not just cost.
 
Has it possibly been purchased just for scrap value? Does Angola have a shipyard capable of cutting this up? Cutting up takes a few cutting torches, a crane or two, and lots of labour, nothing high tech.
 
When the Goggle translator didn't fool me, there were four other ships of the Spanish navy, that were
sold, too. And about the PdA it is said, that it was originally intended to be scrapped at Ferrol/Spain.
No guarantee however, that it won't emerge again somewhere.
 
pometablava said:
I agree that it could be a useful ship for China, India or Brazil. I can hardly believe it could be operated by a minor navy like Angola.

Remember that Persia's Shah wanted to buy three Invincible class carriers but desisted because Iranian Navy lacked qualified crews to operate it. Operating a carrier is a matter of personnel not just cost.
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Somewhere long ago I've read that Shah was also truly interested in one unit of Garibaldi Harrier Carrier (actually only one built for Italian Navy).
 
According to internet sources the carrier would be sold to Angola together with four second hand patrol ships.

I can't understand the purpose if that mix of ships. Is the Príncipe going to be operated as a coastal patrol ship?
 
That woudn't be totally absurd -- Thailand's Chakri Naruebet was officially intended for patrol duties and disaster relief. Flying a bunch of helicopters off a mobile base is potentially more economical than having a bunch of individual patrol ships. Given Angola's long coastline and offshore oil resources, a helo carrier might make a little sense.
Also, the Angolan Air Force has been uparming recently -- they are getting a bunch of ex-Indian Su-30K Flankers. This supposed acquisition may indicate that it is the Angolan Navy's "turn" to get some toys.
 
But still yet the Thai navy is quite a different class compared to the Angolan navy with its around 1000 men
and equipment of fast patrol/attack craft, as it seems not even all of them operational.
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/angola/navy.htm)
Building up this navy certainly is a good idea, but doing this y buying a "carrier group" probably means
overburdening personnel, financial and maybe political resources.
 
I assume this would be accompanied by a significant upsizing of the Angolan Navy. Wiki gives three numbers withing the span of two paragraphs: 1,000; 2,500; and 4,200. It's anyone's guess what the real figure is and what it might be in a couple of years.

That said, I ageree that this is a very odd acquisition, over-ambitious and likely to fail. I just don't believe that it is automatically just a cover for passing the ship to someone else.
 
It's relatively easy to buy ships, even large ones, but to train competent crews just
takes its time. Or would it be possible to hire foreign staff ?
 
I wonder if the acquisition of the Principe de Asturias has something to do with the dispute between Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo-Brazzaville over the ownership of offshore oil reserves.
 
Triton said:
I wonder if the acquisition of the Principe de Asturias has something to do with the dispute between Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo over the ownership of offshore oil reserves.
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Then maybe those ships will be manned by mercenaries ? ;)
 
Jemiba said:
Then maybe those ships will be manned by mercenaries ? ;)
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Maybe. The Angolan Navy is modernizing and I wouldn't be surprised if this navy was being created to protect the interests of the state-owned Sonangol Group that oversees petroleum and natural gas production in Angola.
 
Not sure, but manning the main units of a countries navy with mercenaries, may lead to problems
with the international laws of war. Mercenaries aren't regarded as combatants, so principally, if a nations
ship (manned by "foreign staff") would just defend its country against an attack, that activity could already
lead to problems with regards to diplomatics/international politics. That's the reason, I think, that foreign
staff is mostly just assigned to positions of "military consultants" and this somewhat limits the number of
foreign staff on ship with a crew of nearly 800 persons. So, the problem of training may remain.
 
I think you should all wait until this is confirmed by the Spanish government. Apart from the incredibility of a navy with a total personnel strength smaller than the crew of the ship being the customer of a second hand aircraft carrier one of the reports also mentioned the Angolans were to buy the Spanish Newport News class LST. The USA does not allow the sale of such equipment onto third parties without approval through a considerable process. It’s inconceivable that they would have allowed such a sale to Angola without a whimper.
 
Angola seems to be getting quite a bit of weird press lately. First the claim that they were destroying Mosques and expelling Muslims and now this, that they've bought a carrier. Seems they're an easy and obscure target for hoaxers.
 

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