Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Normal
Escort cruisers, the name changed by country, were popular as a concept across the west in the late 1950s through the 1960s. The Canadians developed a concept they called the Heliporter (though never built it), the Italians actually built three ships over two separate classes and the RN developed the escort cruiser concept. The attraction, despite the borderline unhinged rantings of David Hobbes, was that they allowed navies to get ASW helicopters to sea in large numbers quickly- and in supportable packages that provided a perceived capability in terms of station-keeping/platform availability for ASW helicopters at sea. For those navies that had operated carriers the combination of guided missile systems and ASW helicopters offered an affordable (if not ideal) replacement for ex-RN light fleet carriers with fast-jets and Trackers/Gannets which is why they were pursued. There were a series of NATO studies/exercises through the 1960s that called into question the benefit of a light ASW carrier versus additional helicopter equipped destroyers and maritime patrol aircraft due to emerging technology (notably sonobuoys as well ASW helicopters with dipping sonar). The RAN actually had a slightly different operational environment that goes some way to explaining why HMAS Melbourne lasted so long, they never faced a submarine or air threat as sophisticated as that in the North Atlantic but the Indonesian scenario did call for some specific anti-surface and strike capabilities. For much the same reason the Australian DDL project churned out a design notably different in key areas to those coming out of NATO countries.
Escort cruisers, the name changed by country, were popular as a concept across the west in the late 1950s through the 1960s. The Canadians developed a concept they called the Heliporter (though never built it), the Italians actually built three ships over two separate classes and the RN developed the escort cruiser concept. The attraction, despite the borderline unhinged rantings of David Hobbes, was that they allowed navies to get ASW helicopters to sea in large numbers quickly- and in supportable packages that provided a perceived capability in terms of station-keeping/platform availability for ASW helicopters at sea. For those navies that had operated carriers the combination of guided missile systems and ASW helicopters offered an affordable (if not ideal) replacement for ex-RN light fleet carriers with fast-jets and Trackers/Gannets which is why they were pursued. There were a series of NATO studies/exercises through the 1960s that called into question the benefit of a light ASW carrier versus additional helicopter equipped destroyers and maritime patrol aircraft due to emerging technology (notably sonobuoys as well ASW helicopters with dipping sonar).
The RAN actually had a slightly different operational environment that goes some way to explaining why HMAS Melbourne lasted so long, they never faced a submarine or air threat as sophisticated as that in the North Atlantic but the Indonesian scenario did call for some specific anti-surface and strike capabilities. For much the same reason the Australian DDL project churned out a design notably different in key areas to those coming out of NATO countries.
