The Royal Navy Is Back (Thanks to a New Aircraft Carrier Armed with Stealth F-35s)

[Onkel Neal]

The Royal Navy Is Back (Thanks to a New Aircraft Carrier Armed with Stealth F-35s)

he first new Royal Navy aircraft carrier in thirty years is nearing sea trials. After a brief absence from the world of fixed-wing naval aviation the Royal Navy’s brand new flattop HMS Queen Elizabeth and its sister ship, Prince of Wales, will soon sail the seas, their decks full of new F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. The result will be the most powerful “Senior Service” in generations.
The Royal Navy was one of the first naval warfare forces to explore the nascent world of naval aviation. HMS Argus, commissioned in September 1918, was arguably the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck. The UK was one of the major aircraft carrier powers throughout World War II, and continued to operate carriers in the postwar period.

[Jimbuna]

I'm not sure the F-35s are expected to arrive soon

[Aktungbby]

Unfortunately, in order to free up funding for the new carriers the older ships had to be retired, and decommissioning of the Invincible class carriers and their Sea Harrier jets during the 2010s was a huge blow to the Fleet Air Arm. The three warships were broken up for scrap, and the remaining Harrier jets, which by now included RAF Harriers, were purchased by the U.S. Marines to provide spare parts for their own fleet of AV-8B Harriers.

Both carriers will be completed as originally planned, in a Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) configuration, deploying the Lockheed Martin F-35B. Following the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the British government had intended to purchase the F-35C carrier version of this aircraft, and adopted plans for Prince of Wales to be built to a Catapult Assisted Take Off Barrier Arrested Recovery (CATOBAR) configuration. After the projected costs of the CATOBAR system rose to around twice the original estimate, the government announced that it would revert to the original design on 10 May 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth-class_aircraft_carrier Frankly this appears a bit murky, showcased, and hard to accept for the rightfully proud British Navy; but the money would better B spent on making those 7 Astute class subs fully active...ASAP and leave the surface duty to the US 'supercarrier taskforces' The 'conventional non-nuclear power,(implied logistical constraints) limited STOL aircraft capability and only two carrier fleet R not up to Russia/China/ N. Korea- all at the same time worst-case scenarios. That said: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/new-british-carriers-stack-admiral-kuznetsov/

The Queen Elizabeth class mark a change from expressing carrier power in terms of number of aircraft carried, to the number of sortie’s that can be generated from the deck. The class is estimated to be able to sustain a maximum sortie generation rate in surge conditions of up to 110 sorties per day. (assuming 'plan A' holds up-it rarely does)
The Admiral Kuznetsov can hold up to about 40 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, including Su-33 fighters and various versions of Ka-27 helicopter, however it rarely sails with more than half of that number.
“Admiral Kuznetsov has never seen combat, nor would she be of much practical military use. The 55,000-ton carrier has a bow ramp, not steam catapults, requiring her aircraft to shed weight before taking off.
This means her planes will go into combat with less fuel or bombs than the ground-based fighters Russia has already deployed to Syria.”
During the voyage the Admiral Kuznetsov reportedly “will have about 15 fighters Su-33 and MiG-29K/KUB and more than ten helicopters Ka-52K, Ka-27 and Ka-31”.
STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery), the system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the Admiral Kuznetsov, does not allow for the same frequency of launches/recoveries and tempo of operations afforded by American carriers or even the Queen Elizabeth class.

IMHO: an edge to Queen Elizabeth with more sorty capability and better planes... when delivered-as Jimbuna points out At this time in history, the real concept of Carrier warfare rests with England's principle ally! Combining Big, Nuclear and "numbers have a cachet of their own"-Russian proverb??!! mentality. https://www.quora.com/How-powerful-is-a-US-Navy-carrier-strike-group-compared-to-other-navies The Ruskies and PRC, wth one 'aircraft cruiser' apiece still look at this map and cringe: Bottom Line : the Atlantic will remain an English speaking pond for a considerable time to come.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

leave the surface duty to the US 'supercarrier taskforces'

That's always assuming that the US will want to work with the RN and other NATO navies.

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I'm not sure the F-35s are expected to arrive soon

You could lend them some of your model air-planes and with some photo shopping no one will notice.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Oberon

That's always assuming that the US will want to work with the RN and other NATO navies....meets US RULE 1:

The choke points for the bad guys R: Skagerrak(Norway Denmark, Sweden);; Bosphorus (Turkey-prohibits A full carrier thru Straight hence Aircraft cruiser designation); Hormuz (Saudi's & UAE); Gibraltar (Great Britain); South China Sea( India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, rabidly anti-Sino VietNam http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/vietnams-russian-restocking-subs-ships-sukhois-and-more-05396/ with Pakistan, Brunai and Philippines on a good day. Detection and containment R always best left to the competent 'locals'. As at Jutland: "the jailer may B attacked but the attacker will still B in jail"

Originally Posted by STEED

You could lend them some of your model air-planes and with some photo shopping no one will notice.

Nuthin good goes outta style; as the Brits removed Bismark's 'element of surprise' 5/21/1941 from the air off Denmark & Norway...game up six days later. Bismark 'breaking out of Baltic' on it's failed mission and doom... Photo shopping B 4 there was photo shopping

21 May 1941 / 1315
A Spitfire flown by Flying Officer Michael F. Suckling sighted and photographed the German ships from an altitude of 26,200’ (8,000 m). He immediately returned to Scotland and landed at Wick airfield at 1415. Couriers rushed his film to London for development. All Royal Navy commands received the message that one Bismarck class ship and one Hipper class ship were sighted by reconnaissance at Bergen on 21 May.

U cannot have a decent commerce raid if the enemy knows you're on your way! Sistership Tirpitz would spend the war in a fjord hiding under a smokescreen??! rather than face loss....

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by STEED

You could lend them some of your model air-planes and with some photo shopping no one will notice.

Actually, the RAF F35s currently available are a right pile, quality-wise, so I'm waiting on better examples to be produced before adding any to the collection.

[Kapitan]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Actually, the RAF F35s currently available are a right pile, quality-wise, so I'm waiting on better examples to be produced before adding any to the collection.

I can confirm RN F35's the first batch have arrived they are in yeoville right now.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Kapitan

I can confirm RN F35's the first batch have arrived they are in yeoville right now.

You do realise I was making reference to my diecast collection, don't you?