HMS Westminster on patrol and "Winchester Seawolf"

[TLAM Strike]

A royal navy warship was left ‘dangerously unarmed’ with as few as four missiles while it carried out operations off Libya, it emerged yesterday.
HMS Westminster held only two rounds of missiles during the recent Nato mission to protect the country’s civilians from Colonel Gaddafi’s forces.
The Type-23 frigate has a capacity of 32 Seawolf and eight Harpoon missiles but was only armed with the four missiles which are fired in pairs therefore allowing it only two rounds to fire.

WTF RN?

If only your SAMs were some kind of uhhhh NATO "Standard" bird we could have loaned you some.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

[Torplexed]

Two salvos and done. Not good.

Sadly, all the politicians probably care to see is the vessel deploying, which is the tick in the box they wanted; they do not understand the ramifications of the material state of the ship. I realize that that the Libya operation wasn't the Falklands, but it's the men on the line who pay if the ship is caught flat-footed by the unexpected. Plus, when politicians get away with saving money in this particular way it starts to become habit.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

I realize that that the Libya operation wasn't the Falklands, but it's the men on the line who pay if the ship is caught flat-footed by the unexpected.

I'm glad they bombed Qaddafi's SSC-3 Missile Sites very early on.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

WTF RN?

If only your SAMs were some kind of uhhhh NATO "Standard" bird we could have loaned you some.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...=feeds-newsxml

I think ESSM and Sea Sparrow are NATO-standard, but not SM-1/2 Standard (though they are more widely sold than Sea Wolf).

[Oberon]

Ah well, with any luck CAMM will be in service in five years and we'll actually have the money and resources to use it.

[CCIP]

Yikes, that's like going into a hostage situation with an old double-barreled shotgun. Sure you might not have to use it, and sure it'll tear stuff up on those first two shots, but if things get ugly, boy you're in trouble...

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by CCIP

Yikes, that's like going into a hostage situation with an old double-barreled shotgun. Sure you might not have to use it, and sure it'll tear stuff up on those first two shots, but if things get ugly, boy you're in trouble...

Knowing the MoD these days it would probably be a blunderbuss, not a double-barreled shotgun

[Schroeder]

Originally Posted by Oberon

Knowing the MoD these days it would probably be a blunderbuss, not a double-barreled shotgun

Maybe the hoped for Ghadaffie's forces to sink it to get rid of the operational costs.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by Kazuaki Shimazaki II

I think ESSM and Sea Sparrow are NATO-standard, but not SM-1/2 Standard (though they are more widely sold than Sea Wolf).

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, and the US. So about 1/3rd of NATO uses it. It was the MR SAM of choice for NATO (except in the RN) for quite a while until the Aster missile came out.