1) Useful #new article by @NavyLookout on the state of play with the @RFAHeadquarters, going through issues such as crewing difficulties, @RFAFortVictoria & the lack of the Fleet Solid Support replacement, the mothballing of the Wave Class & consequent strain on the Tide Class.
2) There does, however, seem to be a rather concerning issue highlighted in the passage on the Bay Class amphibious landing ships, relating to the date at which the conversion work to @RFALymeBay for her to operate at the heart of Littoral Response Group (South) will be completed
3) Littoral Response Group (South), centred on what is now known to be @RFALymeBay & @40commando, to be based at Duqm, Oman, is *the* big ticket, permanently deployed naval presence in Britain's Indo-Pacific tilt & is supposed to deploy in 2023 according to the Integrated Review.
4) If the *contract* for @RFALymeBay's conversion work is not issued until the end of that year, the chances of the work being completed to deploy that year is effectively zero, leaving the deployment of a key element of Britian's Indo-Pacific tilt either delayed or extemporised.
5) This is, of course, a fairly substantial *if* still. The dates in & around the National Shipbuilding Strategy refresh were extremely vague,& it should be possible to still send @RFALymeBay or @RFACardiganBay initially with the existing, temporary hangar
6) Another (albeit perhaps less likely) temporary alternative, given the @KorpsMariniers are reportedly to be embedded in Littoral Response Group (South), might also be to initially use one of the @Kon_Marine's Rotterdam Class landing ships, which possess full hangar facilities.
7) Nonetheless, Littoral Response Group (South) is a major, naval element of Britain's Indo-Pacific "tilt", & its progress & any potential delays to it are a matter of concern.
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The @RoyalNavy aircraft carrier @HMSQNLZ has a problem with one of her propeller shafts.
Okay, time for another little "let's unpack this" #thread🧵
As with the @HMSPWLS in thread in 2022, to get the statement of the bleeding obvious out of the way, yep, this is not a good thing
Beyond that, though, what do we know?
Well, from the sounds of it, on 2nd February during pre-deployment checks, divers discovered excessive corrosion on one of the couplings on the starboard propeller shaft, *NOT* a misalignment, as was the case with @HMSPWLS in August 2022.
@HMSPWLS The alignment of @HMSQNLZ's propeller shafts was (perhaps unsurprisingly) checked after her sister's unfortunate mishap, shortly after sailing from @HMNBPortsmouth & these pre-deployment underwater checks seem to have been another result of that incident.
Report by @malnick in @Telegraph that the @RoyalNavy's frigates & destroyers lack anything beyond their 4.5in main gun to strike targets ashore for operations against the Houthis.
Okay, to the usual lack of popular demand😉, time for another little "let's unpack this" #thread🧵
This should not come as a particular surprise.
Due to budgetary constraints, the @RoyalNavy's Type 45 destroyers were famously designed "for, but not with" 16 @LockheedMartin strike-length Mk 41 Vertical Launch System cells, between the 4.5in gun & the Sylver A50 VLS for Aster.
Instead, the Type 45s ended up with a gym with a very high deckhead - the fabled "Mk 41 Gym" - which was very much cheaper than Mk 41 VLS & its contents, & great for the health of the crew in peacetime, but perhaps less great for both health & the ships' utility in wartime.
Now, personally I am a fully paid-up member of the evil "Cats & Trap Mafia", who will automatically tell you the best military option was to put cats & traps on both @HMSQNLZ & @HMSPWLS & purchase two, full air groups of strike fighters, AEW aircraft, COD aircraft & helicopters.
However, with an essentially peacetime structure of around one air group worth of operational strike fighters to be shared between two @RoyalNavy aircraft carriers, *while* doubling up as the @RoyalAirForce's land-based, 5th gen strike force, STOVL was the only realistic choice.
Delightful day wandering around @DockyardChatham, seeing the former @RoyalNavy#museum ships - #WW2 destroyer HMS Cavalier (& having a sneaky sit in the Captain's chair), #ColdWar submarine HMS Ocelot & Victorian sloop HMS Gannet, too. Well worth a visit.
Other former @RoyalNavy joys included the 1920s Coastal Motor Boat CMB 103, #WW2 X-Craft mini-submarine XE-8, & just the sheer fascination of wandering around a historic dockyard, seeingthearchitecture, machinery, & so on.
1) Interesting catch from @larisamlbrown on reports of plans to reduce the @BritishArmy's current presence in Estonia, which was doubled after Russia invaded #Ukraine in February, back to its pre-war level of a single battlegroup, at the end of the year.
2) Inevitably, there's been some disquiet about them, with comments such as:
"many European nations [believe] that the “British army is now too small and doesn’t have enough soldiers to spare”
& "Getting troops out when Putin threatens to wipe half of Europe sends a bad message"
3) Certainly the @BritishArmy is something of a concern at the moment, in terms of both its size (reducing to 72,500) & equipment (reductions to Challenger tank numbers, scrapping of Warrior, Ajax...), & continental allies do place considerable store in contributions on land.
Just a guess, but I reckon with the amphibious Littoral Response Group (North) in the Mediterranean on Op #Achillean, @HMSTrent & her @42_commando@RoyalMarines team will probably be heading for the Gulf of Guinea for a bit of anti-piracy work?
While, of course, on the other side of the World, the @RoyalNavy's @OverseasPatrol remains busy, with @HMS_Tamar recently enforcing sanctions off Korea.