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Dr Phil Weir Profile picture
Dr Phil Weir
@navalhistorian
Historian, author and (occasional) broadcaster. 19th/20th Century naval history, particularly naval aviation. "Dunkirk & the Little Ships" out now @ShireBooks
nadezhda - @nadezhda04@mastodon.social Profile picture Gary Cantwell Profile picture 4 subscribed
Feb 4 • 23 tweets • 9 min read
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
The Royal Navys two largest aircraft carriers in dock. HMS Queen Elizabeth is on the left and HMS Prince of Wales is on the right, Portsmouth, Hampshire, 2020 Media ID 25293210 © Historic England Archive 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. Divers inspecting Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in HM Naval Base Portsmouth in 2017
Jan 28 • 18 tweets • 10 min read
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🧵
Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke firing her 4.5 in gun in April 2016. 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.

Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Diamond from above.
A Lockhee Martin Mk 41 Vertical Launch System
The forward Lockheed Martin Mk 41 VLS cells of a US Navy Arleigh Burke Class destroyer.
Jun 3, 2023 • 26 tweets • 23 min read
Okay, @rich_scott2 @navalnewscom reports that @RoyalMarines Col Phil Kelly has been talking about "Project Ark Royal" the @RoyalNavy's study into catapults & arrester gear for uncrewed aircraft aboard @HMSQNLZ & @HMSPWLS.
So, time for another little "let's unpack this" #thread 🧵 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. Computer generated bow view...Computer generated stern vi...
Jun 1, 2023 • 4 tweets • 5 min read
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. WW2 Royal Navy destroyer HM...The Captain's chair on the ...Victorian Royal Navy sloop ...Cold War Royal Navy submari... 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. 1920s Royal Navy Coastal Mo...WW2 Royal Navy X-Craft mini...
Oct 1, 2022 • 21 tweets • 17 min read
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" The British Army's 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh in Estonia
Oct 1, 2022 • 5 tweets • 5 min read
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.
Aug 28, 2022 • 28 tweets • 21 min read
Obviously a lot more rumour that hard fact out there at the moment, but a few, preliminary thoughts on reports that @HMSPWLS' has a problem with one of her propeller shafts:
1) Yep, this is not a good thing (just to get the statement of the bleeding obvious out of the way). 2) Yes, this does happen & to other navies too - @NavyLookout notes HMS Illustrious' gearbox fire in 1986, others have mentioned the major electrical failure aboard @USSHARRYSTRUMAN in August 2019 & there are plenty more to choose from in between. news.usni.org/2019/08/31/uss…
Aug 7, 2022 • 14 tweets • 10 min read
1) With gas supplies, storage & moves (or lack thereof) to improve both, making the news (still), it may be time for a brief (non-specialist) #thread🧵 on a couple of the #maritime aspects of it, starting with re-posting this little thread from January on where, how & from whom. 2) As mentioned in that thread, Britain already has three of Europe's largest facilities for handling Liquified Natural Gas & in March @Trafigura announced their intention to re-open the fourth at Teesport, though there seems to have been little news since gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-…
Aug 4, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
1) A couple of concerning effects of Europe's reducing river levels on the #UkraineWar, perhaps the most direct of which is the effects of the declining levels of the Danube on Ukraine's ability to use that river to bypass the Russian #blockade of the country's Black Sea ports. 2) See this excellent continuing #thread🧵for details of efforts to expand use of the Danube - amongst other things - to bypass Russia's #blockade, which are necessarily ongoing, despite the agreement to open safe corridors from Ukraine's Black Sea ports.
Aug 2, 2022 • 5 tweets • 5 min read
The South China Sea is currently a rather busy patch of ocean, with China's Global Times reporting the PLAN aircraft carriers Liaoning & Shandong have sailed from their respective ports, while the @USNavy's @Gipper_76 & USS America & USS Tripoli are also in the vicinity. #Taiwan Map of the South China Sea ...Chinese aircraft carrier Li...Chinese aircraft carrier Sh...US Navy aircraft carrier US... Additional notes via @samlagrone of @USNINews: the official @USNavy line is "'normal operations' but one defense official said the assets - already in the neighborhood - were hanging out to see what was gonna happen", while USS America is currently still in port at Sasebo, Japan. US Navy big deck amphibious...
Jul 28, 2022 • 24 tweets • 24 min read
1) A little - slightly belated - #thread🧵on this great catch by @NavyLookout of the British Government's (rather low-key) announcement on 11th July that @RFAArgus "represents the optimum solution to support a forward-deployed Littoral Response Group", & some of its implications. 2) That she was under consideration for the role was announced to @CommonsDefence on 6th July, however, that it is actually to be @RFAArgus is still something of a surprise, given one of the Bay Class has been publicly earmarked for it since March 2021.
Jul 27, 2022 • 17 tweets • 10 min read
BBC News piece by @Matt_Murphy15 on the work to establish safe passages for convoys of grain ships out of Odesa, Chornomorsk & Pivdennyi, following the Turkey & @UN brokered deal, signed on 23rd July, to relieve at least this part of Russia's #blockade bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur… Work seemingly progresses apace, with the Russian delegation, under Rear Admiral Eduard Luik, arriving in Istanbul yesterday to join the new, joint grain co-ordination centre, which has apparently already opened.
Jul 3, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
1) It looks like the Russians have been trying to finally clear the wreck of their amphibious landing ship Saratov, that was sunk alongside at Berdyansk at the end of March. #UkraineWar 2) It's worth noting the upper deck & superstructure are largely gone. These were still very much in evidence after the fire/explosion caused by the Tochka-U strike, but at least one of the dockside cranes appears to have been reactivated for the purpose of demolishing the wreck.
Jul 3, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Interesting. It does look like the Russians placed at least one, long-range artillery piece on Snake Island - a Tornado-G MLRS with a 90km range, presumably to try counter-battery fire to forestall what actually happened, though one suspects issues of aim without things like the aerially assisted direction the Ukrainians had from their TB2s, limited ammunition supply, sheer disparity in firepower against that available (& suppliable) ashore were insurmountable. Inability to find cover would almost certainly have been an issue too, though it is worth...
May 30, 2022 • 7 tweets • 7 min read
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
May 29, 2022 • 4 tweets • 4 min read
The paddle steamer Gracie Fields had been taken up into @RoyalNavy service at the start of #WW2 as a minesweeper & was bombed off La Panne on this day 1940, sinking the following morning. She became synonymous with the #Dunkirk evacuation thanks to JB Priestly's BBC broadcast. "the glittering queen of our local line" Gracie Fields was one of "the little holiday steamers [that] made an excursion to hell and came back glorious" bbc.co.uk/archive/postsc…
May 28, 2022 • 6 tweets • 6 min read
The @RFAHeadquarters is absolutely vital for the @RoyalNavy's carrier strike group, allowing it to operate for long periods at sea, not only supplying it with fuel from Tide Class tankers like @RFATidespring, but also ammunition & other solid stores from @RFAFortVictoria. ImageImage With @RFAFortVictoria now a unique vessel after the scrapping of her sister ship RFA Fort George, back in 2011-2013 it is, of course, vital that the much delayed Fleet Solid Support ship replacements are constructed A.S.A.P. in order to keep this going.
May 25, 2022 • 9 tweets • 8 min read
1) @Reuters report that Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko has apparently suggested Russia is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for vessels carrying food to leave Ukrainian ports, in return for the lifting of some sanctions #blockade #UkraineWar reuters.com/world/europe/r… 2) This is not the first such offer made by Russia. @SamChambers of @splash_247 reported another in March, which resulted in no ships sailing, & a different result this time would be a considerable surprise. splash247.com/no-sign-shippi…
Apr 30, 2022 • 6 tweets • 8 min read
1) Excellent #UkraineWar #thread🧵 by @DAlperovitch on Russia's de facto maritime blockade of Ukraine's southern coast & some of the difficulties involved in lifting it. 2) For more on Russia's de facto maritime blockade of Ukraine's southern coast & the naval situation from the start of the war, significant elements of which still hold, do check out this #thread🧵 from March
Apr 24, 2022 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
Interesting @ForeignPolicy piece by Emily Ferris of @ISS_RUSI looking at Russia's reliance on & troubles with rail transport in its #UkraineWar
However, it's worth bearing in mind, particularly amid further talk about Odesa & Mykolaiv, that Russia also has a port opening problem. Probably the first port Russian forces took in the first days of the #UkraineWar was Berdyansk. The first ships to enter arrived in the middle of March & around ten days later they appeared to have cleared just two berths, whereupon the Saratov was sunk.
Apr 23, 2022 • 11 tweets • 11 min read
The @USNavy aircraft carrier @USSHARRYSTRUMAN pulling into Trieste in Italy marks something of a lull what has been a huge amount of naval activity to reinforce & reassure @NATO allies since the start of the #UkraineWar After her 65 day #Clemenceau22 deployment (much of which was spent in company with @USSHARRYSTRUMAN & the @ItalianNavy aircraft carrier Cavour), @MarineNationale's @French_CSG returned to Toulon on 7th April 2022