Shipbucket

On the day that British waste of space announced the closure of Portsmouth shipyard some ggod new was buried. The order for 3 offshore patrol vessels (ocean going) . Anyone see any details on them? are they repeats of the river class or repeats of HMS Clyde. If they are rivers hopefully a Northern Irish river will be used to name one of them. Lagan, Bann or Foyle. Possibly Blackwater or maybe Bush would be nice (I'm sure Bushmills Whiskey would happily adopt her)

_________________
"There was nothing wrong with Titanic when she left the Shipyard" Tim McGarry Belfast Comedian

if I have heard it correctly, these 3 will replace the river class

_________________
Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

I do not follow you...
The 3 rivers are still relatively young (less than 15 years of service).
My 2 cents that these 3 newers OPV will be built...in place of three Type 26

just like 6 dutch M frigates were sold and 4 new OPV's were build, these ships will be build to keep the industry intact.

_________________
Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

navy is meant to be looking at names for this type of ship could the ubiquitous "Sloop" make a comeback?

_________________
"There was nothing wrong with Titanic when she left the Shipyard" Tim McGarry Belfast Comedian

The ships are to replace the rivers. They will be larger and more capable. As far as im aware the rivers are not owned by th3 navy but are used through some sort of lease agreement with there builders.

Yes, the Rivers were a PFI deal with, I think, VSEL (now BAE Systems). Perhaps another example of a wasteful PFI deal where the taxpayer pays for operating ships that then get sold after a few years. Are the replacements PFI as well I wonder (perhaps another sweetener for BAE Systems?) or actual RN-owned vessels. If they are Navy ships, I would share Colombamike's fears that being bigger OPVs the politicians will use that as an excuse to cut T26 numbers. Though I doubt all 13 will ever be built. Now we have the politician's using the Type 26s as blackmail over Scottish independence claiming that the UK will never build warships overseas! Had the RN not decided to buy its latest replenishment vessels overseas then perhaps the shipyards might not have been in the state they are now. Had their been no carriers nearly all of the UK's shipyard capacity would have been shut years ago. Since we can't build complete aircraft anymore or seemingly manufacture anything that isn't foreign-owned (including foreign-owned 'British' firms) I can't see that argument holds any water. It doesn't really matter a jot where the frigates are built if the radars and missiles and helicopters on them are already foreign-sourced and when the RAF is entirely manufactured and supported by overseas companies. BAE Systems is perhaps the last 'British' firm in the old classical manufacturing sense and since they ditched most of their aircraft manufacture for more profitable electronic systems portfolios I don't suppose they would really be that concerned if they sold off their remaining shipyards which can't be making the shareholders much profit. All British shipyards, including the Clyde yards, have been struggling on for 30 years, ever postponing the final curtain. What industry can be sustained on a dozen warships and a half a dozen subs every twenty years? What happens after the T26s in the 2030s? What will happen to Barrow if no Trident replacement subs are built?

There was an interview with Admiral West (former First Sea Lord) the other day, he lamented that the 1998 SDR called for 30 escorts and that now the RN only has 19 and can only support 6 away from base at any one time. He complained that the recent shipyard planning and the fleet reductions (and the whole Coalition defence-cuts) are financially rather than strategically motivated. By the time the first T26s complete I'm sure the RN escort fleet will be a dozen or less ships. A couple of Tornado squadrons, including 617 Sqn, are to be disbanded next year along with the OCU etc. since the fleet will then be too small to warrant a separate training unit. 617 will then become the first F-35 squadron in 2016.

_________________
Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft

I truly hope that our limp wristed useless lot at the top see there senses and start to reverse some of the damage done, or I fear hoods comments will come true.

I hope that we do build 13 T26's we should build more and we should increase our Destroyer fleet too. The RFA is also massively under shipped and crewed, the polititions need to see that cutting defence budgets not only damages britains armed forces possibly irreparably but also the economy of the country. I fear the 1200 it so jobs lost is just a start of a long road down hill, and I very much it has doubt even if a trident replacement is signed off it will be 1 for 1 I can see only 2 hulls bought.

For a country with as much international commitment we have wether we should be there or not. We cannot operate on the sort of funding or policy's our government are pushing and until the powers to be change or come to there scences I think the future is not good at all.........

We need more than 3 OPV's given the EEZ we need to protect and given there has been rumblings that OPV's would be better for the anti Piracy patrols a more capable one could mean all 3 are patrolling of the coast of Africa or in transit to/from.
The type 26 label worries me as a 20 series frigate is meant to be an ASW platform it really needs to be an 80 series which is a general purpose frigate. We need 30 escorts but a mix of Destroyers, frigates and Sloop(Corvettes). The last govt pushed the line that the Type 45 was twice a capable as existing vessels to justify in the press the reduction in numbers of course failing to mention the fundamental that it may be twice as capable but it can't be in 2 places at the same time.
SDSR did plan for New multimission small vessels that could be OPV/MCMV/Survey not more ever heard about that project to replace the hunt/sandown/river/echo class.
I also agree the RFA is under strength, The Rover class are a start but we could do with 6 and replacement for both the fort classes are needed. I would also say the govt selling of the point class has been a mistake.
I wonder will the new vessels be based on the Amazonas just completed for Brazil BTW has anyone drawn these vessels?

_________________
"There was nothing wrong with Titanic when she left the Shipyard" Tim McGarry Belfast Comedian

The initial press release. The order does not yet seem to be official and the near the end of the article the fact that the decision is pending the next defence review is not encouraging. The whole tone suggests it was simply cheaper to pay for three ships rather than the subsidy to keep empty yards open. Financial factors seem to be trumping strategic factors and this fact is being politically spun to suggest the Navy is gaining three 'better' vessels.
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... yards.html

Given the small photo on the page above, it seems the design will be BAE System's Offshore Patrol Vessel design (either 80 or 90 metres), probably the 90m design which is being built for Brazil and Thailand. BAE System's page confirms they are operating the PFI deal for the Rivers so this is probably a continuation of the contract. I wonder if BAE will sell-on the Rivers for export? I wonder who would get the profit off that? It seems a win-win for the company to keep their yard and OPV contracts ticking over, more so since no mention has been made of buying new OPVs until the shipyard decision last week.
http://www.baesystems.com/product/BAES_ ... wpb77x04_4

Richard Beedel's excellent naval blog supports this viewpoint too.
http://navalmatters.wordpress.com/2013/ ... pbuilding/

_________________
Hood's Worklist
English Electric Canberra FD
Interwar RN Capital Ships
Super-Darings
Never-Were British Aircraft