A few more thoughts on the ASW versions of the Australia DDG
When this idea was first mooted there wasn’t a great deal of helicopters to chose from either a Wasp/Dash concept which was only weapon delivery system which depended on the parent ship Sonar for target detection. With the Australia government developing IKARA these helicopter would be a needless duplication for ASW weapon delivery system. Where as the Wessex was a much more self contained ASW weapon System (Dipping Sonar/Radar).
The Wessex is a large Helicopter and trying to fit 3 on a DDG is a major undertaking
The following points are relevant
These A/C needed a lot maintenance so a large group of maintainer are needed ( so I guess about 10-15 personnel plus space for spares and maintenance/workshop areas
I assume 4 aircrew for each aircraft for a total of 24-30 additional A/C personnel which would make big inroads on the ships accommodation. There would be some reduction to the Ships crew ie aft gun crew/ after Boiler crew etc
Space would be needed for A/C fuel As build the DDGs used black oil FFO so a separate A/C fuel system and storage arrangement would be needed
There would be a A/C weapon stowage needed for 12-20 Mk 44 torpedoes / depth charges. All this stuff would need a major redesign of the ship and I assume a lot of additional weight added, Flight deck, Hanger, Workshops, fuel stowage, weapon storage,
Moving the GMLS moving upwards etc, all this would change the stability a great deal, to compensate for all this would need items removed the aft 5” gun, boats, and the after boilers (but keeping all the AUX machinery TA/HPAC/DG etc) I suspect that there would need to be a lot weight added low down in the ship correct the changes to the trim and satiability.
This removal of the second gun and reduction to the speed would in 1965-72 been disastrous to the DDGs deployment to Vietnam. So it was a good idea not go ahead but this has not stopped the RAN trying to modified/improve what was already a perfectly function ship/plane/weapon and make a completed stuff up of it
One thing that I don't have is internal layout drawing like the Booklet of general plans, does anyone know where I can get one ?