[jbryce]

I noticed on the news that the new HMS Daring was launched today. A snip at 600 million pounds and described by Sky News as a Battleship.

 

[Hugh MacLean]

I have been interested in the press that this ship has received especially concerning the modern mess decks. I have read a few letters in the papers recently from old salts who were lamenting about the conditions that they endured when at sea.

I served my time in the mid seventies and eighties and mess decks were cramped but I never expected it to be anything else for a warship of that time. I suppose its only natural that todays generation expect their lot to be better than their forebears.

What do you think?

 

[DMA]

Daring Launch on Clyde

http://www.rampantscotland.com/let060204.htm

 

[billyboy]

Hey DMA, good site. thanks for posting that.

 

[Coastie]

I watched the launching with pride live on the BBC. It was an awesome sight!

 

[Gulpers]

Scottish News

DMA,

Brilliant! (Applause) That's the first time I've seen that site and I'll be a regular from now on. Thanks. (Thumb)

 

[trawler_models]

Hugh, I was in during the eighties and into the ninties. I remember the cramped conditions as a junior rate in the Leanders I was on, but I much preferred those to the later Type 42 I was also on.

Last year I took a trip to the HistoricWarships museum at Birkenhead (just gone into liquidation I think) and was on board HMS Plymouth, HMS Onyx and U534. Asides from the spooky feeling I got from looking around the Plymouth (expecting the Joss to stride up and tell me to get my hands out of my pockets at any moment!) I was so thankful, after seeing Onyx and the remains of U534 that I wasn''t in submarines! Being on the Plymouth was a very weird feeling though as although I never served on a Type 12 she was fitted with all the equipment I remembered so well, and once inside was eerily similar.

I do recall the older guys saying how much easier we had it than them, and I guess the older guys were saying the same to them when they were sprogs too!

I was just commenting to someone the other night how I didn't think our generation could cope with a Blitz, a prolonged 'home attack' war or any other kind of real hardship.

Give it another 50 or 100 years and those of the 'civilised' world will find it traumatic to even get out of bed in the morning!

Dave

 

[Hugh MacLean]

Hi Dave,

I never fancied a life underneath the ocean wave too claustrophobic for me.

I have never been back aboard a Grey Funnel liner since the day I left and I am sure there have been many changes since even my time.

Give it another 50 or 100 years and those of the 'civilised' world will find it traumatic to even get out of bed in the morning!

I hate to say it but the day is here now. It's the age of the playstation and computer.

Regards,

 

[fred henderson]

Space

There are two general trends in current warship design. Firstly they keep getting bigger, largely because of combat system requirements. Secondly automation is reducing the complement. As a result there is an awful lot of space to keep spick and span, and not many hands to do the work.

Fred (Thumb)

 

[Rory Bhoy]

You can find some good pics of her launch here ....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ian_d/sets/72057594057539685/

 

[alan williams]

inserved on HMS DEFENDER 1959-1961. the conditions were cramped but it was what we had been used to.iwas in RN 1957 -1965 in all that time i never had a bunk on a ship just a hammock.comfortable and easy to lash up and stow. BUNGY

 

[robhk]

mess decks

Served in a Type 12 1964-65. Radar mess had 17 crew members.....4 bunks for leading hands...the rest of us had hammocks. Preferred hammocks...like Alan Williams said - comfortable and easy to stow - the ship rolled around you.

Never expected anything different - that was the way things were.

Our ship (SAS President Steyn) was a dry ship and a wonderful sea-keeper.

Always have a soft spot for the Type 12's. To me the new ships - however good they are - don't seem to have a military feel to them anymore...the mess decks seem to have a civilian feel to them with all the mod-cons of a hotel room.

Enough rambling,

Regards to all,

robhk

 

[Lindsay Bremner]

Daring Class Destroyers T-45

Can anybody give me an answer. If Vosper Thornycroft are building the bow, radar and funnel sections of the Daring Class Destroyers then who is building the rest of the ship. Everything I have read up till now only mentions VT and the bow section and the final assembly, but doesn't mention the rest of the ship. I did read that the type 45s were being built all over the UK and Beyond, where is beyond and what is beyond building.

 

[exsailor]

Ships being assembled and launched by BAE's Yarrow, Scotstoun shipyard. See http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/horizon/
It gives details of who is supplying what.

 

[Lindsay Bremner]

Thanks for the reply, but the link you supplied still doesn't anwer the question, it only mentions VT as far as building of the hull and superstructure goes there is no information whatsoever regarding the rest of the ships hull or superstructure. I did come accross a report on the internet saying that part of the ship was being built BEYOND which I reckon must mean abroad but I can't find any information regarding the BEYOND part. Taking into account the spending on the RN by this government and the state of the RN which I have on good authority would lose a fight with most Western European navies, is it possible that the rest of the ships structure is being built in France for the purpose of saving money.

 

[James_C]

The bow section and radar mast are built at VT, these parts and then put on a barge and towed to the Clyde.
The remainder of the ship is built on the Clyde, with the first at Yarrows, and the rest across the river at Govan (both BAE yards).

 

[fred henderson]

The bow section and radar mast are built at VT, these parts and then put on a barge and towed to the Clyde.
The remainder of the ship is built on the Clyde, with the first at Yarrows, and the rest across the river at Govan (both BAE yards).

Jim

I think that you are in this instance, underplaying the Clyde effort. The Type 45 Destroyers are being designed and built by the BAE Clyde shipyards. A minor part of the work is sub-contracted to VT. As usual VT are doing a superb job of blowing their own trumpet. Good for them. That is why they are still in business.

Fred

 

[Lindsay Bremner]

Jim

I think that you are in this instance, underplaying the Clyde effort. The Type 45 Destroyers are being designed and built by the BAE Clyde shipyards. A minor part of the work is sub-contracted to VT. As usual VT are doing a superb job of blowing their own trumpet. Good for them. That is why they are still in business.

Fred

Thanks for your reply, the last thing I would ever do is underplay any British effort on behalf of the Royal Navy. My question came about as a result of speaking to a guy in the know about the MOD. He would not tell me where he got his information from, but did say to read between the lines of reports in the public domain. The point that was put to myself was try and find any information regarding the superstructure of the type 45 destroyer, he told me that I would not find anything about it other than VT, because it was being built in France. I checked the BAE website, The mod website, and the RN website and found no mention of the other builders whatsoever, I eventualy put the question to the people on this website. Because of the time I spent checking the internet, I didn't take a note of the website, I think it may have been the MOD site but I am not sure. The website said, Parts of the ships are being built in the UK and BEYOND. I hope I have not upset anybody on this website with my questions regarding this, if I have I am very sorry this was not my intention. To me the most important people in this country are the people who ware the QUEENS UNIFORM, and I would hate to think that the lives of these men and women are put at risk because of politicians and cost cutting.

 

[jbryce]

I don't think that saving money is the reason that different bits are being built at various locations (It must be cheaper to build the whole ship on one berth, rather than to build, say, part of it on the berth and another part in Portsmouth and employ a tug and barge, cranes, etc. etc., then tow the part to the other end of the country and lift it off the barge and onto a berth).

Ultra Electronics (with EDO Corporation of the USA) has been selected to provide the Type 45's Surface Ship Torpedo Defence (SSTD) system which includes the MFS-7000 bow-mounted medium frequency sonar, a development of the sonar supplied by EDO to the Brazilian Navy. The system will provide automatic warning of a torpedo attack and tactical advice on ship manoeuvres and the deployment of decoys to defeat the threat.

 

[John Rogers]

Ddx

Elsewhere there was a post about the DDX project,to me the vessel looks like the old Monitors of the Civil war.
John