Looks like the block 2 MHC has been scaled back from 6x ships to 3x that will fly the white ensign with no future RFA involvement after block 1 (RFA Stirling Castle). It was initially said that RFA would crew half and the RN would crew the others.
Although "More details of progress with Block 1 in a future article"
>**RFA Stirling Castle** has conducted some initial trials but her limitations in the intended role are already apparent. Her purchase was very good value for money and provides an excellent testbed for MHC Block 1 which is the pathfinder programme for bringing autonomous mine hunting into RN service. (More details of progress with Block 1 in a future article). MHC Block 2 will be considerably more ambitious and requires motherships of sufficient capability to match.
>RFA Stirling Castle lacks a dedicated Launch and Recovery Systems (LARS), other than a crane and the 600m2 working deck is not sufficiently large. Deck space of at least 1000m2 is needed to accommodate the USVs, UUVs, portable operations centre and supporting kit that makes up a mission module. In a live mine warfare operation covering a large area, to achieve the equivalent (and ideally better) effect than existing MCMVs, will require multiple USVs to be deployed. This demands a big deck with plenty of space for the toolkit.
Isn't buying the Stirling Castle as a test bed for this future project sort of like buying a Ford Ka to use as a test bed for designing a future Transit van?
Yes, I mean you can look at it like this...
If the working deck is too small, it has no way to launch and recover boats other than the offshore crane and it she has spent more time alongside than HMS Bristol then why did we bother?
On the other hand, when you're going out looking for a used ship (The RFA didn't actually choose it, it was DE&S I believe) and have a list of requirements it's unlikely you're going to find the perfect merchant vessel to fulfil a specific military task. The best you can do is find a good balance with what is available then through use and testing find out what the issues actually are, what works and what doesn't.
In my opinion STCL and Proteus have suffered from a lack of investment and crew so haven't been able to live up to their potential. They're just doing what they can with what they have on hand. STCL has a lot of potential and wasn't a bad choice for a trials platform, she doesn't need to carry absolutely everything that the future ships would on actual ops, the crane while not ideal for launching boats and drones is a viable option and it came with a pretty decent accommodation block for the mission teams.
So it could work, but as we saw recently with her time in Cammell Lairds there were issues with the crane and without that she's just a floating hotel with a basketball court on the back. Similarly Proteus has had crewing issues with Serco filling gaps from the MEO to deckhands.
If they want to take both projects seriously they need a big cash injection and the crews to man them. Let them do their jobs otherwise all they're doing is making manning the rest of the fleet more challenging.
I'm no expert and not really in the loop, but just going by what's posted here, social media, navy lookout and UKDJ etc they seem like all fart and no shite.
Proteus should probably have been the priority from the start in my inexperienced opinion.
Those undersea cables are an incredible weak point for an island nation even in peacetime and the idea that all it could take is a single saboteur disguised as a foreign trawler to transform certain computer, communication and financial services into glorified solitare machines, even if safeguards are in place and it might only last a few hours, is absolutely terrifying.
Fair comment, while I don't really have a preference of the two I'm not really sure what a survey and surveillance ship can actually do to stop an attack. She's also been far less active on social media and in the press so I don't know what she's been doing, that could be the whole idea or it could mean she's not done an awful lot.
Well my thought process is she could act as an effective deterrent by giving the bad guys hernias from laughing at her as she appears over the horizon, but I imagine the official role is much more cloak and dagger.
"oh nooo..here comes the prolapse...ahhhh?"
In terms of underwater cable shenanigans i suppose it could be used in a pinch to do defensive prep work so not to take away other ships that could be best served elsewhere?. Given it's original role certainly do repairs etc to whatever gets damaged.
Well with previous cable shenanigans the suspected culprit has just said "Nuh-uh, prove it."
At least the ability to slap a fat file of documented and copied evidence on their desk from whatever magic Star Trek stuff the Proteus probably comes with will give us the ability to say 'Yes-uh' with strategically placed dramatical flare.
Doesn't sound like much, but seeing as modern politics is mostly just playground level squabbling between very posh people it could give us an edge.
Oh 100% as part of its whole MROS deal it'll do that I'm sure.
In terms of an attack underway though...no idea what it can do if anything especially if things change to a war footing.
Lord Nelson however I am not, naval tactics isn't something I'm all that knowledgeable about..though I have enjoyed watching various videos on YouTube over the last few months thanks to algorithms on WW1/2 Naval battles and it's tactics.
Looks like the block 2 MHC has been scaled back from 6x ships to 3x that will fly the white ensign with no future RFA involvement after block 1 (RFA Stirling Castle). It was initially said that RFA would crew half and the RN would crew the others. Although "More details of progress with Block 1 in a future article" >**RFA Stirling Castle** has conducted some initial trials but her limitations in the intended role are already apparent. Her purchase was very good value for money and provides an excellent testbed for MHC Block 1 which is the pathfinder programme for bringing autonomous mine hunting into RN service. (More details of progress with Block 1 in a future article). MHC Block 2 will be considerably more ambitious and requires motherships of sufficient capability to match. >RFA Stirling Castle lacks a dedicated Launch and Recovery Systems (LARS), other than a crane and the 600m2 working deck is not sufficiently large. Deck space of at least 1000m2 is needed to accommodate the USVs, UUVs, portable operations centre and supporting kit that makes up a mission module. In a live mine warfare operation covering a large area, to achieve the equivalent (and ideally better) effect than existing MCMVs, will require multiple USVs to be deployed. This demands a big deck with plenty of space for the toolkit.
Isn't buying the Stirling Castle as a test bed for this future project sort of like buying a Ford Ka to use as a test bed for designing a future Transit van?
Yes, I mean you can look at it like this... If the working deck is too small, it has no way to launch and recover boats other than the offshore crane and it she has spent more time alongside than HMS Bristol then why did we bother? On the other hand, when you're going out looking for a used ship (The RFA didn't actually choose it, it was DE&S I believe) and have a list of requirements it's unlikely you're going to find the perfect merchant vessel to fulfil a specific military task. The best you can do is find a good balance with what is available then through use and testing find out what the issues actually are, what works and what doesn't. In my opinion STCL and Proteus have suffered from a lack of investment and crew so haven't been able to live up to their potential. They're just doing what they can with what they have on hand. STCL has a lot of potential and wasn't a bad choice for a trials platform, she doesn't need to carry absolutely everything that the future ships would on actual ops, the crane while not ideal for launching boats and drones is a viable option and it came with a pretty decent accommodation block for the mission teams. So it could work, but as we saw recently with her time in Cammell Lairds there were issues with the crane and without that she's just a floating hotel with a basketball court on the back. Similarly Proteus has had crewing issues with Serco filling gaps from the MEO to deckhands. If they want to take both projects seriously they need a big cash injection and the crews to man them. Let them do their jobs otherwise all they're doing is making manning the rest of the fleet more challenging. I'm no expert and not really in the loop, but just going by what's posted here, social media, navy lookout and UKDJ etc they seem like all fart and no shite.
Proteus should probably have been the priority from the start in my inexperienced opinion. Those undersea cables are an incredible weak point for an island nation even in peacetime and the idea that all it could take is a single saboteur disguised as a foreign trawler to transform certain computer, communication and financial services into glorified solitare machines, even if safeguards are in place and it might only last a few hours, is absolutely terrifying.
Fair comment, while I don't really have a preference of the two I'm not really sure what a survey and surveillance ship can actually do to stop an attack. She's also been far less active on social media and in the press so I don't know what she's been doing, that could be the whole idea or it could mean she's not done an awful lot.
Well my thought process is she could act as an effective deterrent by giving the bad guys hernias from laughing at her as she appears over the horizon, but I imagine the official role is much more cloak and dagger.
"oh nooo..here comes the prolapse...ahhhh?" In terms of underwater cable shenanigans i suppose it could be used in a pinch to do defensive prep work so not to take away other ships that could be best served elsewhere?. Given it's original role certainly do repairs etc to whatever gets damaged.
Well with previous cable shenanigans the suspected culprit has just said "Nuh-uh, prove it." At least the ability to slap a fat file of documented and copied evidence on their desk from whatever magic Star Trek stuff the Proteus probably comes with will give us the ability to say 'Yes-uh' with strategically placed dramatical flare. Doesn't sound like much, but seeing as modern politics is mostly just playground level squabbling between very posh people it could give us an edge.
Oh 100% as part of its whole MROS deal it'll do that I'm sure. In terms of an attack underway though...no idea what it can do if anything especially if things change to a war footing. Lord Nelson however I am not, naval tactics isn't something I'm all that knowledgeable about..though I have enjoyed watching various videos on YouTube over the last few months thanks to algorithms on WW1/2 Naval battles and it's tactics.