Big Charlie (HMS PoW) Breaks Down

[Bubbles_Barker]

It seems there is a problem with one of HMS PoW's prop shafts....

Royal Navy HMS Prince of Wales breaks down off south coast

The HMS Prince of Wales's departure from Portsmouth had already been postponed due to a technical issue.

www.bbc.co.uk

Embarrassing perhaps, but having been aboard her, I can confirm she is indeed a big and complicated bit of kit!

 

[glad rag]

So it's just not the ruSSkies then....

 

[Bubbles_Barker]

So it's just not the ruSSkies then....

Indeed, she was already late departing due to previous 'issues'.

 

[Just_plain_you]

Don't worry. The Pinstriped line blog will be along in a minute telling us everything is OK and this is to be expected from a world class navy.

 

[nice guy]

Don't worry. The Pinstriped line blog will be along in a minute telling us everything is OK and this is to be expected from a world class navy.

Hello spider?

 

[Edwardian Fred]

Being prince of Wales I would suggest that they use a holistic approach to solving the problem.

 

[Yokel]

We do not yet know exactly how much of an issue this is, but she has been on two NATO deployments already this year, first in the Norwegian Sea and Arctic, and the second in the Mediterranean. In 1982 HMS Invincible made it from Portsmouth to Ascension Island with a locked shaft, so I wonder if this would be a real show stopper in a real crisis.

 

[Bodenplatte]

So it's just not the ruSSkies then....

Just one anti-ship missile and it’s curtains anyway.
Prince of Wales 1942 pattern, Repulse anybody ?

 

[paddyplanty]

OK - so it was 1997:and onboard the ancient HMS Fearless but maybe the matelot element of Arrse can confirm that 'D'ye hear there Starboard shaft, Machinery breakdown' (or summat) was a regular pipe.

 

[paddyplanty]

OK - so it was 1997:and onboard the ancient HMS Fearless but maybe the matelot element of Arrseccan confirm that 'D'ye hear there Starboard shaft, Machinery breakdown' (or summat) was a regular pipe.

 

[Yokel]

Don't worry. The Pinstriped line blog will be along in a minute telling us everything is OK and this is to be expected from a world class navy.

It does happen to all navies though.

Hello spider?

The irony...

Being prince of Wales I would suggest that they use a holistic approach to solving the problem.

I had no idea that you were the Prince of Wales. Engineering is holistic! It is all about integration.

Just one anti-ship missile and it’s curtains anyway.
Prince of Wales 1942 pattern, Repulse anybody ?

Would it bend your mind too much if someone was to point out that during the Cold War, the main role of the American carriers was to protect reinforcement convoys (and amphibious forces) from Soviet bombers launching anti ship missiles?

...the primary mission for the CV/CVN in the North Atlantic was not ASW (it was an additional role) but rather AAW to prevent the Backfire/Bears from attacking the convoys. The A-6/A-7s were the organic tankers to push the F-4/F-14 CAP stations out to a range to shoot the archer, not the arrows. Obviously, those roles swapped a bit when you started facing a surface threat or got close enough to land to start contemplating strikes against those Soviet Naval Air Arm airfields.

@ECMO1 in one of the first posts on this thread: Late 1970s US Congress Report - The US Sea Control Mission (carriers needed in the Atlantic for Air Defence and ASW - both then and today)

Maybe a picture might help - these are more the ranges associated with our systems in the South Atlantic in 1982:

Stop reading Russian and Chinese disinformation.

 

[Cloth bomber]

It does happen to all navies though.



The irony...



I had no idea that you were the Prince of Wales. Engineering is holistic! It is all about integration.



Would it bend your mind too much if someone was to point out that during the Cold War, the main role of the American carriers was to protect reinforcement convoys (and amphibious forces) from Soviet bombers launching anti ship missiles?

...the primary mission for the CV/CVN in the North Atlantic was not ASW (it was an additional role) but rather AAW to prevent the Backfire/Bears from attacking the convoys. The A-6/A-7s were the organic tankers to push the F-4/F-14 CAP stations out to a range to shoot the archer, not the arrows. Obviously, those roles swapped a bit when you started facing a surface threat or got close enough to land to start contemplating strikes against those Soviet Naval Air Arm airfields.

@ECMO1 in one of the first posts on this thread: Late 1970s US Congress Report - The US Sea Control Mission (carriers needed in the Atlantic for Air Defence and ASW - both then and today)

Maybe a picture might help - these are more the ranges associated with our systems in the South Atlantic in 1982:

View attachment 689426

Stop reading Russian and Chinese disinformation.

We don’t have the Russian cloaking device though. ( you know the one where they hid the Admaral Cuntzoff behind a huge black cloud of shite every time they attempted to move it under its own power).

 

[slipperman]

The lads on the BAOR FB page are having some fun:
“That is one hell of a pack lift. Two handbags and a bottle of Asbach should cover it”!

 

[TractorStats]

Embarrassing perhaps, but having been aboard her, I can confirm she is indeed a big and complicated bit of kit!

I can imagine the upper parts are indeed awfully complicated and top secret but the propeller shafts and engines? Are they really that complicated?

I mean, I know I know nothing about the Navy but I've had a fair bit to do with much bigger cargo ships than an aircraft carrier. When they get built they sea trial them extensively, especially the engines and propellers, then off they go carrying cargo. Apart from the occasional refit, bottom scrape and repaint they just don't break down that much and then when the hull gets tired and old they ram them into a beach at Chitagong and blokes in flip flops hack them to bits with acetylene torches. Its fairly simple to be honest and cargo ships do get a right old hammering and not half as much TLC as an aircraft carrier.

 

[Gravdigger]

OK - so it was 1997:and onboard the ancient HMS Fearless but maybe the matelot element of Arrseccan confirm that 'D'ye hear there Starboard shaft, Machinery breakdown' (or summat) was a regular pipe.

HMS Diana 1963/64. "Starboard shaft gland scored and further use may damage further so we'll be going back to Singapore," AGAIN
HMS Diamond, 1960s. Some disgruntled matelot bunged some loose nuts and bolts into the gland space, causing the white metal to score and let the sea in. Ship had a major refit and matelot got Detention Quarters and posted to Diana but no proof of sabotage.