New Chinese Aircraft Carrier Puts To Sea For The First Time

Today China joined the elite group of first tier navies.

Just months after David Cameron signalled Britain's withdrawal from the World stage by scrapping the Royal Navy's aircraft carrier capability,China's first aircraft carrier has put to sea on trials.

China will soon be one of only a handful of countries capable of delivering air power anywhere in the World without asking any country for permission.

Ministry Of Defence Police Acting Illegally?

There is an interesting post on the EUReferendum blog.

The author was stopped and questioned by members of the Ministry Of Defence Police force*.

This stop and search was presumably under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000,if it was not on Ministry Of Defence property.

The provisions of which were ruled illegal by the European Court of Human Rights on the 12th of January 2010.

In fact the British government had agreed to suspend section 44:

"3. Following the courts judgment in Gillan and Quinton the UK 

government announced that it would suspend the use of S 44 stop and 

search without reasonable suspicion.


 Guidance was accordingly disseminated to chief constables  to suspend use of this power."

Doctor North might like to seek legal clarification over this incident.

The noted Eurosceptic failed to notice the number plate of the police vehicle which stopped him.

He may notice the irony if this stop was indeed in violation of European law.




*Not neccessarily those shown in the above picture which is taken from the Ministry Of Defence website and used here only for illustrative purposes.

Italian Frigate Fired On By Missile Off Libya

There are reports that there has been a possible attack on an Italian Frigate off the Libyan coast.

The Italian warship Bersagliere was operating just 12 miles (some sources say 15 miles) from the Libyan coast at the time of the incident.


This is close enough for her 127mm gun to bombard targets ashore.

The missile is reported to have missed the Soldati class frigate Bersagliere by 2,000 metres.

The origins of the missile have been described as unknown which leaves open the possibility that this may have been a "friendly fire" incident (Edit : it has since been confirmed that the missile was fired by Libyan forces).

The Soldati class are small frigates related to the Lupo class.

These ships had an interesting history,having been originally ordered by Iraq they were never delivered due to an arms embargo,an incident demonstrating the importance of security of supply.

A New American Frigate

In an earlier post we gave an illustration of what we wished to see in a future frigate for the Royal Navy.

Today we will look at what might be a suitable replacement for the American Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates.

The above illustration applies existing American weapon and sensor systems to our "Falkland class frigate" template.

Such as the 5 inch (127mm) Mark 45 Mod 4 gun.

The Mark 41 Vertical Launch System.

The Phalanx 1B.

Or,alternatively,SeaRAM.

AN/SPY 1F.

The MH 60R Seahawk.

Multi Function Towed Array AN/SQR 20.

All guns and missiles cover most bearings abeam of the ship,a narrow arc on the bow is covered by missiles,5" gun and a single Phalanx/SeaRam and a narrow arc on the stern is covered only by missiles and a single Phalanx/SeaRam but all weapons can be brought to bear on any bearing with a minimum of manoeuvering.

Other systems might include the Converteam Advanced Induction Motor.

LM2500 G4 Gas Turbine Generator.

All of these systems are "off the shelf" or made to order non developmental items.

The only thing which needs to be designed from scratch is a new hull to put those systems in,as the British can afford to design a new 6,850 tonne frigate,it is difficult to see why the United States' Navy could not do the same.


They could even share the Royal Navy's design (though the current design needs more work,note the poor firing arcs of the Phalanx).

The end result might be a frigate looking a little like this.

The configurable deck mentioned above is a flat load bearing area with access to the sea or pierside.

It may be enclosed or open.

It has connections for communications,power,potable and waste water services.

Items may be secured here by means of tie downs built in to the deck,bolts or welds.

Although it will be most often used as a location for boats and davits,the configurable deck can carry many other items including mines,mine hunting equipment,vehicles,submersibles,accommodation,stores,cruise missiles,sensors or any other mission specific equipment which the frigate may be required to carry either temporarily or permanently.

The unusual location of the Magazine Torpedo Launch System (an alternative to the Mark 32 Surface Vessel Torpedo Tubes found on American ships) is based on the principle of,as far as is practical,keeping ordnance towards the extremities of the hull for damage control purposes as well as allowing a simple arrangement of torpedoes stored facing for'ard but launching on each beam.

That location was originally conceived as a suitable place for heavyweight torpedoes,which are not commonly carried by modern surface combatants.