HMS Queen Elizabeth

[ninja-lewis]

98elise said:

RizzoTheRat said:

I love that the USMC have that massive flag painted inside the fan door

aeropilot said:

Interesting to spot the different wing tip missile fit between the RN/RAF F-35B and the USMC F-35B.
UK fitted with ASRAAM and the US fitted with AIM-9X.

Not really thought about it before, but does that also imply they have completely separate ground crews, as they won't be qualified on each others munitions?

Yes with some caveats. As with UK squadrons there will be maintenance/weapons teams who are attached to the squadron (and move with them) rather than the ship.

The safe storage and handling of weapons is the responsibility of specific Officers and NCO crew on the ship. That wouldn't change if a foreign squadron was embarked.

Edited by 98elise on Friday 25th June 15:46

"Deploying with VMFA-211 is also a team of 18 ordnance sailors from aircraft carrier USS John Stennis (CVN-74), which is currently awaiting the start of its mid-life refueling and complex overhaul in Virginia.

Lt. Mike Brown, an aviation ordnance officer with the Navy, told USNI News that his team is deploying with the squadron because U.S. Marines do not build their ordnance when operating on an American ship. This is a task completed by the ship’s company.

While policy does not allow the U.K. and U.S. to build each other’s ordnance, Brown said the objective during the deployment is for his team to learn from the U.K.’s air weapons party how it builds its ordnance.

Because it’s been years since the U.K. operated an aircraft carrier, Brown said his ordnance team will help the British team with its methods and noted the Royal Air Force had been building the U.K. team’s weapons.

Brown, who also trained last year aboard Queen Elizabeth, said his team will need to assemble ordnance differently on the U.K. carrier than it would on an American ship because of how the British organize the magazines in the ship.

“Typically on a carrier or an amphib, we build our ordnance in the magazines. We have specific ordnance magazines that are set up just to build weapons, like GBUs,” Brown said.

“Their magazines are just for storage – it’s like a warehouse. And then they bring it up to a weapons assembly area, so all the components we have to put together up there vice having them ready access in the same magazine,” he added. “We just kind of grab it, put it together, and then send it up as a whole weapon.”

The two teams will work in separate bays to make the weapons but will do so simultaneously, Brown said."

https://navalinstitute.com.au/us-and-uk-join-force...

[Teddy Lop]

Skyrocket21 said:

When the Astute submarine goes through with them, the Suez canal being 24 metres deep does it go through partially submerged i.e just the or just fully exposed?

Sneak through without paying the toll surely?

[saaby93]

Teddy Lop said:

Skyrocket21 said:

When the Astute submarine goes through with them, the Suez canal being 24 metres deep does it go through partially submerged i.e just the or just fully exposed?

Sneak through without paying the toll surely?

Doesnt QE2 have a submarine bay?

[hidetheelephants]

saaby93 said:

Teddy Lop said:

Skyrocket21 said:

When the Astute submarine goes through with them, the Suez canal being 24 metres deep does it go through partially submerged i.e just the or just fully exposed?

Sneak through without paying the toll surely?

Doesnt QE2 have a submarine bay?

I'm sure I've seen pictures.

[98elise]

ninja-lewis said:

98elise said:

RizzoTheRat said:

I love that the USMC have that massive flag painted inside the fan door

aeropilot said:

Interesting to spot the different wing tip missile fit between the RN/RAF F-35B and the USMC F-35B.
UK fitted with ASRAAM and the US fitted with AIM-9X.

Not really thought about it before, but does that also imply they have completely separate ground crews, as they won't be qualified on each others munitions?

Yes with some caveats. As with UK squadrons there will be maintenance/weapons teams who are attached to the squadron (and move with them) rather than the ship.

The safe storage and handling of weapons is the responsibility of specific Officers and NCO crew on the ship. That wouldn't change if a foreign squadron was embarked.

Edited by 98elise on Friday 25th June 15:46

"Deploying with VMFA-211 is also a team of 18 ordnance sailors from aircraft carrier USS John Stennis (CVN-74), which is currently awaiting the start of its mid-life refueling and complex overhaul in Virginia.

Lt. Mike Brown, an aviation ordnance officer with the Navy, told USNI News that his team is deploying with the squadron because U.S. Marines do not build their ordnance when operating on an American ship. This is a task completed by the ship’s company.

While policy does not allow the U.K. and U.S. to build each other’s ordnance, Brown said the objective during the deployment is for his team to learn from the U.K.’s air weapons party how it builds its ordnance.

Because it’s been years since the U.K. operated an aircraft carrier, Brown said his ordnance team will help the British team with its methods and noted the Royal Air Force had been building the U.K. team’s weapons.

Brown, who also trained last year aboard Queen Elizabeth, said his team will need to assemble ordnance differently on the U.K. carrier than it would on an American ship because of how the British organize the magazines in the ship.

“Typically on a carrier or an amphib, we build our ordnance in the magazines. We have specific ordnance magazines that are set up just to build weapons, like GBUs,” Brown said.

“Their magazines are just for storage – it’s like a warehouse. And then they bring it up to a weapons assembly area, so all the components we have to put together up there vice having them ready access in the same magazine,” he added. “We just kind of grab it, put it together, and then send it up as a whole weapon.”

The two teams will work in separate bays to make the weapons but will do so simultaneously, Brown said."

https://navalinstitute.com.au/us-and-uk-join-force...

Backs up what I said. They will use their own teams for weapons and maintenance, but the UK crew will deal with weapons storage (magazines) and handing to the deck/hangar.

I served on a carrier as a Weapons Engineer, and was responsible for a set of magazines (POWEA and OOQ, as we love acronyms on military threads )

Edited by 98elise on Wednesday 7th July 09:39

[Skyrocket21]

Queen Elizabeth carrier uses a higly automated "mole system" which is show here in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F8HFrB8b-0

[thewarlock]

Skyrocket21 said:

Queen Elizabeth carrier uses a higly automated "mole system" which is show here in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F8HFrB8b-0

The HMWHS.

I spent about a year on that, designing all of the local structure and seats for the winches, sheaves, keeps, doors, hatches etc.

Over a decade ago now.

[Skyrocket21]

thewarlock said:

Skyrocket21 said:

Queen Elizabeth carrier uses a higly automated "mole system" which is show here in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F8HFrB8b-0

The HMWHS.

I spent about a year on that, designing all of the local structure and seats for the winches, sheaves, keeps, doors, hatches etc.

Over a decade ago now.

I think it's a really impressive piece of kit and engineering, the whole thing is a massive step up from the Invincible class, all the naysayers should look back at what we had before and realise this is a huge improvement.

[ApOrbital]

Too bloody right!

[FourWheelDrift]

Transiting the Suez canal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n6u5gVb6Bc

[saaby93]

FourWheelDrift said:

Transiting the Suez canal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n6u5gVb6Bc

Very imaginative musak- anyone prefer to hear the real noise from the boats? How many in the group?

[RizzoTheRat]

saaby93 said:

Very imaginative musak- anyone prefer to hear the real noise from the boats? How many in the group?

CSG21 has 2 Type 45's, 2 Type 23's, a US Arleigh Burke, Dutch Zeven Provencien and 2 RFA's. Looks like there's a few tugs interspersed there too, maybe they were worried she'd hit the bank and end up sideways across the canal

[Piginapoke]

I'm surprised that so many planes were on deck given its a harsh environment. Do they all fit in the hangers?

[ninja-lewis]

Piginapoke said:

I'm surprised that so many planes were on deck given its a harsh environment. Do they all fit in the hangers?

24 F-35Bs can fit in theory but there's also the Merlins and some of the hangar space is will be taken up by stores for a long deployment. Also probably easier to leave some space for moving stuff around without having to rearrange everything everytime.

The Royal Navy historically favoured keeping aircraft in hangar. But that was more to do with waves over the bow in the rough North Atlantic on smaller carriers. Whereas the US Navy have always accepted large deck parks with aircraft mostly just going down to the hangar for maintenance. The hangar is presumably still highly exposed to salt water air (when not in a NBC lockdown state) so the exposure probably isn't reduced much, especially in a calm canal.

[Seight_Returns]

Piginapoke said:

I'm surprised that so many planes were on deck given its a harsh environment. Do they all fit in the hangers?

I was surprised to see F35s on deck whilst the group was transiting the canal too. There's fairly recent history of militant groups making RPG attacks on shipping in the canal - which could make a real mess of an F35 with a £100 million unit cost - even if the subsequent life expectancy of said militant was very short.

I guess they're sending a message that they're sufficiently confident that they can sanitise the area around the transiting ships to negate such a threat.

[Pilotguy]

Who could have predicted that a run ashore in Cyprus would have given CSG21 a 100+ COVID case headache?¡!¿
https://news.sky.com/story/covid-outbreak-aboard-r...

[Talksteer]

Seight_Returns said:

Piginapoke said:

I'm surprised that so many planes were on deck given its a harsh environment. Do they all fit in the hangers?

I was surprised to see F35s on deck whilst the group was transiting the canal too. There's fairly recent history of militant groups making RPG attacks on shipping in the canal - which could make a real mess of an F35 with a £100 million unit cost - even if the subsequent life expectancy of said militant was very short.

I guess they're sending a message that they're sufficiently confident that they can sanitise the area around the transiting ships to negate such a threat.

HMS Ocean transited the canal on it's fly on the wall TV series they noted that it's 30mm guns were live when it did.

They were using the thermal sights to sweep the banks but the gun barrels were not slaved to the sights as pointing the barrel was "aggressive". Obviously if they wanted to point the guns that could be achieved in less than a second.

The 20mm CIWS systems also have a thermal sight to allow them to engage ground targets.

[Ayahuasca]

I was transiting the Panama Canal in a sailboat when the USS Zumwalt came the other way. We passed pretty close and I noticed that a sailor in a side door was manning a 50 cal. machine gun pointing in our direction....

[98elise]

Talksteer said:

Seight_Returns said:

Piginapoke said:

I'm surprised that so many planes were on deck given its a harsh environment. Do they all fit in the hangers?

I was surprised to see F35s on deck whilst the group was transiting the canal too. There's fairly recent history of militant groups making RPG attacks on shipping in the canal - which could make a real mess of an F35 with a £100 million unit cost - even if the subsequent life expectancy of said militant was very short.

I guess they're sending a message that they're sufficiently confident that they can sanitise the area around the transiting ships to negate such a threat.

HMS Ocean transited the canal on it's fly on the wall TV series they noted that it's 30mm guns were live when it did.

They were using the thermal sights to sweep the banks but the gun barrels were not slaved to the sights as pointing the barrel was "aggressive". Obviously if they wanted to point the guns that could be achieved in less than a second.

The 20mm CIWS systems also have a thermal sight to allow them to engage ground targets.

It's unlikely the guns were loaded. You don't load unless you expect to shoot.

[Talksteer]

98elise said:

Talksteer said:

Seight_Returns said:

Piginapoke said:

I'm surprised that so many planes were on deck given its a harsh environment. Do they all fit in the hangers?

I was surprised to see F35s on deck whilst the group was transiting the canal too. There's fairly recent history of militant groups making RPG attacks on shipping in the canal - which could make a real mess of an F35 with a £100 million unit cost - even if the subsequent life expectancy of said militant was very short.

I guess they're sending a message that they're sufficiently confident that they can sanitise the area around the transiting ships to negate such a threat.

HMS Ocean transited the canal on it's fly on the wall TV series they noted that it's 30mm guns were live when it did.

They were using the thermal sights to sweep the banks but the gun barrels were not slaved to the sights as pointing the barrel was "aggressive". Obviously if they wanted to point the guns that could be achieved in less than a second.

The 20mm CIWS systems also have a thermal sight to allow them to engage ground targets.

It's unlikely the guns were loaded. You don't load unless you expect to shoot.

HMS Defender goes through canal, see one minute in, those machine guns aren't loaded with blanks!

https://youtu.be/zumPNY8Acos?t=63