HMS Prince of Wales

[Cold]

She may well be heading to dry dock in Amsterdam shortly. This is on the back of unconfirmed suggestions that the starboard prop struck something on the way out of the harbour.
But I would reiterate this is rumour and conjecture right now.

[andy97]

Reports emerging of a possible propellor strike, and may go to a dry dock in Amsterdam as easier and quicker than going to Rosyth.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-carrier-li...

[normalbloke]

A prop strike would be far better PR optics for the RN than a mechanical failure, obviously

[Cold]

normalbloke said:

A prop strike would be far better PR optics for the RN than a mechanical failure, obviously

Yep, but the company previously tasked with dredging the harbour might get kick up the arse!

[OutInTheShed]

normalbloke said:

A prop strike would be far better PR optics for the RN than a mechanical failure, obviously

Wouldn't be a warranty claim though!

Can the prop hit the ground without the hull hitting it first?
Surely it would shrug off anything floating in the water?

On my boat, we have an echo sounder and panic well before the prop is within a metre of the bottom.

[Simpo Two]

OutInTheShed said:

Can the prop hit the ground without the hull hitting it first?
Surely it would shrug off anything floating in the water?

On my boat, we have an echo sounder and panic well before the prop is within a metre of the bottom.

And a submerged shipping container?

Perhaps in future conflicts they won't need mines, they'll just drop a load of containers in the sea.

Back in the day if course, I'm sure many new ships had teething problems. There just wasn't a media and social media to splatter around to the world and make their own side look inept... I don't know why they/we do it.

[Cold]

OutInTheShed said:

Wouldn't be a warranty claim though!

Can the prop hit the ground without the hull hitting it first?
Surely it would shrug off anything floating in the water?

On my boat, we have an echo sounder and panic well before the prop is within a metre of the bottom.

Given that photos showed one screw being out of action when she left the harbour, it may well have happened during the routine turning manoeuvre both carriers undertake before pointing out to sea. They generally tend to park facing into the harbour. After casting off, they slowly shunt a few hundred yards further into the harbour where there is a natural turning area and the tugs help to spin them around, which may well allow the propellor to contact a potential object.

Want an exceptionally detailed diagram, with no-expense-spared labelling? Of course you do.
Arrow shows where she is moored when in town, with the turning area highlighted above.





I would speculate that if (if!) the prop did smack something then it was unlikely to be a modern day item. When the harbour and the approach was dredged all kinds of crap was recovered from the sea bed including WW2 bombs and 100+year old anchors.

As for the fish-finder going mental, previously it wasn't unheard of for the old Townsend Thoresen car ferries to clean their hulls on the way through the harbour mouth. It's not a deep water port.

Again, this is all speculation and essentially making stuff up. It will be interesting to learn what did actually happen.

[ecsrobin]

Simpo Two said:

Back in the day if course, I'm sure many new ships had teething problems. There just wasn't a media and social media to splatter around to the world and make their own side look inept... I don't know why they/we do it.

I suspect it’s because if you don’t report it the next person will so it’s either make money or not. And even if you legislated against military reporting you’d just have groups on Facebook/forums talking about it anyway.

However accidents happen and so does manufacturing issues (as we’re all probably aware) these are basically 2 prototypes how many miles do cars do testing prototypes and then still you see mass recalls and that’s what the average Joe doesn’t understand.

[Condi]

There is also the fact the military are seen, or supposed to be seen, as a very well organised and very efficient machine, and when that breaks down it reminds us that no matter how much money or training sometimes things go wrong.

See, this famous photo;

[OutInTheShed]

Condi said:

There is also the fact the military are seen, or supposed to be seen, as a very well organised and very efficient machine, and when that breaks down it reminds us that no matter how much money or training sometimes things go wrong.

See, this famous photo;

The only thing the armed forces are efficient at is wasting money.

Normally the stuff that they buy which doesn't work is complicated, not easy for the layman civilian to spot the lack of actual required functionality.
This is just the same, just big instead of complex, and the layman can understand that the engine is supposed to make the fan go round, driving the boat forwards.

[OutInTheShed]

Cold said:

....
Again, this is all speculation and essentially making stuff up. It will be interesting to learn what did actually happen.

We will learn what officially happened when someone has made it up.

[Otispunkmeyer]

OutInTheShed said:

We will learn what officially happened when someone has made it up.

Apparently forgot to grease the shaft?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/08/30/hms-pr...

So that'd be wrecked bearings probably?

[RizzoTheRat]

andy97 said:

Reports emerging of a possible propeller strike, and may go to a dry dock in Amsterdam as easier and quicker than going to Rosyth.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-carrier-li...

If its to the navy yard in Amsterdam that's a long way inland so would be an impressive sight to see it sailing in. I'm guessing as she's over the double the displacement of the largest Dutch navy ship (Karel Doorman's under 30,000 tonnes) so maybe not many navy facilities can handle her.

[Southerner]

RizzoTheRat said:

andy97 said:

Reports emerging of a possible propeller strike, and may go to a dry dock in Amsterdam as easier and quicker than going to Rosyth.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-carrier-li...

If its to the navy yard in Amsterdam that's a long way inland so would be an impressive sight to see it sailing in. I'm guessing as she's over the double the displacement of the largest Dutch navy ship (Karel Doorman's under 30,000 tonnes) so maybe not many navy facilities can handle her.

Probably a daft question; could the work be done at a commercial shipyard if it came to it, or are there "rules" that a naval vessel must only go to a naval facility somewhere?

[aeropilot]

Southerner said:

RizzoTheRat said:

andy97 said:

Reports emerging of a possible propeller strike, and may go to a dry dock in Amsterdam as easier and quicker than going to Rosyth.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-carrier-li...

If its to the navy yard in Amsterdam that's a long way inland so would be an impressive sight to see it sailing in. I'm guessing as she's over the double the displacement of the largest Dutch navy ship (Karel Doorman's under 30,000 tonnes) so maybe not many navy facilities can handle her.

Probably a daft question; could the work be done at a commercial shipyard if it came to it, or are there "rules" that a naval vessel must only go to a naval facility somewhere?

If as it would seem now likely, its the shaft due to lack of lube......then Rosyth is really the only option. There is nowhere else big enough that is closer, plus will likely need the team that built it to fix it.
The TV program they did covering the build of them, showed them installing the shafts at the time.......its not going to be a quick fix.

[48k]

RizzoTheRat said:

andy97 said:

Reports emerging of a possible propeller strike, and may go to a dry dock in Amsterdam as easier and quicker than going to Rosyth.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-carrier-li...

If its to the navy yard in Amsterdam that's a long way inland so would be an impressive sight to see it sailing in. I'm guessing as she's over the double the displacement of the largest Dutch navy ship (Karel Doorman's under 30,000 tonnes) so maybe not many navy facilities can handle her.

They'd also have to paint a barcode on the side of the ship so that they can Scandinavian.

[mattyprice4004]

aeropilot said:

If as it would seem now likely, its the shaft due to lack of lube......then Rosyth is really the only option. There is nowhere else big enough that is closer, plus will likely need the team that built it to fix it.
The TV program they did covering the build of them, showed them installing the shafts at the time.......its not going to be a quick fix.

Someone's going to get shafted for that!

[anonymous-user]

48k said:

They'd also have to paint a barcode on the side of the ship so that they can Scandinavian.

so immature

[Collectingbrass]

Southerner said:

RizzoTheRat said:

andy97 said:

Reports emerging of a possible propeller strike, and may go to a dry dock in Amsterdam as easier and quicker than going to Rosyth.

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-carrier-li...

If its to the navy yard in Amsterdam that's a long way inland so would be an impressive sight to see it sailing in. I'm guessing as she's over the double the displacement of the largest Dutch navy ship (Karel Doorman's under 30,000 tonnes) so maybe not many navy facilities can handle her.

Probably a daft question; could the work be done at a commercial shipyard if it came to it, or are there "rules" that a naval vessel must only go to a naval facility somewhere?

A naval dockyard will (should...) have perimeter security and crew rest & admin facilities that a commercial yard (probably) won't.

[eharding]

aeropilot said:

If as it would seem now likely, its the shaft due to lack of lube......then Rosyth is really the only option. There is nowhere else big enough that is closer, plus will likely need the team that built it to fix it.
The TV program they did covering the build of them, showed them installing the shafts at the time.......its not going to be a quick fix.

They're going to need to leave it in the water for a spell anyway, so that whoever was responsible for lubrication of the shaft can be keelhauled...at least twice...lengthways.