USS Harry S Truman in town

[Cold]

Another Nimitz class ship has been visiting Portsmouth over the past weekend and parked up in the usual Stokes Bay spot on Saturday morning. So I went on a little boat trip this afternoon just because it was a sunny day.

Lots of kit and equipment positioned up on deck which must give them a good opportunity to sweep the hangars while she's at anchor and about five or six police launches keeping the exclusion zone in place.
The Blue Funnel boats have been doing the liberty runs all weekend depositing the lucky crew members ashore where some have taken advantage of their free time to visit London, Stonehenge or a footie (soccer!) match.
As usual, the American visitors have been affable, cheerful and interested in the country and local area they're visiting. I understand one or two may have wanted to sample the delights of a Brit pub, although I don't believe the local paper has published any mugshots as yet.


Anyway, some grainy phone pics for your eyeballs:

[Hard-Drive]

I went out in my boat last year to look at the Ronald Reagan. The size of these things is staggering. Turning out of Portsmouth Harbour the top of the bridge was immediately visible above Fort Gilkicker. Immense bits of kit.

[ecsrobin]

An excuse to post some images from last year.







Clearing the hangar is useful for hosting local dignitaries.

[Blib]

Is this class far larger than our two new carriers?

[Wobbegong]

Blib said:

Is this class far larger than our two new carriers?

https://www.forces.net/news/tri-service/how-does-it-size-big-stick-vs-best-british

We’re slightly smaller, but bigger than the French which is all that matters

[Blib]

Thanks for that.

Your comment reminded me of my history teacher who told us that we were armed with nuclear weapons to defend ourselves against the French.

[mgreenwood]

Didn't get to see it sadly (have been up close to a Nimitz class carrier in San Diego though) Did go past RAF Lakenheath yesterday and caught some of the Truman's F-18's which were deployed there (as well as some F-15's and F-22's)

[Cold]

Wobbegong said:

Blib said:

Is this class far larger than our two new carriers?

https://www.forces.net/news/tri-service/how-does-it-size-big-stick-vs-best-british

We’re slightly smaller, but bigger than the French which is all that matters

Sacking Calais and Honfleur aside (both of which should probably be considered at some point in the future), although the Nimitz class are slightly bigger it's the requirement for personnel where the HMS Qnlz comes into its own. She can be operational with as few as approximately 800 servicemen and women which of course means far fewer of our forces are exposed to risk of harm than the only slightly bigger Nimitz.

There's also the slight issue of disposing of a Nimitz carrier at the end of its life. It's very costly and time consuming to get rid of the grubby bits from one of them.

[super7]

Cold said:

The Blue Funnel boats have been doing the liberty runs all weekend depositing the lucky crew members ashore where some have taken advantage of their free time to visit London, Stonehenge or a footie (soccer!) match.

I wonder if any of them have gone to see Salisbury Cathedral? Has a magnificient Spire apparently..... a global tourist attraction!

[Dr Jekyll]

super7 said:

I wonder if any of them have gone to see Salisbury Cathedral? Has a magnificient Spire apparently..... a global tourist attraction!

A tall storey.

[aeropilot]

brickwall said:

I had heard that the yanks were very impressed/interested in the QE class from a financial standpoint. They cost 1/3rd of the Nimitz to buy and operate - for a carrier which is undoubtedly more than 1/3rd of the capability.

Can't see that.

US carriers are nuc powered for a start which is why they are much more expensive to build, plus they have a much bigger crew as they need it to operate the much bigger airwing, that also needs cats n traps (not in QE build)

You could argue it the other way, what does QE offer for the extra money compared with the Wasp class USMC ships that will operate their F-35 and offer much more amphibious capability?

[Gandahar]

brickwall said:

Cold said:

Wobbegong said:

Blib said:

Is this class far larger than our two new carriers?

https://www.forces.net/news/tri-service/how-does-it-size-big-stick-vs-best-british

We’re slightly smaller, but bigger than the French which is all that matters

Sacking Calais and Honfleur aside (both of which should probably be considered at some point in the future), although the Nimitz class are slightly bigger it's the requirement for personnel where the HMS Qnlz comes into its own. She can be operational with as few as approximately 800 servicemen and women which of course means far fewer of our forces are exposed to risk of harm than the only slightly bigger Nimitz.

There's also the slight issue of disposing of a Nimitz carrier at the end of its life. It's very costly and time consuming to get rid of the grubby bits from one of them.

I had heard that the yanks were very impressed/interested in the QE class from a financial standpoint. They cost 1/3rd of the Nimitz to buy and operate - for a carrier which is undoubtedly more than 1/3rd of the capability.

No

The USA has amphibious assault carriers such as the USS Essex that cost a lot less and have also already done combat missions with F35. And they are better equipped for landing expeditionary forces like in the Falklands, that is a better comparison, their marine carriers, not their huge nuclear Navy carriers.

We should have just have ordered 2 America class assault carrier craft from them and saved a lot of money and be better fit for purpose.

USA doing marine F35 strikes already, where are we doing it our own way?

Edited by Gandahar on Thursday 11th October 22:37

[Gandahar]

aeropilot said:

You could argue it the other way, what does QE offer for the extra money compared with the Wasp class USMC ships that will operate their F-35 and offer much more amphibious capability?

Exactly

Our Britannia rules the waves carriers are so fecking dumb as a willy waving exercise routed in 1914-1918

[Wacky Racer]

super7 said:

Cold said:

The Blue Funnel boats have been doing the liberty runs all weekend depositing the lucky crew members ashore where some have taken advantage of their free time to visit London, Stonehenge or a footie (soccer!) match.

I wonder if any of them have gone to see Salisbury Cathedral? Has a magnificient Spire apparently..... a global tourist attraction!

[captain_cynic]

aeropilot said:

brickwall said:

I had heard that the yanks were very impressed/interested in the QE class from a financial standpoint. They cost 1/3rd of the Nimitz to buy and operate - for a carrier which is undoubtedly more than 1/3rd of the capability.

Can't see that.

US carriers are nuc powered for a start which is why they are much more expensive to build, plus they have a much bigger crew as they need it to operate the much bigger airwing, that also needs cats n traps (not in QE build)

You could argue it the other way, what does QE offer for the extra money compared with the Wasp class USMC ships that will operate their F-35 and offer much more amphibious capability?

The Nimitz class is also old, I have to wonder how they QE class stacks up against the new Gerald R. Ford class replacing the Nimitz. Probably still going to be cheaper considering the US are still using nukes.

[donutsina911]

Gandahar said:

Exactly

Our Britannia rules the waves carriers are so fecking dumb as a willy waving exercise routed in 1914-1918

I’ll bite. Why so?

[ApOrbital]

Vlad is not happy with it being near Norway.

[Cold]

ApOrbital said:

Vlad is not happy with it being near Norway.

I think that's a reason why it's there. In fact the whole NATO Trident Juncture exercise may well be to remind Uncle Vlad that they exist - while he carries on with his testing of his loud weapons.

[Teddy Lop]

Where's the rest of the carrier group? I thought the yank carriers never go anywhere without close protection, practically a ring of steel support vessels?

[ecsrobin]

She was sailing with at least 3 other vessels in convoy. There were a few mores in Portsmouth during her stay.