Shipbucket

Interesting. The venerable County resurfaces again; but I'd querry having DASH and Ikara together, the former being redundant with the latter

@klagldsf: The same reason they stayed around on RN destroyers so long. Engaging surface ships that well-outmatch them and whatever they are escorting. The same sort of general worry of running into a Sverdlov gunning for your convoy without friendly attack aircraft of your own overhead that gave the Royal Navy such heartburn.

@Portsmouth Bill: I direct your attention to the thread on the old board where this exact issue has already been discussed.

Yeah I brought it up on the old board too. I do recall the Perths having Ikara in lieu of a helicopter (which is what they really wanted), but DASH still brings a lot of flexibility. Ikara gives the ship a "direct attack" ability.


Really though, I kinda wondered what'll happened if they turned the Ikara into a full drone instead of just a rocket-powered body for a torpedo.

DASH and Ikara or DASH and ASROC? the USN had both DASH and a stand-off ASW weapon (ASROC) on most of the escorts on the 1960's, examples bein FRAM Gearings, Knox class, and so oi isn't such a bad thing. The rason being that it was considered unlikely for the drones to operate in severe weather, hence the rocket laubnched torpedoes. As it happened the uSN considered the DASH an unmitigated disaster and was left with ASROC only. The RN and in fact the RCN went the other way and opted for a manned helocopter, the RN the FAiry Ultra-light (which became the Wasp) and RCN first used the S-55 (RN Whirlwind) and later gone for the biggest size then, the Seaking. Both navies had no rocket-launched torpedoes, though the RN did in fact used Ikara for a shoort time (1970's to 1980's).

HIMS Empress Amarina the Great

One of four ships in the class, these were the end result of a long string of disastrous projects and false starts by the Californian Navy. The first ship entered service in 2007, replacing her namesake after sixty-one years of front-line duty. Equipped with a full self-defence suite for their own protection, as well as appearing as one of their escorts on an ESM sensor, the ships came in almost 25% over-budget and a decade late, though this time, there was no way to cancel the project, as their old carriers were no longer capable of soldiering on.

Operates:
60 Fighter-bombers (Normal 48)
4 AEW aircraft
2 COD aircraft
3 SAR helicopters

Approximately 85,000 tons fully loaded. ~30 knots with 4 x LM6000 gas turbines in a COGAS integrated electric power arrangement. An additional eight diesel generators provide auxiliary power, as well as taking on power loads when catapults are in operation and drawing steam.

That is one hell of carrier.

Can't wait to see what's next!

Edit: This is to say also that the SAMs, ABMs and VLAs will restrict flight opps, but if your carriers are that much over budget already, there is a cert an logic in giving them a very strong self defense capabilities set.

Changing things up a bit, the Naval Auxiliary Coastal Patrol serves as the "active" branch of the sprawling organization of the Imperial Naval Auxiliary And Reserve, serving on oceanic border patrol maritime law enforcement, and most importantly in the case of the islands, providing the sight of one of Her Majesty's ships on a semi-regular basis. In peacetime, the ships are painted in an eye-catchingly bold scheme, though would adopt the light gray of the rest of the navy in the event of war or tension requiring them to ship their full compliment of weapons.

Below is one of their ship classes, the Bunthanbongs, a medium endurance patrol vessel. They are shown with the full-sized Chinook helicopters that they struggle to operate, as of 2008, the NH90 was being investigated to provide a platform more suitable for operations from such a small ship. It is this class, one of the most numerous in the force, that has been known to fill illegal fishing boats with dread, as when they do manage to get their massive birds aloft, no guilty trawler yet pursued has successfully escaped being sent to a prize court.

I really question the ability for a Chinook to operate at all, even struggling,

What does the Chinook offer over say a Lynx or a SeaKing, when your main mission is catching illegal fishing boats? Heck, the Allouette III should be sufficient.

Thiel wrote:What does the Chinook offer over say a Lynx or a SeaKing, when your main mission is catching illegal fishing boats? Heck, the Allouette III should be sufficient.

1. Commonality.
2. Improved performance envelope.
   1. Longer Range.
   2. Larger Loads.
   3. Higher stability in poor weather

But as Voyager said, they are being phased out for smaller NH90s.

This is one of the things that sets California apart from a lot of AUs - there are in universe mistakes made, that result in the need for fixes down the line.