- 10 Nov 2013 14:17
#14328113
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Was looking at a national geographic documentary on the activities of USS Independence and USS Freedom "21st Century Warship", was surprised by the content of the documentary and that the Navy let it surface. They may have blanked out the opp's room screens but more damage was done from the unclassified material, seriously nothing worked!
The ships return to the use of aluminium and appear to be understaffed or "optimally manned", which does not give much confidence as to the survivability of the vessels. The cook/cleaner/medic/other etc. had to race out the kitchen to do a foreign object sweep for a helicopter take off, the vessels are supposed to be fast multiple role vessels but only have the crew for single actions at once.
Though the vessels are very fast and maneuverable the USS Independence was noted as being very unstable due to its trimaran design, the vessel then set off doing a lot of helicopter and underwater vehicle launches which looked like they required a stable platform, the underwater vehicle (especially when combined with water pump propulsion) was a disaster and broke down multiple times and had the most unhelpful deployment and capture mechanism you could imagine. Then the USS Independence had a breakdown of a hydraulic hose (fire concerns in the aluminium hull) causing more issues.
Both vessels appear to be woefully under armed, one 57 mm cannon and a helicopter, the combat module to be tested added ... wait for it ... two 30 mm cannon! They both promptly broke down.
While the cannons on USS Freedom did eventually get going the sensors on the vessels seem paltry, spotted the enemy force at 8 miles and engaged at less than two, you do wonder how realistic that would be against a ship armed with more than just RPG and a machine gun. The ships new 30 mm cannon seemed outclassed by the original 57 mm gun mount which makes you wonder what they bring to the party in the first place? Where are the Griffin missiles, a paltry naval missile (5.5 km range) but at least a missile.
You can see the documentary on youtube.
[youtube]XOAMg1TP7bc[/youtube]
One thing that came though though was the enthusiasm and dedication of the captains and crew, beset by problems you really felt sorry for them by the end of the documentary, if only they had better ships?
The ships return to the use of aluminium and appear to be understaffed or "optimally manned", which does not give much confidence as to the survivability of the vessels. The cook/cleaner/medic/other etc. had to race out the kitchen to do a foreign object sweep for a helicopter take off, the vessels are supposed to be fast multiple role vessels but only have the crew for single actions at once.
Though the vessels are very fast and maneuverable the USS Independence was noted as being very unstable due to its trimaran design, the vessel then set off doing a lot of helicopter and underwater vehicle launches which looked like they required a stable platform, the underwater vehicle (especially when combined with water pump propulsion) was a disaster and broke down multiple times and had the most unhelpful deployment and capture mechanism you could imagine. Then the USS Independence had a breakdown of a hydraulic hose (fire concerns in the aluminium hull) causing more issues.
Both vessels appear to be woefully under armed, one 57 mm cannon and a helicopter, the combat module to be tested added ... wait for it ... two 30 mm cannon! They both promptly broke down.
While the cannons on USS Freedom did eventually get going the sensors on the vessels seem paltry, spotted the enemy force at 8 miles and engaged at less than two, you do wonder how realistic that would be against a ship armed with more than just RPG and a machine gun. The ships new 30 mm cannon seemed outclassed by the original 57 mm gun mount which makes you wonder what they bring to the party in the first place? Where are the Griffin missiles, a paltry naval missile (5.5 km range) but at least a missile.
You can see the documentary on youtube.
[youtube]XOAMg1TP7bc[/youtube]
One thing that came though though was the enthusiasm and dedication of the captains and crew, beset by problems you really felt sorry for them by the end of the documentary, if only they had better ships?
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