Thread: RAN gets a new ship.....

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Am fascinated about listing "London" as the home port. Have never seen that on a naval ship before.

What will it be renamed?

HMAS Botany Bay?
HMAS Woolloomooloo Bay?
HMAS Port Philip Bay?

why not HMAS LARGS BAY ??(after the FORT LARGS military base and cannons etc in SA built to protect us from those pesky Russians!)

I believe its bad luck to rename a ship..

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Garry

I'm not sure that is true, if you consider the recent scuttling of HMAS Adelaide II, she only lasted in commission for 28 years and on comparitive calculations the Aussie built alternative to HMAS Manoora would only have about 10 years of their commission life left.

Diana

CANBERRA and ADELAIDE are at the bottom due to money not age or condition. Their sacrifice (chosen as they were the two oldest in class) freed up money that paid for the 'upgrade' of the remainder. I served in both reasonably late in their lives and they were both fine ships capable of many more years at sea.

Originally Posted by jc109

CANBERRA and ADELAIDE are at the bottom <snip>

Is it true that the US built ANZAC frigates like Adelaide were not as comfortable for crew than the Aussie built ones? I'm talking about the ability to generate water for showers etc. Or was that the US built DDGs?

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Is it true that the US built ANZAC frigates like Adelaide were not as comfortable for crew than the Aussie built ones? I'm talking about the ability to generate water for showers etc. Or was that the US built DDGs?

The DDGs were old technology and were pretty rudimentary. I would have loved to serve in one but never got the chance. FFGs aren't ANZAC Class (FFH), but OLIVER HAZARD PERRY (Australianised to ADELAIDE) Class, so totally different ships. They're a much older design and yes the creature comforts are lacking compared to ANZACs. To my mind however they're a real warship whereas the ANZACs are a grey cruise ship. And FFGs drive like sports cars, and certainly look the goods. I am a little biased though. The young guys now seem more interested in having internet and Playstation than I ever could have been. They may have longer showers but I never went without until I transferred to submarines, but that's a whole 'nother story.

It's just occurred to me that you may have meant the original US-built FFGs v the later Aust-built versions. In short, no. It's never come up in my time in the RAN and I know a lot of people who've served in both. In fact, it's generally considered that the Aust-built ones were far inferior apart from age and associated condition. We need to face facts. Their ship building industry is a going concern and has been for a very long time. We can't do it better than them no matter how parochial you want to get. The minute we tweak and 'improve' we end up wrecking an otherwise good thing. It's 'jobs for the boys', not 'let's get the best tool for the job at the best price and while we're at it let's make it easily integrated and let's get what the end user needs and the one that saves lives'. Nah, let's pick up some votes in some marginal seats instead.

Sorry, this was about showers wasn't it...

FWIW I think ex-RFA Largs Bay is a good pick-up, and I concur with earlier comments re the MAN/KAN debacle.

Originally Posted by jc109

The DDGs were old technology and were pretty rudimentary. .

The DDG's may seem that way to you, but for someone coming from a Daring [Vampire] to one [Perth], they were a revelation. The accommodation was luxurious in comparison, you actually had lockers big enough to fit your kit in, there was no trouble with water, and , compared to Vampire, the engineering spaces were state of the art.They were our first dedicated missile destroyers, and the 5" gunnery system was spot on [when they worked], as we demonstrated in Vietnam.All three served in Vietnam [along with Vendetta], I had the pleasure of serving on Perth in that conflict, and indeed served on all three DDG's, going to England for the Queens Silver Jubilee on Brisbane, a definite highlight, I still have a copy of the Queens signal to " splice the mainbrace", and believe me, we did! Bob

I read its going to be......

HMAS "MILNE BAY"

All this is extremely interesting but ........Can you fish off it?