Surface Fleet Vessels Flashcards
What is the role of the surface fleet?
The surface fleet is the main presence of the RN. It offers the RN versatility, global presence, and resilience. It allows the RN to protect the nation’s interests, responsing to a spectrum of operations from maritime security to disaster relief.
Seven
Ship Types in the Surface Fleet
- Aircraft Carriers
- Landing Platform Dock Vessels
- Destroyers
- Frigates
- Royal Fleet Auxilliary Vessels
- Survey Vessels
- Patrol and Mine Countermeasures Vessels
Ships, Role, Capabiities
Aircraft Carriers
HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.
The flagships of the RN.
The flight deck and hangar can accommodate any helicopter in the British Military, and will be used to launch the F35 Lightning 2 jets, and American V-22 Ospreys.
Main weaponary is the Phalanx close-in weapon, a radar-controlled Gatling gun (rapid firing) able to engage with targets up to a mile away.
Crowsnest radar is installed, a high power radar with long range air, maritime, and land tracking capabilities.
Landing Platform Dock Vessels (LPDs)
Albion Class - HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark.
‘Amphibious Assualt Ships’/’Littoral Strike’
Their role is to deliver Royal Marines and their equipment ashore by land and sea - boats can be launched from the ‘belly’ of the ship, and assault helicopters from the flight deck.
LPDs can carry 256 troops with their vehicles and supplies, but may swell up to 405 troops.
Equipped with Phalanx close in weaponary and small calibre guns such as the SA80, general purpose machine guns, and 9mm guns. They are not radar controlled like most ships, instead controlled by upper deck gun crews.
Current out of service dates set as 2033/34.
HMS Albion
Landing Platform Dock Vessel.
After 6.5 years as the flagship amphibious vessel, Albion has now returned to Devonport into a state of reduced readiness.
There have been 8 previous ships named HMS Albion, the first launched in 1763 and involved in the American War of Independence (1775-1783).
The third Albion took part in the war of 1812, between the USA and Great Britain, part of the Napoleonic wars (1803 - 1815).
The sixth Albion was launched in 1842 and deployed in the first bombardment of Sebastapol in the Crimean War in 1854 (the final episode of the war before an allied victory).
Destroyers
Six Daring Class Type 45 Destroyers: HMS Daring, Duncan, Diamond, Defender, Dragon, Dauntless.
The backbone of the RN built to suit a huge range of tasks.
Equipped with a Fully Integrated Communications System (FICS45), which includes a METOC system which provides the ship with total awareness of the surrounding environment.
Has a range of weaponary designed for a range of purposes, mostly in the close-up and short-range.
Seagnat decoy system uses radar jamming and deception to protect the destroyer from incoming missiles.
Surface Ship Torpedo Defence System (SSTD) safeguards against waterbourne threats.
Equipped with sonar to detect enemy submarines.
The priciple weapon is the Sea Viper missile system able to track and destroy aerial threats.
HMS Duncan
Type 45 Destroyer launched in 2010.
Ships company is around 200.
The first able to deploy the harpoon missile.
In 2019, Duncan joined the French Aircraft Carrier, Charles DeGaulle as part of carrier strike group GAN19, providing air defence as part of operations against ISIS off Syria. She also performed numerous NATO exercises from humanitarian aid and counter human/arms trafficking, and merchant shipping protection in the Gulf.
In June 2023 HMS Duncan departed on a 6 month mission serving as the flagship of NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 ensuring safety, security an peace across the Mediterranean.
Survey Vessels
Echo Class
HMS Protector is the only ice patrol ship and is deployed for up to 330 days a year - the ships crew undertake exploratory surveys and ensure environmental guidelines in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean are being upheld.
HMS Scott is the only ocean survey vessel and is capable of remaining at sea for up to 300 days a year.
HMS Magpie is the newest hydrographic vessel, replacing HMS Gleaner in 2018. Her company is 9 personnel and conducts data gathering to support the Defence Hydrographic Programme. She is also involved in the testing of autonomous and remote systems.
Designed to gather data and translate this into charts that allow safe passage for mariners across the globe.
Equipped with a hull-mounted multi-beam echo sounder, used by hydrographic surveyors to determine the depth of water and nature of the sea bed.
Frigates
Built for submarine hunting, the frigate is the workhouse of the RN.
* The Inspiration Class (Type 31) is the most recent, with HMS Venturer due to enter service in 2025. All 5 (Venturer, Active, Formidable, Bulldog, Campbeltown) should enter by 2030. They are a general purpose frigates aimed at critical security tasks, freeing up specialised capabilities for other roles.
* 12 Duke Class (Type 23) were built to deal with the Soviet submarine threat - since the fall of communism in the 1990s they have been used as versatile ships forming the core of the front-line fleet. They carry small calibre guns, the harpoon long-range anti-ship missile, Mk8 gun (heavy extended range firepower) and the Sea Ceptor guided missile. Ships include HMS Lancaster and Argyll.
* City Class (Type 26) are being launched to replace the Type 23 as the general workhouses and to protect the Aircraft Carriers. There will be 8 in the fleet, the first of which will be HMS Glasgow due to enter service in the mid-2020s.
Type 31 Frigate Capabilities
- Two types of Bofors Gun (57mm and 40mm), an anti-aircraft autocannon.
- Seaceptor missile system - capable against airbourne threats as well as small water-based attacks.
- 4D air and surface surveillance and target indication radar.
- Boat Bay for launching the PAC-24 boat (small, fast, rigid inflatable boat) to support anti-narcotics and anti-piracy operations.
- Capable of operating with a Merlin or Wildcat helicopter.
RFA Vessels
The support team.
* Wave Class - Fast Fleet double hulled tanker designed to support naval ships, capable of delivering fuel through RAS.
* Tide Class - Fast Fleet tanker introduced in 2017 to replace the single hulled tankers, committed to RAS.
* Bay Class - Amphibious Landship ship able to offload troops and vehicles from ship to shore using landing craft utility vessels.
* Casualty Ship - RFA Argus is fully equipped with a 100 bed hospital and 4 bay operating theatre. Her secondary role is to provide aviation training facilities. She is fitted with self-defence weaponary and consequently cannot under the Geneva Convention be classified as a hospital ship and display the Red Cross.
* MROS (Multi-Role Oceanographic Survey) - RFA Proteus is the UK’s first ship dedicated to safeguarding vital seabed telecommunications cables and oil and gas pipelines, countering seabed warfare. The ship features a moon pool, a large access hull through which robot submersibles can be launched
Patrol and Mine Countermeasures Vessels
A fast and specialised fleet of ships.
* Hunt Class - 6 mine countermeasure vessels specialised in using high definition sonar to hunt for mines and lost explosives on the seabed, clearing the way for larger vessels, which are then destroyed by the ship’s clearance diving teams or SeaFox Mine Disposal system. They has a reinforced glass hull to conceal their presence from sea mines.
* Sandown Class - 13 mine countermeasure vessels based in Scotland, deploying in the Northern gulf to clear the British coastline of old ordnance.
* Scimitar Class - fast patrol boats operating from Gibraltar, able to operate in ports and confined waters. They conduct several roles including Maritime Security, supporting NATO operations, protecting the nuclear fleet, and support the training of warfare officers.
* River Class - offshore patrol vessel performs constabulory duties including protecting fishing stocks, and safeguarding territorial waters. E.g. HMS Mersey is almost continuously deployed and in 2022 was tasked on multiple occassions with monitoring and tracking Russian warships through the Channel.
* Archer Class - fast patrol boat. 16 in fleet, largely used for training with URNUs, and performing similar roles to the Scimitar class.
