Posted on 06/17/2018 1:05:50 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Britain's six Type 45 destroyers, described as the backbone of the Royal Navy, spent 80 per cent of last year in dock.
The ships, costing £1billion each, need a multi-million pound refit after repeatedly breaking down in the Persian Gulf. But the work is not due to start until 2020.
Two of the cutting-edge warships, HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender, did not go to sea at all during 2017 – which had been hailed by officials and ministers as 'the year of the Navy'.
All six warships, which entered service from 2008, were made with an engine system which cuts out in warm seas, leaving sailors stranded for hours in total darkness.
Britain's six Type 45 destroyers, described as the backbone of the Royal Navy, spent 80 per cent of last year in dock
This led to fears that these key vessels – designed to shield the rest of the fleet from air or missile attacks – had become 'sitting ducks'.
HMS Dragon spent 309 days in Portsmouth last year, followed by HMS Daring with 232 days and HMS Diamond with 203.
HMS Duncan spent the most time at sea, but was still in dock for 197 days.
From January to March this year, HMS Daring, HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender have not left port.
Shockingly, engine-makers Rolls-Royce claim the Ministry of Defence did not tell them the 8,000-ton vessels would spend long periods in warm waters so they were not designed to operate in the heat.
Insiders say a shortage of manpower, Christmas leave for sailors and routine maintenance had also been factors that kept the ships at Portsmouth.
Lord West, former head of the Navy, said: 'It is a disgrace that work on these ships has not been done as a matter of urgency.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
“Even Rolls Royce up till 1980 had the Oil Slinger/backwards thread on the Rear Crank Shaft. After that they put a real seal there.”
Rear Main Seals cost about $10 to replace. A heck of a lot of work to access (sometimes, depending on design), but that isn’t an issue in initial design.
Who the hell is making decisions for those clowns?
“In RRs defense, they built the engine to the spec the Royal Navy asked for. When all else fails, read the contract.”
Legally, you can get in trouble by going ‘beyond the contract’, particularly on a government contract. But where I work, we’re informally expected to go beyond the contract, if the requirement is stupid.
Rolls Royce made the engines?
Same company that made the engines for the Boeing 787, which are now acting up as well?
I always carried spare points in the glove box. I did love my MGB tho.
Rolls-Royce gives board seat to largest shareholder ValueAct
“Who the hell is making decisions for those clowns?”
The same fools who basically banned guns and forbade self defense.
They need a crew made up of nothing but mechanics and engineers. Just like when driving a British car...always take a mechanic with you. How did the Germans lose?
When Jaguar moved to switch from 3.8 liters to 4.2, they went cheap and used the same cylinder head. The new block was slightly longer, but they used the old head anyway. Every 4.2 has this defect.
LUCAS. The Prince of darkness.
U.K. Navy - not ready for prime time.
The Brits have always excelled at engineering complex solutions to simple problems.
There needs to be an inquiry concerning the HMS Duncan. It was obviously not built to standards. Or the Captain isn’t a team player.
Eh, still more cost efficient than the Zummwalts and LCS’.
My favorite was their aluminum navy ships. Worked great...until hit with a missile - then it burned itself up.
Something has always been wrong at Rolls Royce. Remember the C-5A.
Also remember that the cars aren't made by Rolls Royce. They are BMWs. (Bentleys are VWs).
Whatever you do, don't put Rolls Royce engines on your planes, and don't put Lucas electrical products on anything.
Overengineering. Panthers and Tigers were better, but the Russians and Americans treated tankers as expendable, and overwhelmed with numbers. The same reason the Chinese could easily defeat the Americans in a head to head conventional war.
Seems to be a lot of problems with naval ships going around Europe, as noted in a previous thread of yours...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3553165/posts
Germans building ships with a permanent list. Who’d ever thunk of that feature?
No, you mean the L-1011.
Carbon fiber blades for the RB-211 series before they were ready for prime time. Required “Plan B” aka titanium blade backup project that bankrupted the company.
Sorry, you are correct. Getting my Lockheed fiascos mixed up this morning.
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