• Battle stations! Navy scrambles destroyer to challenge Russian warship off British coast - Takes 24
    41 replies, posted
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;43429559]Well it's not like we need a big powerful navy anymore. We should have realized this the day the first guy flew over the channel.[/QUOTE] Merchant ships - overrated, if you ask me!
[QUOTE=Riller;43424757]I love when Russia pulls shit like this. Like when they decided to fly a Bear loaded for-.. Well, bear, over Sweden. All the Swedish air force pilots were off duty due to a national holiday, so they had to ask us to intercept :v:[/QUOTE] I hear they do this alot in Alaska, flying into U.S airspace and turning around when the interceptors come.
Not about the new ships, but still funny: [video=youtube;t0jgZKV4N_A]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0jgZKV4N_A[/video]
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;43429559]Well it's not like we need a big powerful navy anymore. We should have realized this the day the first guy flew over the channel.[/QUOTE] What an incredibly ignorant thing to say, the majority of the planet's surface is covered by water and huge volumes of civilian trade are conducted over the seas. Being able to protect those assets and project force en masse anywhere in the world in short order is impossible through air power alone. The sheer cargo carrying capacity of an entire squadron of RAAF C-17s is moot compared to that of a naval vessel. If it weren't for the power of the Royal Navy in the past century England would probably be a very different place.
And suddenly MW2's plot doesn't seem too crazy.
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;43429559]Well it's not like we need a big powerful navy anymore. We should have realized this the day the first guy flew over the channel.[/QUOTE] the royal navy was one of the main reasons Germany didn't invade Britain during WW2 For an island nation, having a strong navy is equally if not more important than having a strong army
[QUOTE=mastermaul;43431983]What an incredibly ignorant thing to say, the majority of the planet's surface is covered by water and huge volumes of civilian trade are conducted over the seas. Being able to protect those assets and project force en masse anywhere in the world in short order is impossible through air power alone. The sheer cargo carrying capacity of an entire squadron of RAAF C-17s is moot compared to that of a naval vessel. If it weren't for the power of the Royal Navy in the past century England would probably be a very different place.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Bumgall;43432078]the royal navy was one of the main reasons Germany didn't invade Britain during WW2 For an island nation, having a strong navy is equally if not more important than having a strong army[/QUOTE] Last I checked, Germany wasn't planning an invasion any time soon, nor any other nation relatively close by. Just because the UK needed a navy in the 1940s doesn't mean shit to whether it's needed today or not. And the fact is, a big UK navy is extremely unnecessary. You don't have to protect your tiny island from a sea invasion any longer. [QUOTE=Thomo_UK;43431626]That was in 1909. I'm glad they never took your advice because two world wars and our naval was vital then and still is now.[/QUOTE] Aircraft in 1909 were nothing like they are today, what an ignorant comparison. There are aircraft that can drop troops over the UK without the navy being bothered at all. If the UK needs some kind of naval vessel to protect it, it's going to be an aircraft carrier at best. And even then, that's really unneeded given that there are airfields throughout the UK. Airplanes made navies obsolete, more or less. Navies today are organized around carriers - things that launch airplanes around.
[QUOTE=greendevil;43429441]Honestly i can't see the UK being involved in a major war anytime in the near(ish) future at all[/QUOTE] Maybe, but it still pays to be prepared.
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;43432244]Maybe, but it still pays to be prepared.[/QUOTE] There will not be a war any time soon involving the UK that would require them to have a major naval force. Toxx me on that, forever. At best, an extremely small fleet designed only to fight off pirates in those parts of the world.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;43432263]There will not be a war any time soon involving the UK that would require them to have a major naval force. Toxx me on that, forever. At best, an extremely small fleet designed only to fight off pirates in those parts of the world.[/QUOTE] When it comes to the prospect of war, never gamble that it won't occur. Nations all throughout history have fallen into that trap, and all that remains of them now is dust and empty ruins.
[QUOTE=mastermaul;43431983]What an incredibly ignorant thing to say, the majority of the planet's surface is covered by water and huge volumes of civilian trade are conducted over the seas. Being able to protect those assets and project force en masse anywhere in the world in short order is impossible through air power alone. The sheer cargo carrying capacity of an entire squadron of RAAF C-17s is moot compared to that of a naval vessel. If it weren't for the power of the Royal Navy in the past century England would probably be a very different place.[/QUOTE] While incredibly dismissive of our naval achievements in the past he's not wrong, in this day and age fighting ships are no longer the force they once were, the move away from battleships to aircraft carriers proves this. That does not make a navy useless, but that does mean it doesn't need to be 1000's strong. The US for example went from 6000 vessels by the end of ww2 to about 1000 in 1950, today you have around 300. Today we have about 100. We don't need a massive navy and i sure as shit wouldn't want to be paying for one either.
[QUOTE=Fr3ddi3;43432406]While incredibly dismissive of our naval achievements in the past he's not wrong, in this day and age fighting ships are no longer the force they once were, the move away from battleships to aircraft carriers proves this. That does not make a navy useless, but that does mean it doesn't need to be 1000's strong. The US for example went from 6000 vessels by the end of ww2 to about 1000 in 1950, today you have around 300. Today we have about 100. We don't need a massive navy and i sure as shit wouldn't want to be paying for one either.[/QUOTE] Tonnage is a more accurate measure of naval power than number of vessels. USN is about 3,400,000t. Royal Navy is about 380,000t.
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