I am big on WWI and WWII 1/3000 world navies, from anything that could fight in either, so that includes a few pre-dreadnoughts as well as hypothetical (inter-war) ships and WWII-era ships that were never completed (not quite as crazy as the Z-Plan). My interest in moderns was strictly limited to the Falklands 1982 Campaign, a few cold war US/RN/USSR subs and a US Litoral/Carrier Task Force. Looking at the Navwar listing and I saw that the RN 2026 Fleet listing it was "almost" there. There were the Boomers (4 xV-Class SSBN), Destroyers (6 x T45 - Daring Class) and Frigates (7 x T-23 Duke Class) and things that are "close enough" for the minesweepers (5 x Hunt Class). I was missing the CVs (Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales) and the six Astute Attack Subs. For the former a friend printed for me (two) in resin (aka Black Magic spell that summoned out of the "resin goop") and for the latter I cheated as I made do with some older attack subs - they are supposed to be submerged most of the time anyway (see below, metal ships on cardboard bases [un textured and unpainted] - our "new" Grand Fleet of 2026 - I apologize is this sounds rather ironic):
Note: Since the photograph was taken, one T23 has been decommissioned (HMS Richmond) and another is stripped of its weapons and sensors and is classed as inactive (HMS Iron Duke).
If the above picture looked small, what is a lot smaller is [on a random day of asking] the ships that were at sea or ready for sea duties (as in not in refit or repair) - T45 x 1, V-Boat x 1 [continuous nuclear deterrence patrol], T-23 x 2 and MS x 2 [which I must confess was a guess (40%)]! We seem to have a lot of active admirals and not enough active ships to be honest (see below, the "on-patrol fleet and ready for action fleet" - naturally at the day of asking the CVs must have been "in preparation" for something like an extended cruise):
Ideally we would have one to two of "these" to worry hostile states with (see below, a "RN CV Task Force" consisting of - 1 x CV, 1 x T-23, 1 x T45, 1 x SSN):
Note to Self: I really should try and field Fleet Auxiliaries too, there are not that many either, but that is another resin printer request I think!.
Useful internet Wikipedia pages:
Active RN:
And the future RN?
Active USN:
Active Russian:
Active Chinese:
Active Japanese:
Active French:
Active Italian:
Active German:
Active Spanish:
Active Dutch:
Active Norwegian:
Active Finnish:
Active Danish:
Active Swedish:
Active Portuguese:
4 comments:
Nice job on the carriers! I do find it a tad depressing that the entire current RN would barely amount to a flotilla even as recently as the 1970s. The economics of modern warfare leave me utterly baffled.
I still need to follow through - bases to be textured and painted as well as painting the ships. When I was a Teesside Uni I know the Virtual Reality boyd were working with future ship mock-ups - one of which I think was "an odd looking carrier". I take your point about fleet composition. We seem to ne small and "imperfectly" formed!
Someplace I read that Britain has 40 Admirals. I know some are honorary ranks, but more Admirals than ships? I have been looking at old videos of the 1970's in the UK (I live in the US). It must be hard for people who grew up in that era to see the changes to the proud armed forces.
jhnptrqn: We have 3 full Admirals, 10 Vice Admirals, and 25 Rear Admirals. Yes more Admirals than real ships! Sigh!
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