FRAM more successful?

Kissinger

Banned
How would it be possible to get the Fleet improvement program in the 50s to be more successful which should theoretically allow a Fletcher to make it to the 90s in some 3rd world country
 

sharlin

Banned
The FRAM refits were successful, the Tiwanese Gearing FRAMs lasted into the early 90s, the Fletchers were probably too old and small but the Gearings and Sumners for the most part saw less service and were in better condition.
 

Kissinger

Banned
The FRAM refits were successful, the Tiwanese Gearing FRAMs lasted into the early 90s, the Fletchers were probably too old and small but the Gearings and Sumners for the most part saw less service and were in better condition.

I mean make the drones better and the like. DASH works actually is what I want or too ambitious?
 
Ships have a certain lifespan, otherwise they start to break down and the hull weakens, which is not really very good. Especially given that many of these ships would've had tough wartime/early Cold War lives within the USN.
A ship as thin as a destroyer, well, after 50 years' service you'd not want to hit a storm.

I was under the impression the FRAM vessels were kept largely as carrier and convoy escorts, since most USN funding during the 1950s/60s went to carriers, nuclear cruisers and submarines. So they were pretty much configured for ASW duties in the Atlantic: since they'd be escorts and also had ASROC they didn't really need a helicopter, but a small helicopter like the RN Wasp or the French Alouette would've sufficed better than an experimental weapon. Or go the Canadian route and rip out half the deck to land bigger helicopters.
 

Kissinger

Banned
Ships have a certain lifespan, otherwise they start to break down and the hull weakens, which is not really very good. Especially given that many of these ships would've had tough wartime/early Cold War lives within the USN.
A ship as thin as a destroyer, well, after 50 years' service you'd not want to hit a storm.

I was under the impression the FRAM vessels were kept largely as carrier and convoy escorts, since most USN funding during the 1950s/60s went to carriers, nuclear cruisers and submarines. So they were pretty much configured for ASW duties in the Atlantic: since they'd be escorts and also had ASROC they didn't really need a helicopter, but a small helicopter like the RN Wasp or the French Alouette would've sufficed better than an experimental weapon. Or go the Canadian route and rip out half the deck to land bigger helicopters.

Thank you, that's all I wanted to know. Was GUPPY good though?
 
Thank you, that's all I wanted to know. Was GUPPY good though?

It allowed the US to turn its WW2 era boats into more effective multi-role submarines and keep them viably in service for decades after 1945. Same as the RN did after WW2: streamline them, fit better batteries, snorkels and sensors. Makes them more effective and bridges the gap until new classes can be developed, but you are still stuck with the original hulls.

Pretty much outclassed by the 1960s, however, so were palmed off on Mediterranean NATO allies etc.
 
I've seen a couple of references to the Japanese being able to operate DASH more successfully than the US.

I've seen a few as well- they tend to attribute this to the fact that many of the problems with the US versions had to deal with the remote control system, specifically, since they were rated & intended to drop nuclear depth charges, they were fitted with an extra layer of secure communications links & interlocks considered necessary to provide the security & control considered essential for the use of nukes, but that these extra features were really too much for the electronics used & led to significant number of control failures, leading to the loss of the drones.

On the other hand, as the Japanese didn't have nukes, their DASHes didn't have all those extra secure control features, which made them much more reliable in service, & they only retired it because the cancellation of the US program meant that they would soon run out of spares.

Interestingly, the USN had some success using DASHes stripped of their offensive capabilities & associated control links & fitted with cameras instead as remote recon & spotting platforms in Vietnam.
 
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