The bigger ships may have a Commander as well as the First Lieutenant. XO is an American term, like CIC (Operations Room in RN parlance)
HMS EAGLE in the Falklands
- Thread starter flasheart
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Follow up question is britain capable of building a super carrier and if so what would be likr compared to its american cousins.
If britain goes for a super carrier will more nations invest in super carriers?
If britain goes for a super carrier will more nations invest in super carriers?
I think building one would be doable, but manning/operating it, while still maintaining a balanced navy is another question. Just one American-style super carrier would require more than double the crew of Eagle. A pair of carriers in the range of Eagle/Ark Royal or CVA01/02 (hopefully with a better deck layout and less complicated electronics) would suit Britain well ITTL.
Define "super carrier". Most probably you'll end up with something about the size of the current Queen Elizabeth class or of the 1952 fleet carrier design - going bigger than this adds a lot of infrastructure costs as what the UK already has can't support anything bigger. There is also the question of what you actually want to do with a carrier - "keeping up with the Joneses" isn't a good reason to spend billions.
No.
Yep 'The Commander'. Got my last tour of the Ark book on my lap right now and that's what the lower ranks refer to him as.
Nick P
Donor
The Royal Navy does have Executive Officers or XO on large ships. They are called Number One in practice.
The title is mentioned in Phoenix Squadron by Rowland White so I would assume it was in common use in 1971.
Read "Red Storm Rising"
The damaged USS Nimitiz berths in Portsmouth . . . although this is a fictional account . . . I stand corrected if any posters can tell me otherwise.
"We're heading for Southampton. See if the Brits can fix anything this big."
They never put Nimitz in a dock in Portsmouth in the book. All the damage was at the hangar level and above, so they could work on it tied up to a quay.
King George V graving dock - 1,200ft x 135ft x 50ft, completed 1934 at a cost of more than £2,000,000.
Don't think they would get her through the entrance at Portsmouth, no US CV's or CVN's tie up, they all anchor in the Solent.
Technically being pedantic, Warships tend not to anchor in the Solent, they anchor off Spithead or use Saint Helens Roads,The latter two are the traditional naval anchorages.
Long time since I read it but didn't they fake a list to make her appear more damaged than she was?
Yeah most of the damage was from a superstructure hit, they managed to repair enough to get flight ops going but:
Hid this until the US Pacific fleet could move through the Panama canal and join Nimitz for the strike to liberate Iceland late in the book.
Ah, well, if it's in books it must be true. I only spent the 70s in the Navy, so what would I know?
By the laws of the interwebs a knowledge of pooter games trumps real life knowledge
Obviously, lets dismiss scholarship out of hand.
As for lived experience. @dvyws Age for beauty and all that obviously, I'm happy to bow to you but next time I run into R.Adm Morisetti at the RAC or the In & Out Club would you agree he is an ok source to support/confirm either side (commanding officer HMS Invincible)? He's the only guy I know who ran a big ship. The other top bods I know are all submariners.
This is a conversation I've had before and it ended in stalemate so I would like confirmation one way or another. Because I've seen a number of differing evidence and opinions from primary and secondary sources.
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