(above) An artist's impression of the next generation of Royal navy frigates.

I remember hearing about this new thinking behind warship design some years ago, but I didn't realise how far along the project had come.

The Triton Trimaran Research ship is a two-thirds scale technology demonstrator for the Royal Navy's Future Surface Combatant (FSC) frigate requirement, due to enter service from 2013 and replace the Type 23 frigates. The design and manufacture of a large seagoing demonstrator vessel, which will be used to qualify the structural and seakeeping performance of the Trimaran, is being funded by Britain's largest independent science and technology company, QinetiQ.



(above) Triton Trimaran Research ship

http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/trimaran/

Ships well become useless once we invent a intercontinental fighter

Kinda like the F-117 Sea shadow

I think stealth is the way to go for future ships.

The americans, No one says I support them but we DO have the most strategetic postion possible wich I think all of our species is bound to "implode" in a sense anyway

*checks again to see if this topic has been posted in the `Space, Technology and the Universe' section*

*is relieved to find it has been*

The Swedish Navy is testing out a new ship which is believed to be the most "invisible" yet. The Royal Navy and the US Navy both have plans of their own for similarly futuristic "stealth" ships.

The first Visby corvette, designed by the Swedish shipbuilders Kockums and built at their Karlskrona yard, has just completed sea trials with the Royal Swedish Navy. It will come into service in January and will be followed by four more.

American designers are working on the US Navy's own fleet of stealth ships, the DD(X) destroyer, which is due to enter service in 2011.


Artist's impression of the DD(X)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3724219.stm to read the full article.


The Swedish Navy's Visby

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/3770969.stm for more pictures.

Very close to my heart this one as I used to be a matelot. The MV Triton was finished with by the RN a couple of years ago! and is now, if i remember rightly, some sort of civil service oceanography vessell.

This is our new compact destroyer.....which is approved and being built as we speak. Will have the speed, agility and hunting abilities of a frigate with the firepower of a destroyer and also incorporates elements of stealth i.e. No external right angles or straight lines and Radar absorbing paint!




From what i been hearing the US stealth ship is a bit of a white elephant and waste of cash - can't do anything that a current hunter killer nuke can't do.

Yes mate it makes a nice change to see the ship put to use, our MoD usually lets things like this rot in Pounds Yard (portsmouth) after spending 100's of millions! and then deciding it's not for them. When I was in the Navy a whole new class of Conv. powered patrol subs were planned and built, the 'UPHOLDER' class, these were in service with the RN, oh for about a year. After which they were sold on in a lease deal to Canada and Aus for about 1/100th of the build price - ABSOLUTELY CRAZY, can't remember the exact figures and explanations etc but I sure as hell will try to find out



CS VICTORIA - formerly HMS UNSEEN and the biggest white elephant the MoD has ever been a part of.

Found it. Historical Facts:

The need for a new class of conventional submarine to replace the ageing Oberon class was made public in 1979, when the Type 2400 design was revealed.

Their operational role was reconnaissance in waters to shallow for SSN's , and to provide training. The initial requirement for twelve boats was cut to ten, and then the 1990 - 91 Defence Review cut the class to four. The cost of the four boats was £620 million (1987).

By this time, the Cold War was over, and their recon role was no longer needed, and in the hard financial climate of the day, it was decided that the Submarine Branch should be all nuclear. These fine boats were taken out of service in 1994, and laid up in Barrow Docks in the hope of finding a buyer.

Eventually, on July 2nd 1998, an agreement was reached between the governments of Great Britain and Canada for the lease and support of the four boats for a period of eight years at a cost of £254 million, with an option to purchase at a later date. The four boats have been successfully refitted and recommissioned into the Royal Canadian Navy as:

Upholder - Chicoutinu
Unseen - Victoria
Ursula - Corner Brook
Unicorn - Windsor


These boats went into service in 1993 and wer laid up in 1994. So now you know why UK is so skint and all our taxes keep going up.

source - submarine heritage.

Jimma, that's a shocker.

It's such a farce, it would be amusing, if only it wasn't so bloody sickening.

Canadian navy bought those four submarines from UK,and now they are constantly being repaired for leaks, broken pipes malfunctioning equipment etc.
Canada should buy German ,Swedish or Dutch subs instead of this British junk.

Caveat emptor.

Supercavitating submarine fighters will win the future battles... think about, an ultra-sonic submarine fighters!

And here's some info about the supercavitating torpedo of the Russians (the west don't have those yet):

The Shkval (Squall) is the revolutionary new breed of torpedo in use by Russian Naval forces.

The Shkval is the first use of supercavitational technology in modern weapons and represents perhaps the largest leap forward in underwater warfare since the invention of the submarine itself.

Launched from Bars (Akula) and Antyey (Oscar) class submarines, Shkval torpedoes travel at over five times the speed of conventional torpedoes. Propelled forward by a rocket engine, there are no countermeasures or defenses which can stop the Shkval.

Research on developing a self propelled supercavitational projectile began in the early 1960’s at the Ukrainian Institute of Hydromechanics. It took over a decade for the fundamental problems to be solved, during which time, the sound barrier is believed to have been first broken underwater. The research led to the construction of underwater supercavitating rifles for use by elite Russian Spetznaz troops, and in the mid 1970's to the creation of the world’s first supercavitating torpedo.



First appearing in 1977, the original VA-111 Shkval is some 26 ft (8 m) long and is thought to have a range of around 5 miles (8 kms). Believed by some to be unguided, sources differ on whether the torpedo is nuclear capable. The Shkval is propelled forward by a solid rocket motor. Traveling at over 300 mph (500km/h) the Shkval is so fast that (despite being equipped with one) it does not even require a warhead! Its sheer mass and velocity is enough to sink an opposing submarine.

Development of the Shkval has continued through the 1980’s and 1990’s to the present day. Very little information is available about the Shkval II, the existence of which was made public by the Russian government in 1998. Rumours state a top speed of possibly 450+ mph (720 kph/h) and a vastly improved range, believed by some to be in the region of 60+ miles (100 km). The fact that the Shkval II is guided renders it vastly superior to the original Shkval. The Shkval II is thought to be able to supercavitate, then if need be slow down and reacquire its target, before speeding up and homing in for the kill. Yet newer techniques developed by Ukrainian scientists are believed to offer the possibility for high speed supercav guidance and maneuvering.

The Russian Navy has always pursued a different approach to the United States ‘run silent, run deep’ philosophy on submarine warfare. Placing more emphasis on speed rather than silence, it appears the Russians may have backed the winning horse.

Picture this scenario... A Los Angeles class and a Russian Akula Class submarine hunt each other. The Los Angeles is first to fire, releasing a conventional Mark 48 torpedo into the water. Upon launch of the Mark 48 a retaliatory VA-111 Shkval is fired down the trajectory of the incoming torpedo, straight at the Los Angeles class, forcing it to maneuver and thus cut the guidance wire to its own fish! Furthermore, the close range of modern submarine engagements would in all likelihood result in the Los Angeles class being incapable of maneuvering out of the path of the Shvkal in the fleeting few seconds between launch and impact.
The Shkval



Because of this ability the Shkval has often been classed as a defensive weapon, used to protect against the Russians inability to run as silent as opposing submarines. Such ideas, however, have been put to rest with the creation of the Shkval II and further guided variants.

With their longer ranger, the Shkval II and newer variants could potentially be launched at a distance of over 60 miles, and home in on their target, with no countermeasures available. As such, a single nuclear equipped Shkval could take out a carrier battle group whilst sitting tens of miles away.

Little is known of current Russian Shkval projects, other than the amazing potential which supercavitational projectiles hold. The capacity to create a supercavitating torpedo/rocket which would race towards a target underwater and then become airborne once nearing a coastline would render any kind of anti ballistic missile shield useless.

The Russian Navy is the primary user of the Shkval. A downgraded Shkval, the Shkval-E went to an international arms fairs in 1995, and both China, Iran and France have been known to have acquired limited numbers of Shkvals. The Russian press has claimed that the technology of the Shkval cannot be reverse-engineered and thus the Russian Navy is marketing the export variant aggressively.

The Shkval rocket torpedo represents the first step in the underwater revolution which is fast approaching. As funds pour into supercavitational research around the world it becomes more and more clear that control of supercavitation will soon equate to control of the seas.

That's an interesting choice of reference. An animated kiddies TV show, called 'Deep Angel.'

I actually wasn't aware that there was such a show... I though it's a futuristic computer game....

Anyway, if you want info from another source, here it is:

http://www.periscope.ucg.com/mdb-smpl/weap.../w0004768.shtml

simply put, they will be smaller, unmanned, and more dangerous in the smaller populated armies like Europe and N. America. Elsewhere humans will be carrying similar smaller and deadlier weapons. The capacity of destruction per soldier just continues to rise, no matter what type of soldier.

Generally speaking, technological advances not always succeed in the batlefield. Good ideas in the drawing board, end up in junk. Speaking of submarines, there was a british design on WWI years (a V class, I think) that was designed to have a surface speed of 24 knots, an amazing achievment for the time. Well, it was so big and clumsy, that it proved inefficient. History is full of similar examples, where whole bunch of funds is wasted on junk...

Not to mention the money spent on projects like B1-B bomber or the B-2 Stealth Bomber.. In the end, 1st one is practically put on reserve as the B-52s (of which first models flew 40 yrs ago) are doing their job better. As for the B-2, after endless tests, billions of $, etc, the service number is...20.

Btw, the submarine I was reffering to before was actually the K-11...

It seems like these world powers are just asking for a World War 3 with all these new designs for these massive weapons--well it's pretty much what these ships are meant to hold.

Unless they are preparing for some intergalactic war, that aliens have tipped us on... ...might just be my imagination.

Other than that they know a World War 3 is enivitable and are just preparing for it...

I wouldn't worry about it too much. The ships are standard surface fleet, but are being developed for the near future. Their role appears to be the same as now.

The frigates as escort ships, the aircraft carrier for doing what the current lot do...carrying aircraft.