Author Topic: RN get's back into the big carrier business  (Read 10244 times)

Offline GTX_Admin

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RN get's back into the big carrier business
« on: July 22, 2012, 04:33:45 AM »
Here's a scenario I was toying with - please feel free to use/adapt or what-ever:

What if after the close call that was the Falkland's War, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agrees with the RN's call for bigger CTOL Carriers (the Invincible Carriers were useful, but limited in capacity/capability).  As a way of getting there fast, she makes use of her close friendship with United States President Ronald Reagan and thus arranges for two Nimitz class CVNs to be acquired by the RN.  The end result of course is that I have an excuse to do a RN FAA Tomcat FA.2 (aka RN F-14D) in this sort of scheme:



Regards,

Greg
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Offline Litvyak

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2012, 04:38:44 AM »
Oh, love it! :D
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Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2012, 04:44:56 AM »
Thanks.  Of course, if someone wants to do an appropriate profile to help crystallise the idea, it would help... ;)
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Offline Litvyak

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2012, 05:54:59 AM »
Wellllll... I maybe could do... :P It'd mean delaying the early (pre-war) Supermarine BC (and other pre-war AltBC) stuff a bit, though! :P
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Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2012, 05:58:13 AM »
Do it! Do it!! Do it!!! >:(

...I am a demanding bastard aren't I? ;D
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Offline ChernayaAkula

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2012, 08:28:19 AM »
With the RN back in the big carrier business, how about giving the Royal Marines their own wings and turning the Invincible-class carriers into Royal Marines air support ships? Royal Marines SHARs with Jaguar/Harrier Gr.3+-style laser/EO nose sensors for improved A2G capabilities?
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Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2012, 10:18:49 AM »
SHARs with GR.3 noses sound great.
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Offline elmayerle

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2012, 12:20:54 PM »
-grin- This ties in with an old idea of mine.  At the time, only the F-14A was available and the conceit is that both the FAA and the Aeronavale acquired them (considering that the F-14 was, by spec, supposed to be able to use any carrier the F-4 could, I could see the French buying them, likely with an ill grace but buying them).  Finding significant problems with the TF30, and not trusting the TF-306 derivative from SNECMA, they work on their own upgrade analogous to the F-14A+/F-14B with an Allison/RR/SNECMA team developing a "Spey 300" building on Allison's afterburning TF41 work and SNECMA's experience with TF30 derivatives and their work on the M53 engine.  The resulting aircraft would be identifiable by exhaust nozzles similar to those on the Mirage 2000.  The two countries could well go in on joint development of other systems and weapons upgrades.  I still intend to do the prototype testbed in "Raspberry Ripple" with FAA markings on one side and Aeronavale markings on the other.

Offline Litvyak

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2012, 12:29:13 PM »
While I'm not as keen on the F-14 as almost everyone else seems to be, that hybrid Raspberry Ripple/Aeronavale scheme sounds like it'd look spectacular!
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Offline Kerick

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2014, 12:13:39 PM »
Didn't the British government consider the Tomcat for long range interceptor duties over the Iceland Gap? If the RN took this over instead of the RAF????

Offline PR19_Kit

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2014, 03:53:48 PM »
Didn't the British government consider the Tomcat for long range interceptor duties over the Iceland Gap? If the RN took this over instead of the RAF????

In WhiffWorld or RW?

I don't think the latter would have been likely, the Tornado F3/tanker combination should have been able to handle that, and did.
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Offline kengeorge

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2014, 09:11:29 AM »
I'd like to pose a question-What was the smallest US carrier to operate the F-14? It's for something I'm trying to whiff up, hopefully to be posted very soon...I have tried Google but not sure where to look, I may have to consult my own library. But if anyone else has an answer...
Thanks in advance,

Ken... 

Offline Silver Fox

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #12 on: January 05, 2014, 09:52:52 AM »
I like it, and a 'Cat in Raspberry Ripple would look great!

There were rumours in military circles that the USN was trying to offload CVN-65 USS Enterprise in the 80's. Canada and the RN were both in the rumours as being the buyer. Enterprise is a unique vessel, not part of any class. How about the RN acquires CVN-65 immediately while license-building a pair of Nimitz derivatives?

Smallest carrier to operate the F-14 seems to be the Forrestal class.

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #13 on: January 05, 2014, 10:44:10 AM »
I'd like to pose a question-What was the smallest US carrier to operate the F-14? It's for something I'm trying to whiff up, hopefully to be posted very soon...I have tried Google but not sure where to look, I may have to consult my own library. But if anyone else has an answer...
Thanks in advance,

Ken... 


USS Forrestal (CV-59) and all carriers built after were able to handle the F-14. 

USS Enterprise (CVN-65) would have been a budget nightmare with eight nuclear reactors to deal with unlike the later USS Nimitz (CVN-68) carriers that have just two nuclear reactors and a bit more economical to operate.  It would have been more practical to go with a conventional oil-fired propulsion for ease of maintenance and personnel manning requirements.  Nuclear propulsion requires much more man power than a conventional propulsion system. 

The last four conventional oil-fired carriers would have been your best choice for use by the RN as all of these carriers had design improvements implemented from lessons learned with the Forrestal class:

USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63)
USS Constellation (CV-64)
USS America (CV-66)
USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67)

« Last Edit: January 05, 2014, 11:01:08 AM by Jeffry Fontaine »
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Offline Silver Fox

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #14 on: January 05, 2014, 12:07:41 PM »
I'm sure that the complexity of the CVN-65 powerplant is one reason that the USN may have been looking to get rid of her. :)

Offline elmayerle

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #15 on: January 05, 2014, 12:24:29 PM »
If memory serves me correctly, wasn't the F-14 required to land on any ship a F-4 could land on, including the modified Midway-class carriers?  Not that they necessarily had the room for many of them.

Offline Cliffy B

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #16 on: January 05, 2014, 12:28:06 PM »
If I remember correctly, it was the cats that prevented the F-14s from flying from the Midways.  They couldn't generate enough speed because they were shorter and Grumman didn't/couldn't make nose wheel extensions like the RN did with the F-4.
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Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #17 on: January 05, 2014, 12:30:55 PM »
What I found on this issue was that the USS Midway and USS Coral Sea could not accommodate the F-14 due to the size and weight of the aircraft.  Both operated F-4 Phantoms until they were replaced by the F-18 until they were decommissioned. 
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Offline elmayerle

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #18 on: January 05, 2014, 12:45:33 PM »
What I found on this issue was that the USS Midway and USS Coral Sea could not accommodate the F-14 due to the size and weight of the aircraft.  Both operated F-4 Phantoms until they were replaced by the F-18 until they were decommissioned.
Okay, then that definitely limits you as to what carriers can operate F-14's.  Too bad the F-18 requirement didn't include being able to land on any carrier that the F-4 could.

Odd thought for the RN staying in the carrier business, what if the A-6's avionics were mated to the Buccaneer airframe with an improved Spey version added (perhaps a cropped TF41 or a cropped Tay turbofan or a dry, higher bypass-ratio, RB.199?).

Offline PR19_Kit

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #19 on: January 05, 2014, 10:14:12 PM »
Why not fit the F-14s with extendable nose legs?
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Kit

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #20 on: January 06, 2014, 02:13:31 AM »
Why not fit the F-14s with extendable nose legs?


My thought exactly…along with some other features used on the Spey F-4s.

A F-14 in RN FAA Scheme and posed in a launch condition with its nose wheel fully extended would be a real looker.

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Offline PR19_Kit

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #21 on: January 06, 2014, 07:38:36 AM »
Hmmm, and I have a couple of F-14s and a Fujimi F-4K with that exact decal scheme too.........  ;)
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Offline Diamondback

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #22 on: January 06, 2014, 09:39:51 AM »
ISTR USS Midway (yes, JUST-missed-WWII CV-41) is the smallest ship to ever trap and cat an F-14... it was an emergency-landing situation, and the Midways were part of the reason the Phantom was kept afloat as long as it was--seems BuAer didn't think they could handle the Ironworks bird for some reason, if I'm remembering the version I heard while touring her right.

Offline Weaver

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Re: RN get's back into the big carrier business
« Reply #23 on: January 06, 2014, 11:24:36 AM »
As a quick and dirty solution, how about the USN transfers the Midway and the Coral Sea to the UK as temporary "capability sustainers" until new RN carriers of similar size can be built? Midway lasted until 1992 in USN service and Coral Sea could probably have done the same, so that gives the UK ten years to buld their replacements. The initial air wings might be raised by the RAF giving the Navy back some F-4Ks and Buccaneers until sufficient F-18s can be delivered to replace them.

A Fleet Air Arm F/A-18C in EDSG over light grey with Skyflash, AIM-9L and Sea Eagles would be interesting.
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