HMS Northumberland led a multi-national task group in the High North, operating in conjunction with partners from the Royal Norwegian and United States Navies.
The task group consisted of Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA Tideforce, Norwegian frigate HNoMS Otto Sverdrup, and United States Navy destroyer USS Thomas Hudner.
This engagement followed combined exercises with USN’s Carrier Strike Group 12, aimed at fostering mutual understanding and knowledge sharing between NATO allies.
The Royal Navy’s operations in the Arctic are not new, with multiple deployments to the region carried out by Royal Navy warships, such as HMS Kent in April and Northumberland in September of the previous year.
The Arctic environment poses unique challenges, including strict adherence to the Polar Code, the potential risk of sheet ice, and the presence of permanent daylight due to the sun never setting at high latitudes during this time of year.
Throughout the operation, the ships participated in joint exercises involving their helicopters, including Northumberland’s Merlin Mk2 and USS Thomas Hudner’s MH-60 Seahawk. The task group also accomplished several replenishment serials with Tideforce and conducted a coordinated manoeuvring exercise to further develop allied expertise and air-maritime integration.
If we are operating in the Arctic, I do think our ships should be built with thicker gauge steel to withstand ice. There is a cost involved but the one noticeable thing is how much work has had to be put into replating the type 23 frigates with their SLEP refits.
It needs a lot more than thicker gague steel.
As you increase hull mass the strength of the ship to resist hogging and sagging in high sea states has to increase dramatically.
Ships have to be very big as the penalties from thicker structural components are significant in reducing space.
If you want an icebreaker buy an icebreaker just don’t pretend an ASW or GP frigate will ever be an icebreaker.
Very true. If you want to pull a dray wagon your starting point is not beefing up a derby winner. Truth be to tell these ships were never going to visit serious ice.
The cost of the steel is a small but significant fraction of the cost of the ship. RN ships have a citadel amidships in which deck crew can shelter when in action, usually a couple of inches thick but the steel making up the hull is so thin you can see the honeycomb behind it
The main cost of RN ships is the armament, electronics, engines/turbines/propulsion, radars and helicopters. I would guess the hull was only about 15%. To strengthen in sufficiently to operate safely in Arctic ice would not put much additional cost on the ship
RN ships are armoured with composites. I’m not going into details. The composites were shown in shots of QEC and POW in various pieces and films.
The citadel referred to NBC precautions as ventilation systems were more limited in the Counties and early Cold War classes.
There are better ways to protect things than steel plate which is little use against most projectiles.
“the steel making up the hull is so thin you can see the honeycomb behind it”. While not necessarily what you meant, I noticed & wondered about that effect on many ships, assuming it was the result of heavy seas impacting the hull. I was put straight on a shipyard some years ago when it was explained to me as nothing to do with heavy seas, but a result of the heat along the welds as the plating is welded to the frames, leading to deformation of the hull plate. This is usually reduced by heating with an acetylene torch later, but not always & not necessarily completely.
For a start the steel is tempered (heat treated) as part of the production process. This is why cold techniques of cutting it are preferred.
In some cases it is hot cut and then re tempered.
The other reason for water jet or plasma cutting is that the pre coated steel isn’t messed up.
Cutting plate with a gas axe as per some recent MOD videos us purely to generate showers of sparks for show.
With proper welding in a controlled environment this should be mitigated as there will be a maximum temperature allowed to the plate.
The idea of waving a gas axe around to relieve plate stress is quite quaint and might have been done up to the 1980’s but things have moved on.
A lot if what looks like plate defection/deformation in the upper works is the radar absorbent coatings. Or is, in some cases, fibreglass or other composites.
Excellent, thanks SB. My shipyard closed down in 1993 so I’m vintage experience. Just commercial builds. I just did labouring, so only watched the craftsmen in action, mostly as I cleaned up their mess.
Err what??
There is no citadel except for the NBCD pressurised internal spaces to stop contaminants entering the ship when closed down to Zulu Alpha.
Some spaces which are high risk get ballistic steel plate added ( Magazines). On T26 they are getting Kevlar plates fitted to certain spaces.
T23 hull plate is around 15-18mm thick. The reason you see the longies and stiffeners is usually age and the plate deforming a small amount. Civvy ships have way less longies and stiffeners relying on very thick steel plate for strength. Warships are inherently stronger though lighter.
Yes steel and the resulting air it surrounds is cheap hence the increase in ships size over the past decades despite the shrinking of electronics and systems fitted inside. Where something like a SINS nav system was the size of a small car in the past nowadays a RLG the size of a desktop fridge can do the same thing.
Many thanks for your detailed reply. I was aware that composite ceramic-type armour is used on RN ships, I believe this began after the Falklands. I’m sure that you are aware that every ship that went to the south atlantic was hit or sunk during the Falklands war including HMS Invincible and the Atlantic Conveyor, which carried helicopters and the tentage and much else. The fact that we no longer have an engineering repair ship in the fleet is worrying.
Lets hope that the people designing our new frigates have not forgotten the lessons from the Falklands, where a third rate military were able to sink six of our ships
I went south in early 83 as a baby18yr old tiff.
Invincible was never hit or sunk.
Composite armour is a pretty recent thing on RN vessels. As I said most armour plate was and is high hardness steel plate bolted inside certain magazines. That had more to do with RATTAM than anything else. A 500Kg warhead in the magazine and the subsequent sympathetic detonation of munitions will sink you.
What you don’t want is someone with a 7.62/ 50 cal AP round or an RPG achieving the same thing from ashore or off the back of a jet ski.
Stena Seaspread a STUFT vessel was still there in 83 and the NP onboard well they partied hard. We used Stenas cranes to offload I think it was HMS Battleaxe’s ammo and spares onto HMS Brilliant.
Later on after doing a trip to South Georgia We also gave some steel plate and mechanical kit to her which we “liberated” from Gritviken and Leith Whaling Station workshops. It had been sat there for years without use and Stenas need was greater than a bunch of penguins and seals.
Now there is no reason why a STUFT with the containerised FSU could not function as well or better than Dilly. You can (and do) put FSU onto Bay Class ships. The container deck has the lock downs and power supplies already in place to support a container city.
Maybe a couple of Canadian Harry Dewolf type AOPVs for the RN? They might be able to ice strengthen a A140/T31. Could be good for the Far South/South Atlantic too.
The Harrys are great for multi mission work. The RN would benefit from them in the North and South.
The addition of Cyclone AWS helos onboard gives that extra punch to sovereignty patrols.
No point…apparently, it’s all melting so it’s not an issue
Would like to think that this has been thought about before they leave
Was the commander of this task group embarked on HMS Northumberland?
Esteban, still trying to get over the US Mexico boarder is see 😀
Yes it’s was commanded by Commander Will Edwards-Bannon onboard HMS Northumberland. US and UK vessels often fall under each others joint command you will be happy to know.
Ask a simple question, and get someone simle to repond. I was just curious as to the flag arrangement. For 2 navies that have many times more admirals than ships is seems odd that a 4 ship task force would be commanded by a Commander.
Upgrade & sell to Allies..