CNN: Britain's Royal Navy warships are breaking down because sea is too hot
(CNN)Britain's £1bn ($1.4bn) warships are losing power in the Persian Gulf because they cannot cope with the warm waters, MPs have been told.
Six Type 45 destroyers have repeatedly experienced power outages because of the temperatures, leaving servicemen in complete darkness.
During the Defence Committee hearing on Tuesday, MPs questioned company executives about the warship failures.
"The equipment is having to operate in far more arduous conditions that were initially required," Rolls-Royce director Tomas Leahy said.
Managing director of BAE Systems Maritime, John Hudson, supported Leahy's comments, adding: "The operating profile at the time was that there would not be repeated or continuous operations in the Gulf."
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The discussion on global warming has been ongoing for almost two decades now .... so this should not have been a surprise for the designers of the Type 45 destroyer. The Persian Gulf is also a strategic region that would guarantee a deployment from countries like the U.K. .... and that region is well known for being hot. Bottom line .... the manufacturer screwed up.
More News On The U.K.'s Type 45 Destroyer Breaking Down In Warm Waters
Destroyers will break down if sent to Middle East, admits Royal Navy -- The Guardian
What a fiasco... Navy's £1bn warships break down in the Gulf - because the sea's too HOT! -- Daily Mail
Royal Navy warships cannot take the heat, MPs told -- Financial Times
Inquiry reveals UK's Type 45 destroyers are even less reliable in warm water -- IHS Jane's 360
£1bn British warships breaking down in Gulf heat -- IBTimes
Navy’s £1bn high-tech destroyers break down in warm water -- RT
6 comments:
Type 45 were supposed to only have rotational deployments to the Gulf.
They wern't supposed to be permenently deployed to the Gulf.
Now, all the failed wars ensure they are.
Heat exchange is difficult, when delta T is small.
Nuke carriers and other ships do not do well when the ambient temp is high. It is hard to shed heat.
We need to see the specs and TDP.
Given constraints of weapons platform requirements, materials, funding, etc, the problem may be intractable.
But pols and the public do not deal with the concept of intractable problems.
That is for geeks like actuaries, accountants and engineers.
The Brits know how to build ships. I was a an a fine destroyer near the equator. The ship was state of the art in missile defense and chemical defense.
Plus it had beer.
Does the ship pictured strike you as top heavy? It does me. Being top heavy is typical of a war ship. They have so many requirements.
Ever been on a ship that looked as though it would capsize, because it was being used in a way not intended by the builders?
Ever been on a state of the art nuke and froze or sweated in berthing or an office space, because the weather was hot or cold but not extreme?
Nothing like freezing in summer, when you are well away from the waterline and not in the Antarctic or Arctic.
Why doesn't Jay pull a clam or some BS from the sea chest.
We are talking sea chests, general heat exchange, and humidity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_chest
The best source linked was Janes and if you know what to look for it is scary.
http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/putting-the-type-45-propulsion-problems-in-perspective/
"...intractable problems..." As a Certified Public Accountant I can definitely relate to having to deal with such things on a daily basis.
The problem lies not just with the manufacturer but the political leaders and the military leaders who tell the manufacturer what they need to design. The wars are "failed wars" to the extent that the goals were unrealistic. For example, there was no possibility that countries like Iraq can operate as western style democracy. This was ultimately going to fail at some point regardless of the situation.
POTUS candidate Trump has been criticized by certain "conservatives" for not having any real values essentially stating that there "may be nothing but pragmatism between his ears" to paraphrase. Frankly, while sound values are important, America could use a little or even allot of pragmatism right about now. It seems Britain could as well.
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