Trev

@mpwarwick @hawchcf1 @HiddenHistoryYT @WeHaveWaysPod @James1940 @almurray Thanks. Just caught up on your thread now: interesting and thoughtful as always.

@ttrevellers @hawchcf1 @HiddenHistoryYT @WeHaveWaysPod @James1940 @almurray Yes, I did hear that. I was surprised at the emphasis they put on the torpedos, at both fitting them in the first place and the vulnerability they apparently represented. I did a small thread in response here: x.com/mpwarwick/stat…

HMS Hood (pennant number 51) was the lead ship of her class of four battlecruisers built for the Royal Navy during World War I. Returning to the Home Fleet in August 1940, Hood sortied that fall in operations intended to intercept the "pocket battleship" and heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper. In January 1941, Hood entered the yard for a minor refit, but the naval situation prevented the major overhaul that was needed. Emerging, Hood remained in increasingly poor condition. After patrolling the Bay of Biscay, the battlecruiser was ordered north in late April after the Admiralty learned that the new German battleship Bismarck had sailed. Putting into Scapa Flow on May 6, Hood departed later that month with the new battleship HMS Prince of Wales to pursue Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen. Commanded by Vice Admiral Lancelot Holland, this force located the two German ships on May 23. Attacking the next morning, Hood and Prince of Wales opened the Battle of the Denmark Strait. Engaging the enemy, Hood quickly came under fire and took hits. Approximately eight minutes after the action began, the battlecruiser was hit around the boat deck. Witnesses saw a jet of flame emerge near the mainmast before the ship exploded. Most likely the result of a plunging shot which penetrated the thin deck armor and struck a magazine, the explosion broke Hood in two. Sinking in around three minutes, only three of the ship's 1,418-man crew were rescued. Outnumbered, Prince of Wales withdrew from the fight. In the wake of the sinking, many explanations were put forward for the explosion. Recent surveys of the wreck confirm that Hood's after magazines did explode.

@mpwarwick @hawchcf1 @HiddenHistoryYT Hi Matthew, have you heard the recent @WeHaveWaysPod series “Sink the Bismark?” - it’s a tremendous tale vividly told by @James1940 & @almurray. They seem to think that the deck mounted torpedoes may have had something to do with the catastrophic explosion - which was news to me

@hawchcf1 @HiddenHistoryYT There were possible paths either under the main belt or above it and through the 7” middle belt. The zones are small but quite straight forward. It’s not entirely impossible for it to have been a simple main belt penetration, but this is much less likely.

@pegge49 @TightToffee That and a further loss of opportunities for command experience. The decision to decommission them a few yrs ago was hastily reversed, and yet we’ve fewer ships of all classes since then - the op requirements haven’t changed - so why sell good ships, if not for penny pinching?

Crazy, the UK is trapped in a habit of cutting things long before the replacement is ready. Assuming the Falkland River B2 remains, either the engagement work by the other B2s is getting binned or the RN presence in UK waters will be reduced to a handful of escorts & a few MCMVs.

@pegge49 @TBrit90 I thought a German tanker occasionally supported FOST? Unverified half memory!*

@TBrit90 That is true, but these days rare to see more than one NATO ship doing it. You don't get fullhouses at FOST like this anymore!

The issue with having tankers laid up. Tidespring likely in for a maintenance period after a long TAPS duty, leaving just Tideforce. So Tideforce had to go all the way to the Med to top Dragon up and then came back. Potentially no FOST tanker either for periods until Tiderace regenerates from lay up.

@navalhistorian @BAES_Maritime @HarlandWolffplc Correct. I know RN can’t publicly comment on capability gaps, but surly there are MP voices in government that can challenge these repeated policy failures: why no pushback from @JohnHealey_MP or the Def committee? @AlistairCarns & @TanDhesi are good men: gents, please speak up!

What this needed to be accompanied by (or very much preceded by, given lead/build times), was an announcement of an order for a third batch of River Class from @BAES_Maritime, or some Meteoro Class from @HarlandWolffPLC, or participation in the Norwegian P118 programme, or...🤦‍♂️

The "Rules Based Order" that some keep talking about in international relations, was based upon collective ability and will to enforce the order... unfortunately many successive governments in many countries have neither invested in the ability, nor had the will, to do so...

That the state of the British Armed Forces is such a surprise to many is a sad reflection on our political and media class. People have been screaming about it for decades, and given a stiff ignoring.

Britain has deluded itself about its navy - this war shows us how exposed we are. Iran must be the catalyst for a change of strategic course for the Royal Navy by @John_ForemanCBE archive.is/gAvvH

@graham_euan Such a mixed bag… - Shouldn’t really be there without at least another 🇬🇧 SSN being available for High North ops. - Once in 🇦🇺, and with a no strike 🇮🇷 policy, she should be kept on AUKUS activities. - But does show the value & capability SSNs provide, being redirected.

@Rberdom09 @nicholadrummond And that’s waiting on the DIP! Hopefully events in the ME will finally force the Treasury to agree to fund the DIP meaningfully - alas, just as the ME crisis will likely be harming UK economy.. it’s painful, but hopefully this is the turning point for UK defence.

@nicholadrummond Sounds promising. Like with all military equipment, hardware, vehicles…… they need a regular pipeline of production

The F-35 program has been hugely complex and expensive. Development delays, concurrency issues and higher than expected sustainment costs have attracted justifiable criticism, but the F-35’s operational performance tells a different story... …Wherever it has been used, the F-35 has delivered exceptional combat performance. Its low-observable design allows it to fly in heavily defended airspace, while sensor fusion and secure datalinks allow multiple aircraft to share targeting data and build a real-time battlespace picture. For the UK, acquiring the F-35B for the Royal Navy, and soon the F-35A for the RAF, were correct decisions, because these aircraft give us a networked combat system and strike capability that are unmatched.

In 1963 at one of the final Admiralty Board meetings, they concluded: "The setup of this new MoD runs the risk of making the nation & government sea blind. We are concerned about the future of the Royal Navy." In the 2020s, MoD Civil Servants claimed there was no such word or term as 'seablindness'. Equally they argued in true Orwellian style that such terms were not welcome for 'cultural reasons'.

J Ingram with a fantastic spotting coup as Typhoon in 41 Sqn colors seen flying at Warton with rocket pods. APKWS for cheap drone kills getting closer. "Just" 2 pods here, but that's 14 shots already. Go check their albums: facebook.com/profile.php?id… & instagram.com/jay_ing__/

35 years of cuts. The Labour ones began to bear down in 2005, the coalition delivered the catastrophic 2010 SDSR. The Tories went solo and carried on slicing away and the current govt cut unwisely in 2025, and we are now in a state of paralysis and abject humiliation. The UK cannot even stay out of a war with a smidge of defence competence. Shambolic leadership.

@TBrit90 Hi @TBrit90 am I right in thinking this inexcusable list of delay is largely down to a critical bottleneck for a finite amount of nuclear certificate dry dock space (priority given to Vanguard)? Or is it also cannibalisation of kit between A-boats? It’s surly not lack of crew

HMS Anson - Deployed to Australia HMS Astute - Refit (8 months) HMS Ambush - Laid Up (43 months/3.5 years) HMS Artful - Regenerating (34 months/2.8 years) HMS Audacious - Refit (35 months/2.9 years) Agamemnon - Pre Sea Trials (12.7 years) Achilles - Build (7.9 years)

@FennellJW @JonathanPieNews Glad I’m following you @FennellJW because I felt miffed by the apparent change when I saw the original tweet without this context. Cheers

@JonathanPieNews Its BS story. They logo has been around since October 2022 and is only for use where there could be confusion (where other Commonwealth nations are also HMG).

24 hours later and it's yet another own goal. 👏

@NIGGA_MAXIMUS @JohnMappin @grok I disagree @grok, I think it’s Château Gaillard in Normandy. King John of England failed to lift a lengthy siege by King Augustus of France. After the fall of Château Gaillard the rest of Normandy soon fell to the French king ending Plantagenet rule of the Duchy. @JohnMappin ?

Who can tell me where this is and it's cultural and historic significance?

@Gabriel64869839 & now the navy is down to 7 frigates, & 6 T45s still going through upgrades.. so UK can’t even focus on navy which we excel at most. That leaves the RAF, which while highly credible, at present structure hasn’t a whole lot more resources to offer beyond covering current taskings

I genuinely have no idea how the barely alive British armed forces put anything of substance into Ukraine and then sustain that without looking absolutely ridiculous. No artillery, no armour, no air defence and no artillery locating radars to draw from to resource it.

@BearJFK @thepublicgets Build them and the crews will sign up! Yes it takes decades to train up the specialists required to form the crews of such ships but by the time the fleet finally begins to grow in the 30s that cadre will be maturing. We won’t wait we want 8 [more]!

@thepublicgets Build baby build!

Great With such large an order, the unit price will drop significantly. Now, order a 2nd batch of 5 for the RN to bring it up to 13. Get them slipping off the yards rapido.

An overlap is unfortunate, but consider that 🇳🇴 will operate T26 in our shared backyard (& beyond; see #CSG25); increase from 8 to 13 T26s, huge potential for interoperability & all while the #RoyalNavy needs time to generate new ship’s companies anyway. 🇬🇧 & 🇳🇴 now in lockstep.

Nice work by the @RAF_Marham engineering team in seemingly not only getting the @RoyalAirForce F-35B that had been stuck in India airworthy, but airworthy enough to return to @HMSPWLS off Australia after a 4,000 mile flight (supported by a Voyager tanker). x.com/NavyLookout/st…