Other Royal Navy 60s what-ifs

[uk 75]

In addition to the well-known CVA 01 and pre-Invincible through deck cruisers there are some other nearly made-its mentioned by the naval historian in his excellent book Vanguard to Trident:

Terra Nova icebreaker    Cancelled in 1966 this would have replaced the HMS Protector as South Atlantic patrolship.  Endurance, a converted Danish ship was bought instead.  Terra Nova was similar in appearance to Canadian icebreakers of the day and may even have been a Canadian design  (an artists impression is in Jane's Fighting Ships 64-65) Would have operated 2 Wasps

New-build Commando Carriers    Grove and some other sources (German magazines of the period) mention that in the early 60s it was planned to build a Commando Carrier similar to the US Iwo Jima in size but on a merchant ship hull as a replacement for Bulwark and Albion.  Up to 4 ships seem to have been proposed, plus two additional Fearless clash Assault ships.   Wessex helos and Harriers?

Nuclear powered auxiliary  Grove makes mention of this in a couple of places.  A model was said to have been made of an RFA fleet replnishment ship and is somewhere in the Greenwich collection (I have tried unsuccessfully to see it).  From other pictures (an article in Airfix magazine from about 1964) of UK cargo ship designs I think it would have looked like the standard large RN O class ships, but with a "Savannah" style smooth faring rather than a funnel.  The ship would have had a Wessex in the vertrep role.

Hover warships  Grove mentions RN interest in large hovercraft.  Vosper Thorneycroft brochures in the late 60s show a kind of hover frigate with a 76mm gun forward and a wasp/lynx at the stern.

Sadly none of the above came to anything.  It would be interesting to see if the PRO or Greenwich ever releases any stuff on them.

UK75  

[Geoff_B]

Hi Ralph


Some interesting ideas there, the LPH's sound interesting and would be nice to see what they looked like. You could also mention the original format for the Type 82 as the CVA-01 escort which would have been similar to a Dutch Tromp.

I wonder what other Frigates & Destroyers were being planned during this time period, or what conversions were being considered.

Imagine Lion the cruiser being converted to an Air Defence ship with the new Sea Dart rather than the big Sea Slug in fore and Aft positions and Sea Cats (to be replaced by Sea Wolf in the waist gun positions. The Fwd Turret would remain and the stern converted to include a Hanger and flight deck for a Wasp or maybe Wessex. The Tiger Helo conversion could have been remodelled so the flight deck extended to the fwd superstructure, the funnels truncated off to the sides and the Hanger occupying the space between fore and aft superstuctures, to create a vessel more like the french Joan of Arc.

BTW yes i would be happy to see your photos of the 1/600 model you have as i would help when trying to produce our own kit of the ship.

Cheers

Geoff B B)  

[Captain Canada]

Very interesting stuff, guys....thanks !

Mmmm........ships !

I really like the idea of a large combat hovercraft....doesn't Airfix make a kit ?

And on a related note...did they finally retire those giant hovercraft ferries over there ?

Cheers !

[Joe C-P]

Most interesting!

I have an old Glencoe Savannah that is sitting in the closet, half-built, that I was converting to an AOEN for the USN. I even wrote up the usual DANFS story for her.

There is a set of Soviet hovercraft in 1/700, up to a big old Zubr. You might use one as a start point for an RN corvette. And good old Airfix did the SRN 4 hovercraft ferries in 1:144; you could start with one of them for a bigger model, though you'll have to move the steering props around to add a helo deck.

Over in another thread I posted an image of my interpretation of a Sea Dart armed Lion. It's part of a NATO SAG of what-ifs I'm creating.

JoeP