Warship Appreciation Thread

paulobrito

Well-known member
iu

Don Fernando II e Gloria - a 50-gun Frigate of the Portuguese Navy. I have dinner on board three years ago when I visited the Portuguese Naval School. The last Portuguese sailing warship to be built.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
I know for a fact we have an aircraft flying now that makes an F-22 look like a Tinker Toy. I saw that damn thing late night back in 1993. It came into the base. Landed Vertically on the tarmac. Got refueled and then took off again. Then it did something I never saw any other Aircraft do. It took off at a speed that makes an F-14 on full Afterburner look like it is standing still. It sounded like the sky was being ripped apart. We have some scary level of combat tech that is just not being shown to the publc.

Hmm. There's no publicly acknowledged V/STOL project during that time period -- the closest would be the Rockwell-MBB X-31, which was capable of ridiculously short but not completely vertical takeoff and landing. While the actual feet-per-minute climb performance wasn't that incredible, it *looked* crazy high because of the sheer angle of attack it could fly at -- it could basically stand on its ass and blast straight up like a rocket.

On the other hand, the F-22 *does* climb like that too -- I've seen it taking off in parallel with a pair of F-16s, and *even without afterburner* it made the Falcons look like they were standing still, and Falcons out-climb Tomcats by quite a bit already!
 

Sailor.X

Cold War Veteran
Founder
Hmm. There's no publicly acknowledged V/STOL project during that time period -- the closest would be the Rockwell-MBB X-31, which was capable of ridiculously short but not completely vertical takeoff and landing. While the actual feet-per-minute climb performance wasn't that incredible, it *looked* crazy high because of the sheer angle of attack it could fly at -- it could basically stand on its ass and blast straight up like a rocket.

On the other hand, the F-22 *does* climb like that too -- I've seen it taking off in parallel with a pair of F-16s, and *even without afterburner* it made the Falcons look like they were standing still, and Falcons out-climb Tomcats by quite a bit already!
There are a shit ton of weapons systems that are not publicly acknowledged. For instance do you think the Laser weapons they are testing on ships are new an innovative. Nope they are not. They tested the exact same weapons 30 years ago in the Carribbean Weapons Test range. Oh and you won't find an public acknowledgment of the range. It was a secret of the Cold War. It is South of Puerto Rico. It is where the DOD tests all weapons they don't want the public to know about. Everything from Laser to Super Advanced missiles to Aircraft they deny have been made.

And I also advise no one try an sail into that test range. You won't like what will happen to you when Troops in Gunboats come to apprehend you.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Sea Shadow

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Sea Shadow was a unique off-one testbed to see if Stealth Bomber technology could be applied to surface warships. She never saw any action (I don't believe she was even armed) and was thoroughly scrapped after many rounds of tests. Some of her aspects, such as the angled pontoons that gave her a microscopic wake to prevent visual detection, weren't worth keeping while other aspects greatly enhanced naval stealth technology. The Arleigh Burke class's dramatically reduced radar cross-section was a direct result of lessons learned from Sea Shadow, along with many others. You can pretty much see her ancestry directly in the shape of the Zumwalt class.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
Sea Shadow was a unique off-one testbed to see if Stealth Bomber technology could be applied to surface warships. She never saw any action (I don't believe she was even armed) and was thoroughly scrapped after many rounds of tests.

Sea Shadow was indeed unarmed, and was also not a commissioned ship -- she was actually owned and operated by Lockheed on behalf of the Navy. She was built in 1984 and operated in secrecy until 1993 when she was revealed to the public, then continued to operate until 2006. She was actually available for sale or museum donation at that point, but there were no serious takers and she was ultimately sold for scrap in 2012.

Sea Shadow also directly inspired the stealth ship in 1997's Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
Sea Shadow was indeed unarmed, and was also not a commissioned ship -- she was actually owned and operated by Lockheed on behalf of the Navy. She was built in 1984 and operated in secrecy until 1993 when she was revealed to the public, then continued to operate until 2006. She was actually available for sale or museum donation at that point, but there were no serious takers and she was ultimately sold for scrap in 2012.

Sea Shadow also directly inspired the stealth ship in 1997's Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.
It always seemed very odd that no museum wanted Sea Shadow. Such a unique craft in design, and being the only one of it's kind period are things that I would think would be good tourists draws.
 

ShadowArxxy

Well-known member
Comrade
It always seemed very odd that no museum wanted Sea Shadow. Such a unique craft in design, and being the only one of it's kind period are things that I would think would be good tourists draws.

Unfortunately, 2006 was right at the start of the "Great Recession" period. As unique as she was, that was a very bad time for museums.
 

Husky_Khan

The Dog Whistler... I mean Whisperer.
Founder
Sotnik
There is only one Navy truly worth commemorating over all others Comrades. And our Allies in the Democratic Party already know which Navy that is.

NJZTZWCQMZBVPJYKDNLJUMOO54.jpg


It is so beautiful to see Socialists of every stripe in America so eager and openly paying tribute to the Glorious Russian Navy and it's legendary and storied Naval History... *coughs*
 

Zachowon

The Army Life for me! The POG life for me!
Founder
There is only one Navy truly worth commemorating over all others Comrades. And our Allies in the Democratic Party already know which Navy that is.

NJZTZWCQMZBVPJYKDNLJUMOO54.jpg


It is so beautiful to see Socialists of every stripe in America so eager and openly paying tribute to the Glorious Russian Navy and it's legendary and storied Naval History... *coughs*
Wait what
 

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