What’s next to HMS Belfast?

Let’s see if this attempt at adding a photo works

https://freeimage.host/i/J6oHCWN

Assuming it doesn’t work, it’s a big weird ugly ship with what looks like a helipad on it.

Looks like RFA Proteus.

Is it RFA Proteus?

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Proteus is visiting London for a week

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/organisation/units-and-squadrons/support-ships/rfa-proteus

Hmmm ‘unusual’  🙂 it’s definitely not a looker.

Which bits the front ?

the pointier bit.

It’s an ex-North Sea Support Ship.

It has a “X Bow”, which greatly helps seakeeping but is rather ugly.

Probably for aircraft recovery when they don’t quite spot their landing on the carriers or when RAS’ing goes wrong…

Yeah that’s it. A seabed warfare vessel apparently .

Aberdeen harbour’s usually full of such monstrosities, they are cool though in their “function above all else” way. Imagine being hte very first ship designer who had to put the sketches of these in front of the bean counters and say “no hear me out”

Read an article on a US sea based drone called the Manta Ray a little while ago, I wonder if it would be the sort of vessel to launch one of those?

Don’t think it’s a genuine Ulstein x-bow ship (“RN in procurement win” is a not a headline you’re likely to see), but it’s a similar design to reduce slamming in heavy swell. To prove their point Ulstien built two pretty much identical ships with similar power, one with a traditional bow and one with an x-bow then sailed them in heavy seas. The x-bow convincingly won.

ULSTEIN X-BOW / LAB TEST + BOURBON ORCA (youtube.com)

It wasn’t procured from new, they bought it S/H and a shit load of battleship grey paint…

a shit load of battleship grey paint

Commonly known as pussers crabfat I believe

Probably for aircraft recovery when they don’t quite spot their landing on the carriers or when RAS’ing goes wrong…

No, she’s a seabed survey vessel, I believe she’s the first of a small fleet to survey and repair sea-floor utilities that may have been, or might possibly be subject to jiggery-pokery by third-parties with ill-intent.
Of course, a very expensive piece of aviation hardware gone tits-over-ass off the deck of a carrier would likely be subject to its attentions as well. 🤷🏼

Long-awaited replacement for HMS Challenger. All of the sinky toys.
https://www.navylookout.com/a-guide-to-rfa-proteus-the-uks-new-seabed-warfare-vessel/

I remember going to a rather epic squat party at an old warehouse building  next to HMS Belfast for the millennium which was all kinds of epic.

Damn sight better looking than that boat too lol

He’s right on top of us. I wonder if he is using the same wind we are using.

Of course, a very expensive piece of aviation hardware gone tits-over-ass off the deck of a carrier would likely be subject to its attentions as well.

As an RN Observer once said to me, they don’t pay wafus more, they just pay them faster.

Imagine being hte very first ship designer who had to put the sketches of these in front of the bean counters and say “no hear me out”

I imagine they said it Old Norse!

Aberdeen harbour’s usually full of such monstrosities, they are cool though in their “function above all else” way. Imagine being hte very first ship designer who had to put the sketches of these in front of the bean counters and say “no hear me out”

I quite like them.  The flight deck is an ugly afterthought but I’m sure the bean counters were easily swayed with “will work longer and harder”

The flight deck is an ugly afterthought but I’m sure the bean counters were easily swayed with “will work longer and harder”

Just read the article about her posted above, the flight deck is a legacy of her former life, for crew rotation when on long operations, but a useful thing to have – it can only carry smaller choppers. As Finland have just suffered an attack on their seabed infrastructure, I can see this ship being called on quite often.

She can deploy UUV’s and ROTV’s, but America’s new Manta Ray UUV might be too big to fit.

It has a weird sort of charm about it; the sort of looks only a mother could love… 😁