u/JMHSrowing

I think that the Royal Navy is the most interesting to talk about in terms of modern hypotheticals. They are decently sized, fairly well funded, and have their illustrious history but with issues and commitments to match all of these things. As it now stands, their problems from what I’ve read are mostly their lack of suitable escorts, few amphibious warfare vessels, a decreasing mine countermeasure capacity while having even more manning shortfalls than everyone else.

So the question I think is begged: Could these all be at least to a degree resolved in a single ship class?

The Type 32 frigate idea already seems like the RN themselves’ idea in this regard though if that could ever now come to be is another story. It’s interesting though to see ships that other nations have or are building that could add so much.

Firstly that comes to my mind, something like an improved LCS. As many problems as they have, at least the Independence class are giving good service and are lightly manned potentially very useful ships. Make them more dedicated mine countermeasure vessels and drone carriers, with SeaCeptors as part of the armament, and it seems like such light frigates could be a welcome addition. And if need be, the royal marines should be able to be fitted with some vehicles inside the roomy mission space.

The Absalons are maybe the most obvious choice of what an actual Type 32 could be based one. More heavily manned but a much larger ship that was built on a budget, in their original guise as multi-mission ships they could do almost anything with their vast mission space including explicitly amphibious warfare while still being a venerable warship. With a more drone focused approach, things could be even better today and it’s what the Type 31s are based on.

The last is the Portuguese drone carrier D. Joao II. Now the RN would probably need to do things like significantly up the speed of any design to keep up with other ships and have it be better armed, but with drones now adding so much to what a ship can do, these ultra-light carriers seem like they could be a way to cover many bases at once. The San Giorgio class LHD might be an even better, specifically something like the Qatari Al Fulk which has a frigate level armament.

All of these seem like in theory they should also help with things like hydrographics if needed (another somewhat atrophying area), and the modular mission loads that are being experimented with seem like they are also suited to this type of ship.

But what do y’all think?

What would be the best type of ship for the Royal Navy to procure?

Maybe you think that these all should come secondary to more replenishment vessels?

Or maybe something more like a much smaller patrol minesweeper so high end ships can be left to do their things?

Or should the Type 83 program be made sure not to get delayed first and foremost?

Weight of shell is one of the most important factors in a naval gun of the earlier 20th century, especially needing to consider what a can be handled by sailors due to less machinery assistance than would be found later in the century. It would seem to me though that 150 lbs, equating to about a 170mm or 6.7" gun, would be one of the optimal calibers. One strong man's maximum to handle repeatedly with some ease is about 75lbs, and this can be seen in naval shells and cartridges like the 5.5" which had an 80lbs shell for that reason or the 5"/25 who had an 80lbs cartridge. These guns were able to have a good rate of fire seemingly proving the idea. Thus it would seem to stand to reason that to have the maximum effectiveness of a gun which with a shell two men could handle the shell of that it would be 150lbs or maybe slightly more.

It would also be the largest reasonable for a separate cartridge system before automatic weapons as the powder and casing should weigh in the neighborhood of 80lbs so could be handled by a single man.

In addition to it being of a good weight to achieve a good rate of fire, being about 1.5x the weight of a standard 6" shell would give the ships a ballistic advantage over light cruisers so armed. As cruiser armor often only really gave protection from 6" shell, it would seem this would likely be the minimum to be fairly confident at being able to overwhelm one's foes.

Pictured is a 17cm SK L/40, one of the few naval weapons which had about this shell weight (lighter trending German shells meant it was 141lbs), spending its second life as part of the Atlantic Wall.

Was the lack of use if weapons in this caliber simply inertia with the long history of the 6"/155m and then the naval treaty limit of 8"? Or was something like this really slightly too big and the 130lbs heavy 6" shell really the reasonable max for a high rate of fire naval gun?