Tag Archives: uk

Back when the RN had more than one flattop

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RN Fleet Air Arm carrier planes, 1943/44. Nearest to farthest is a Seafire (marinized Spitfire), Corsair, Martlet (Wildcat), two Barracuda to the right, aircraft at the end is a Firefly and a Sea Hurricane facing the camera. Photo was taken at RNAS training facility a Royal Navy mechanics school in the Midlands, NAS Mill Meece / HMS Fledgling. The facility was used to train WRNS Air Mechanics (Ordnance) on FAA types.

During WWII, the Royal Navy saw the writing on the wall in the respect that, to remain a first-rate naval power with a global reach, it needed a fleet of modern aircraft carriers. Entering the war in 1939 with three 27,000-ton Courageous-class carriers converted from battlecruiser hulls, the 22,000 ton battleship-hulled HMS Eagle, the unique 27,000-ton Ark Royal, and the tiny 13,000-ton HMS Hermes (pennant 95, the world’s first ship to be designed as an aircraft carrier)– a total of just six flattops, within the first couple years of the war 5/6th of these were sent to the bottom by Axis warships and aircraft!

Luckily, two 32,000-ton Implacable-class and four 23,000-ton Illustrious-class carriers, laid down before the war, were able to join the fleet to help make good those losses until the first of 16 planned follow-on Colossus-class light fleet carriers, a quartet of 35,000-ton Audacious-class, four Malta-class supercarriers (57,000-tons), and 8 planned Centaur-class carriers could be built (although most weren’t)– not to mention 45 escort carriers quickly folded into service– hence the wide array of comprehensive carrier-based strike and fighter aircraft seen above.

Those Colt Lightnings…

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I had an opportunity to speak to a man across the pond about this image lately.

Peering from across time, the stern yet pleased assemblage of gentlemen ranging from the junior to the ancient all show the clear eyes of steady marksmen capable of putting lead on target as required with judicious ability. Clad almost universally in three-piece suits consisting of a sack coat with matching vest or waistcoat, most are dutifully mustachioed and equipped with a pocket watch– part of the essential EDC of the time.

For the rest of the story, check out my column over at Guns.com

RM force protection unit goes AR

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It seems a sizable portion of the Royal Marines are ditching the long-maligned L85 (SA80) Enfield bullpup in favor of an AR-15/M16 platform that, in basic design at least, predated it by about 25 years.

American and Royal Marines prepare to enter a mock nuclear facility in the Scottish Highlands, testing the close-quarters combat techniques they shared during exercise Tartan Eagle 14, Sep. 18. The three-week exercise brought U.S. Marine Security Forces and Royal Marine Fleet Protection Group to deepen their relationships and operational capacity for the protection and safeguard of nuclear weapons. (USMC Photo: MSgt Chad McMeen)

American Marines and 43 Commando Royal Marines prepare to enter a mock nuclear facility in the Scottish Highlands, testing the close-quarters combat techniques they shared during exercise Tartan Eagle 14, Sep. 18. The three-week exercise brought U.S. Marine Security Forces and Royal Marine Fleet Protection Group to deepen their relationships and operational capacity for the protection and safeguard of nuclear weapons. (USMC Photo: MSgt Chad McMeen)

The unit that is making the switch, 43 Commando Fleet Protection Group, was orignially set up as the Comacchio Group back in the 1980s to keep Soviet Naval Infantry and Spetnsaz types off of the North Sea oil derricks and from poking around HM Naval Base Faslane, where the Queen keeps her only nukes (remember, the UK only has SLBMs, having retired its last strategic bombers with the Vulcans in 1984, and has no ICBMs hiding in the moors).

As noted by Janes, the group’s 790 members will switch to the Colt Canada C8 carbine with its standard 14.5-inch barrel, which they have used in small numbers for years designated as the L119 in British service (as witnessed in the above image).

The Royal Navy said this was a “one-off” purchase and was not a signal that the Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade was going to be re-equipped with new weapon.