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Smaller crews with increased automation means more complex systems and additional maintenance.
If we suck at maintaining less complex things with more people, adding complexity and having less people isn't going to make it better. It only adds capability if it can deploy and stay off the wall in a sustainable way, just like aircraft are only useful if you have enough maintainers and operators to use them. It takes a lot to keep a ship ready to go to stay on station for a month and keep the props turning, and you can't just preserve it and hope for the best. It's a steel assembly floating in salt water; rust never sleeps
This stuck in my mind.
Then I remembered the Sandowns. In service since 1989. Still in service in 2023 - 34 years later.
Made of fibreglass. Some decommissioned then recommissioned in someone else's navy. Estonia, Romania and then, this year, Ukraine.
These small (53 m; 174 ft) fibreglass vessels are single role mine hunters (SRMH) rather than minesweepers. Twelve ships were built for the Royal Navy and three ships were exported to Saudi Arabia. Three Royal Navy vessels were decommissioned following the Strategic Defence Review in 2003; Sandown (January 2005), Inverness (April 2005) and Bridport (July 2004). A further ship, Cromer, was decommissioned and transferred to a training role at the Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth in 2001 as Hindostan.
The three decommissioned vessels were sold to Estonia in September 2006. They were re-equipped with TCS (Tactical Control System) and the Atlas Elektronik Seafox ROV for mine disposal. The sonar system was also updated. The first ship (ex-Sandown), delivered in 2007, has been named Admiral Cowan,[5] the second (ex-Inverness), was delivered in 2008 and named Sakala and the last (ex-Bridport) named Ugandi in 2009.
The largest fibreglass ship to date?
Meet the Majesty 175, the World’s Largest Fiberglass Superyacht
Gulf Craft’s new 175-footer claims the world title by just three feet.
robbreport.com
Fibreglass hull with 12x Mk41s = 96 missiles afloat in company.