Canadian River Class Destroyer Megathread

[Underway]

I'm not surprised as it follows the trend of ejecting non-AEGIS integrated equipment wherever possible to seemingly simplify and speed up the design finalization/construction process for atleast the first few vessels. The RCN is desperate to get the River class under construction and in the water in order to start retiring the Halifax class, so it makes sense.

My guess is also that weight and space are potential concerns, as the Italian 5" gun is larger, heavier and has a substantial internal footprint. The 5 inch Mark 45 Mod 4 apparently has a weight of approximately 24,700kg~ in its largest form, while the OTO 127/64 LW has a weight of 33,000kg~ (+ or - 5%). The Italian gun also comes with a multi-drum automatic loading system which seems to take up more space than the BAE equivalent.

Its equal parts risk reduction and dealing with Leonardo.

 

[Swampbuggy]

I'm not surprised as it follows the trend of ejecting non-AEGIS integrated equipment wherever possible to seemingly simplify and speed up the design finalization/construction process for atleast the first few vessels. The RCN is desperate to get the River class under construction and in the water in order to start retiring the Halifax class, so it makes sense.

My guess is also that weight and space are potential concerns, as the Italian 5" gun is larger, heavier and has a substantial internal footprint. The 5 inch Mark 45 Mod 4 apparently has a weight of approximately 24,700kg~ in its largest form, while the OTO 127/64 LW has a weight of 33,000kg~ (+ or - 5%). The Italian gun also comes with a multi-drum automatic loading system which seems to take up more space than the BAE equivalent.

I've attached some images of both systems below for folks to compare.

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Ultimately given the rumours and ongoing concerns with related Type 26 derivatives having eaten up substantial amounts of reserve weight for future upgrades just to implement the changes required, I am not surprised we are seeing some of the "gold plating" be removed and still good but obviously less capable design. The Italian gun has much more advanced/potent ammunition choices (more costly/complex though) for dealing with a variety of targets (drones), alongside a faster rate of fire and much deeper/versatile ready magazine system. This is definitely a tradeoff however if it can get back weight and space (potentially for more VLS?), it obviously must be important to be giving up important capability.

Here’s hoping there’s some positive trade off in swapping out the main gun. I have to say my enthusiasm is waning a bit for this ship, in certain respects. I know it’s going to be a generational leap over the HALIFAX and I know it’s going to be a world class sub hunter. The issue is that it seems to be suffering a continual watering down of its capabilities. At first, it was looking to be the most potent Type 26 derivative and probably should’ve been, given the Aussies and Brits have dedicated AAW vessels. But, we went from 32 (or more) VLS cells to 24. I think that’s a significant reduction. With 32 you could have loaded out 24 SM2 missiles and 32 ESSMs. Then, it became less of an issue because ExLS was included. So, 24 CAMM became part of the package or whatever else could be launched from them. Then, that got chopped. Ok. RAM time…admittedly, there wasn’t any thing concrete about which system was being looked at, whether SeaRam or the 21 cell launcher, but at least with two of the latter, there’d be a compliment of 42 point defence missiles to maybe hedge your bets on more Standards than ESSM’s in the main vls.

But, it seems like there’s only one according to the latest (admittedly not confirmed) info.

Finally, now it looks like the exceptional main gun with its high firing rate, Vulcano long range projectiles and various other desirable attributes is being dropped in favour of a lesser unit.

Forgive my frustration, and I hope the tradeoff is measured in getting ships in the water sooner, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t waiting for another shoe to drop before the design gets finalized.