Bruships 60: Covid Jab, Bad Back & New Books

Complete shielding is impractical; harden critical systems, keep independent power and communications, and build enough redundancy to restore services after the event.

If the reconstruction of Victorious succeeded, Implacable and Indefatigable would probably follow, with Indomitable possibly completing a four-carrier core.

Refusing AI can endanger one's own sailors if opponents retain it; meaningful limits are hard because the technology overlaps with advanced computing and machine learning.

It can deliver numbers early, but it needs enough physical margin from the outset or upgrading becomes difficult.

Not yet under this test: a leading power can be challenged and still retain primacy if it remains able to set the international agenda.

Probably in some cases, but integration depends on missile scale and means sacrificing other capability; Type 83 is the more natural candidate.

The AI discussion moves from military use to the harder threshold of machine rights and the more immediate development of human-computer interfaces.

The wreck was raised because growing harbour traffic threatened to destroy the archaeology; the recovery aimed to preserve it while retaining respect for the dead.

If Italy retained and operated her, she might have served long enough to acquire museum value; transfer to another navy would make that outcome much less certain.

Yes. In this account, abolition combined genuine moral pressure with economic and strategic benefits arising from several motives.

Some rules vary by culture, but certain protective taboos appear widely, and political actors remain morally inconsistent, complicated people.

Any replacement must preserve scrutiny while balancing local elections, proportional representation, useful expertise, and continued accountability to voters.

No foreseeable move is attractive: the explosive hazard makes monitored exclusion and avoidance safer than disturbing the wreck.

Potentially. Guns remain useful when missiles run short and bombardment requires fire that can pass over terrain.

Britain might have waited for 14-inch guns and a superfiring layout that improved end-on fire, while retaining twin turrets.

The public surface stayed frosty for years, but the practical relationship improved earlier and was already substantial by the American Civil War.

Britain would likely seek four G3s, and Japan would probably pursue comparable Amagi- or Kii-type ships rather than accept the imbalance.

Very little at that construction stage; only a sufficiently complete, watertight hull could have been floated or secured, and Amagi was not ready.

The Type 45 discussion connects escort numbers, carrier protection, and the case for specialised air-defence ships.

They were theoretically possible, but triple centreline turrets would probably displace the arrangement after only a few ships.

Britain's post-imperial strategic value is tied to its position beside major sea routes and communications links, together with its size, stability, and relative security.

Not necessarily, but it could have set Italian operations back sharply and improved Allied prospects in North Africa by disrupting convoy routes.

Largely yes in a difficult convoy war, though Britain had more strategic routing options and better opportunities to interdict Italian supply traffic.

A reading on eighteenth-century shipbuilding connects dockyard efficiency, archival evidence, port geography, and the practical limits on building and moving ships of the line.

Small reactors may make it viable for selected large ships, but an all-nuclear fleet would be very costly and difficult to justify.

A reading from Ian Hughes's biography presents Constantius III as a pragmatic soldier-politician who briefly restored Western Roman authority through war, negotiation, and coalition management.

It remains a medium naval power, but moves down within that category because the available fleet has lost a large share of its reach and striking power.

Not very: salt water, structural loads, watertight seals, and the need to reconnect control systems would make the joints fragile and maintenance-intensive.

A Trafalgar Chronicle extract places the 1759 capture of Quebec in a longer contest of failed expeditions, maritime logistics, and British force projection.

Interconnected grids can share generation across distance and time zones, but every additional node and connection also expands the system that must be secured.

Hydrogen fuel-cell ships may be the more likely early step, with slower and mixed adoption rather than an immediate all-electric fleet.

It depends on the design; manufacturing impact has to be weighed against efficiency, service life, disposal, and the emissions displaced during operation.

Britain contributes through ESA, NASA partnerships, satellites, rovers, and specialised equipment, with spaceports potentially adding a more visible launch role.

It is most useful for inshore and amphibious operations, where it can improve terrain awareness alongside radar; it does not remove the deep-water submarine problem.

The scale and environmental impact of China's fishing fleet reflect enormous dietary and economic demand for fish.

A book extract brings out the industrial rush, crowding, and personnel strain behind HMS Tiger entering service in 1914.

By the First World War they were commissioned medical officers outside the normal line chain of command, having developed from an earlier warrant-officer status.

Russia's Bora-class missile hovercraft illustrates how impressive speed can come with range, maintenance, and survivability compromises.

Australia would probably try to repair her in Australian yards, though the work could take a very long time.

Not if an undamaged Bismarck could sustain maximum speed, but real damage, sea conditions, endurance, and carrier aircraft could erase that simple speed advantage.

They proved capable of taking heavy damage and continuing to fight, but those survivals do not show that the protection was sufficient in every engagement.

It would launch aircraft, use cruisers and destroyers to delay her from several directions, and try to overload her while the carrier withdraws.

A two-tier mix of offshore patrol vessels and a few Type 31-sized frigates offers useful capability without unaffordable training and support demands.

Its much longer detection range and layered F-35, missile, and submarine weapons would give it a decisive advantage.

The Bismarck pursuit shows how readiness and location constrain wartime force design beyond a navy's paper order of battle.

No. Heavy cover was concentrated around important convoys and could involve a single battleship when that was the force available.

Even without fighting, a modern Soviet battleship could have constrained Germany by forcing heavy ships to remain available for a Baltic or northern counter.

They could have formed the nuclear-powered core of carrier groups, keeping pace with carriers while other escorts supplied the outer screen.

An LPD would be the least unsuitable choice, but modern warships generally lack the secure internal divisions and support facilities a prison requires.

It functions like a floating harbour for landing craft, with protected internal surfaces that let them dock and unload at useful speed.

The OTO Melara 127/64 is the preferred current system, with a potential role for a 155 mm naval gun in a long conflict where missiles cannot be assumed to last.

HMS Nubian, HMS Eskimo, Warspite, Illustrious, Scharnhorst, Renown, Vittorio Veneto, and Saratoga lead the list, alongside a US Standard-type battleship and other Tribal-class destroyers.

Start with The Command of the Ocean, Warfare at Sea 1500-1650, and Seapower and Naval Warfare 1650-1830.

Modern navies must match magazine size to industry's ability to replace missiles and torpedoes during a sustained war.

A practical shortcut would reuse Zumwalt's hull and power design while fitting Burke-derived Aegis sensors and vertical launch systems.

No. Aegis is the integrated command-and-control system; SPY is the radar family.