Haven’t heard much about the Triton since it got sold off to that hydrographic company and had pretty much forgotten about it, so I was pleasantly reminded of it when I zoomed past Portsmouth in GE earlier today. Had its own cozy little private spot there, when the picture was taken at least.
Googled to see if there was any news (didn’t find any) but I noticed this snippet from an old QinetiQ (defence companies with “trendy” spelling :rolleyes: ) press release;
http://www.qinetiq.com/home/newsroom/news_releases_homepage/2005/1st_quarter/qinetiq_announces.html
Using the sea trials data, QinetiQ developed and validated a design toolset and now has the knowledge and ability to design trimarans for all types of future applications for the triple-hull form.
QinetiQ’s trimaran programme has been supported throughout by VT Group who remain committed to the trimaran concept.
What does this mean. V-T would propose a trimaran frigate for the next UK frigate programme, or a minehunter proposal at least?
The Internet knows they’ve built their fair share of them. http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/vosper_thornycroft.htm
So what does people think the possibility of trimaran warships? I like that someone is trying to be innovative in this industry, but the seaman that has to go to war in the vessel is obviously less interested in that aspect.
Anyway, what do you think of the trimaran concept for frigates and perhaps larger vessels as well, now that it’s proven?
By: Fedaykin - 26th August 2006 at 01:01
If the government had decided to not extend the life of the Type 23 in service and gone with the Frigate replacement program we might just of seen the Trimaran concept go forward.
The Americans were certainly interested as they are looking for a follow on for the OHP class. There was definately an opportunity for a joint project with the Americans stumping a share of the development cost for a common platform.
By: sealordlawrence - 24th August 2006 at 17:37
personally I like the pentmaran designs from BMT defense studies. In fact I realy think that their F5 frigate concept would make a perfect T45 follow on. But the likelyhood of seeing that level of radicalism or decisivness from the UK MoD is at best unlikely.
By: Turbinia - 24th August 2006 at 10:26
I think the concept is certainly valid, the question is whether the advantages outweigh the complications compared to a mono-hull enough to persuade a naval procurement establishment that tends to be pretty conservative. And the mono-hull vs. multi-hull argument (including swath) is a lot more complex than marketing claims by parties trying to sell either type would suggest, if you look at fast ferries there is a never ending battle between the mono and multi hull builders and operators with no clear advantage for either type to establish superiority over the other. So whilst i think the multi-hull frigate/destroyer would offer some real benefits, it’s too simplistic to look at advantages without looking at what a mono-hull offers to meet the same requirement.
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August 23, 2006 at 11:26 pm