Few things I would like to throw into this depate considering the pros and cons of UK to actually posit explosives to Sverlodv class.

Those of you who had done your homeworks by naval matters will surely know the rather odd prestige and value that RN put on the Sverldovs. Despite these cruisers were obsolete from launching, in British circles they posessed considerable attention and were taken as suprise threat in the climate where RN was stripping of its large surface combatants. If war would have bursted out, there migth have been odd situation where RN would have been almoust suprassed by Russia in quantative terms.
Therefore many desings and ideas rosed out in this period to counter the thread of the Sverldovs. Many are familar with the unbuild big gun cruisers/destroyer projects of this period and other applications came foward also. Such projects were offcourse extra burden to UK defences that were allready in tigth situation and underpressure of new war methods, and few wanted to see revial of the manpower insestive big surface fleet.

Under these circumstances a dreadfull Sverldov, suddenly and embrassingly exploding in aftermath of high-key diplomatic visit would have make end of the expensive counter-sverldov desings (like they did in real life) and migth have even made Soviets to reconsider the practicality of such ships in first place.

So who knows:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The loss of one Sverdlov would not have affected British procurement which was entirely budget orientated.

By 1956 Sverdlovs were being scrapped on the ways anyway, the Soviet policy change had already taken place………whether British intelligence was aware of this at that time I dont know.

Whether the Sverdlovs actually were obsolete is a difficult question to answer…IMO.

Apparently the one aircraft that did have an RB.211 suffered severe structural problems as a result (IIRC to the extent that it never flew again) so it may be far more expensive than just buying new engines and bolting them on. Either way the type is now coming to the end of its operational life.

Sukhoi (official?) schematics of T-10 from Oct./Nov. 1974.
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Hahahaha……………..it looks like a Hornet!:D

The British ministry of defence have not stated he wasn’t planting mines either.

If you don’t agree with me you are irrational because my reasoning is correct… An excellent reason for me to change my mind and believe what you say is the truth.

Got it in one. destroying the ship would achieve nothing, none of the reasons you give are valid.

Why is it clearly ridiculous? Clearly to whom?

It is ridiculous to anybody capable of rational thought becouse it would have achieved nothing and potentially destroyed an awful lot.

The guy who claims to have killed him states he was planting a mine.

So? Does not make it true. Its clearly a ridiculous notion.

Crabb was not planting mines, thats just typical 1950s Russian BS. What he was doing was spying (and this has largely been admitted) If the Russians killed him, well its slightly harsh but not really that unjustified. Considering the huge outcry that occured just from the Crabb incident alone it is absurd to suggest that the British were planning on blowing up a foreign vessel engaging in a peaceful trip to home port.

This was all part of the Sverdlov paranoia that the UK got in the 1950s, and that was what Crabb was spying on.

The Type 583 was conceived far too late to have ever come to fruition, even assuming that it had been formally selected and fully funded, which always seemed improbable, even in 1962.

The Phantom was a far earlier project, and even with the resources of the USN, and later the USAF, it took many years and several iterations to produce the definitive version of the Phantom.

To be frank, the entire British airframe industry lacked the sort of experience that McDonnell had derived from interim types such as the Voodoo and Demon. History shows that the development of the reheated Spey wasn’t without incident, demonstrating just how much the British aero-engine sector had suffered from the 1957 cuts. Britain lacked the financial might, political will and industrial base to produce a Phantom competitor in 1962 and probably would have had to have started 5 years earlier to ensure the timely service entry of a comparable fighter.

The fact is that it is an impossible comparison as the 583 never flew. The spey engined Phantom was primarily the product of the limited size of British carriers and that also limits the ability one has to make a fair comparison.