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Royal Navy vs Marine Nationale (2025)

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Two of the greatest navies in Europe have long been the British and the French. For most of their history, these two navies have been competitors, facing off in numerous wars from the Battle of Sluys in 1340 to the Attack on Mers-el-Kebir in 1940 (it is worth noting that, as was often the case in conflicts between these two great navies, the British triumphed in both the first and last of these actions). However, as Britain and France were eclipsed by rising powers outside of Europe during the 19th and 20th centuries, the Royal Navy and Marine Nationale slowly became partners rather than rivals. From the Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata in 1845 and the Second Opium War in 1856 to the Suez Crisis of 1956, the British and French navies worked effectively together to project power abroad. Still, declining national strength during the Cold War saw both navies largely relegated to auxiliary forces under the umbrella of the United States Navy. While the Royal Navy saw a brief fli...
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SM-2 and the Danish Navy: The Devil is in the Details (2005-2022)

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SM-2 missiles being loaded aboard the Danish frigate Niels Juel for the first time - note the second missile cannister in the foreground In the days of battleships, understanding the firepower of a warship was simple - all you needed to do was count up the size and number of guns it was armed with, and you had a decent idea of what it was capable of contributing to a battle. These days, things are more complicated. Especially with the development of the universal VLS that can handle a variety of different missiles. All too often, modern warships are capable of carrying missiles that they have never actually been equipped with, leading casual observers to profoundly misunderstand the ships' combat capabilities. A recent, and particularly egregious, example of this phenomenon concerns the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class fregatter (frigates). A quick check of the ships' Wikipedia page will reveal that they are supposedly armed with: Armament of the Iver Huitfeldt-class (according to ...
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The Loss of Moskva and Lessons for the Future

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Moskva listing and on fire before she sank Late on April 14, 2022, the Russian cruiser Moskva sank while under tow, making her the largest warship lost in wartime since the sinking of the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano during the Falklands War almost exactly 40 years before. While the details of the sinking are unlikely to be cleared up anytime soon, and the war in Ukraine remains far too confused for us to draw any tactical conclusions, the event is far too significant for us to ignore entirely, and perhaps there are some relevant lessons to be found. What Do We Know About the Loss of Moskva? To begin with, we must examine what we know about the loss of Moskva , which is, unfortunately, very little. On April 13, the Russians announced that Moskva had suffered an explosion and that her crew had been evacuated. On the same day, the Ukrainians announced that they had attacked her with Neptune anti-ship missiles. While it is probable that Moskva was indeed damaged through enemy act...
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DDG(X) Unveiled - What Can We Learn?

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Our First Look at the United States Navy's DDG(X) concept The first public concepts for the United States Navy's DDG(X) program have been unveiled, and they reveal quite a lot about the Navy's thinking on this critical program as well as the future of ship design and fleet architecture. Overall, the concept (the images are quite clearly not a final or even preliminary design) has a lot of potential and could shape up to be an excellent successor to the current fleet, but it remains to be seen whether that potential will actually materialize. In many ways the DDG(X) concept attempts to straddle a fine line, paving the way for the introduction of revolutionary new systems while simultaneously appearing extremely conservative and evolutionary. It is understandable why the Navy chose this approach, but it there is no guarantee the gamble will pay off. The State of the Surface Fleet Before diving into the details of the DDG(X) concept, we should take a moment to consider where ...
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