Are there any downsides to having the Endurance 170?
Simply put not really, there is no real reason why a vessel of the Endurance 170 class could not be in the Royal New Zealand Navy service, (if not 2) the vessels will be able to meet any requirements the New Zealand Government throws at it, from HADR to Armed Force Projection and will be great for just showing the flag around the world. The perfect flagship of the navy and it will show everyone that we do take the security of our region seriously.
- 4 Frigate Navy
- How much for an enhanced sealift vessel?
- Options for the NZDF and RNZN 2nd enhanced Sealift vessel
However, from this, we need to go back to a four frigate navy as a vessel like this needs an escort, and would very rarely sail on her own.
| Edit: As has been pointed out to me, this is not strictly true, and I actually agree, she can happily sail on her own during HADR operations, or even to joint various exercises, and in benign area's etc... but to the average layman all they think is it is a warship and all it does is to go fight battles... (sad but mostly true) or they are always in a hot zone and as I have pointed out, no... that's not true either. The good thing is this attitude is slowly changing. I should have worded that better and say along the lines of, if she was to ever to go into a hot zone for patrols and operations, she would have an escort. Whether the escort vessels is an ally or one of our own frigates escorting her. Many people have seen the good the navy have done, even what a warship can do and offer in the time of need, the Kaikoura earthquake is the perfect example of this. I remember when it happened and someone I know (admittedly she lived in Kaikoura so was a bit rattled by it all) She complained, "would it no be better to send trucks and bulldozers and not WAR Ships." I had to point out to her the aid that these ships can bring, pointing out the helo's alone will move aid to areas that are no longer accessible by road, the ships can make freshwater, food, medical care, they can supply boots on the ground for the initial clean up, they give moral support in the time of need to let you know you are not alone. I then had to point out that HMNZS Canterbury will be loaded up with aid, that she isn't the warship you think she is, and she can bring all that aid ashore and she can evacuate personal if needed... which she ended up doing. |
Another issue is manning with a crew of 300, 150 core crew and 150 flight crew, (and if we have two then that is 600 personal.) That is starting to stretch the manning resources of the current personal. So now is the time to start to get the personal and training them for this type of vessel and increase the size of our navy, we are an island nation surrounded by the ocean after all.
With this type of vessel in the fleet, it would actually make it easier to recruit the younger generation as there is more likely the chance that they want to serve on it... I mean who wouldn't... it will be the first time New Zealand would have owned and operated a flat top type vessel, and having all the flight operations makes it exciting to see... heck I would rejoin if I could to serve on her. So the younger generation sees it, and say I want to do that...
The other issue is a shortage of helo's (which I am bluntly going to say) we have always had a shortage of and it makes it difficult to just meet some of the basic requirements of the Government.
So we would need more sub-hunting Helos more than the current eight. We will need more medium-sized helos either more NH-90 or another that are fully marinized to be able to handle the harsh environment of the sea and saltwater etc.. And here is the kicker, personally some form of attack helo's for doing the recon, and force projection work and some air cover for the ground troops.
The Endurance 170 vessel can carry 10 medium-sized helicopters, so 5 NH-90 to do the force projection, 3 attack helo of some kind, and 2 ASW to help with fleet protection, S&R and general duties etc.
So the downside which would the hard sell is basically to use the vessel to its full capacity it needs a bit more money. We could operate one vessel with what we have, but it would leave short for the other ships in the navy, and we still would have no air cover.
