Underrated Ship No More! The UK Type 31 Has Evolved Into a Ship to be Reckoned With

Originally designed as global patrol frigates, the UK's Type 31 has evolved into a platform capable of conducting the full range of surface attack capabilities, following the announcement that the Type 31 small frigate would be equipped with the 'Greatest' Mark 41 Vertical Launch System.
So, how great is this Mk41 VLS?

[sammydsouza]

Build 12 units.
With the MK41 VLS cells, it is a capable, affordable ship.
With all originally ordered 5 units targeted be in the water by 2028 it would be prudent to simply keep the production line running.

[sammydsouza]

With 32 MK41 VLS cells, and 48 Seaceptors, this is a really capable ship, and, they are coming in at a very good price; £ 1.5 Billion for 5 ships ( theoretically)
Build 12 units.

[royaldefence]

The Pohjanmaa-class is the smallest warship that can acommodate the strike length Mk.41 VLS..

A corvette, probably: the Pohjanmaa-class corvette expected for the Finnish Navy from around the mid-2020s. Its length will 104m, and a displacement of over 3, 000 tonnes will make it one of the largest corvettes, but arguably not quite frigate sized.

The Mk 41 VLS comes in three sizes/lengths: self-defense, tactical and strike. No other corvette has any Mk 41 VLS modules, not even the self-defence length; nevertheless an export request was made to the US (and granted) for a strike-length 8 cell VLS for each of the planned four Pohjanmaa corvettes.

[sensibledriver]

With the upgrade in silo's these could even be part of the battle group.

[buzzmeanytime]

Imagine what they could have done with the AXIS Navy if they were to go back in time to WWII. BOTH NAVY’s would have been gone within a few days.

[LeeXRV]

All Royal Navy ships are not to be reckoned with. The Royal Navy remains the best-trained naval force today. The RN always outperforms expectations based on the equipment available and today the RN has some of the most capable warships in existence. The Type 45's are standout ships of their respective class.

[robruss]

Good, now spend some crumbs and build 50. Parliament coughed up half a trillion pounds to pay for their own imposed lockdown of the British economy. Britain is 6th richest country in the world. 20 billion pounds is a pittance for 50 relatively good ships, and the jobs they'd create would pay for the cost longterm. In short term either tariff China or cut welfare for a change to build the ships.

[russellbenton]

Get them installed from first thing . The RN needs the capability . We have too many ships that are just hulls (sitting ducks) with potential to have things fitted …..but rarely are . Just another politicians to keep to pretend we have capability

[squirepraggerstope]

Yes, the 32 x T41 VLS have saved the T31s from ending up merely as yet more absurd "FFBNW"-afflicted de facto RN giant OPVs and not real top tier combat-capable GPFs. Even so, it's borderline as 32 cells is the bare minimum for a ship of this size and other serious deficits of course remain unaddressed by our loathsome, cheese-paring London establishment trash.

[Theboxingobserver]

Its like putting 22 inch rims on a wheelybin.

[Highendaudio]

Who write this nonsense. The Type 31 has no missile purcurement at all and won't stop sensentalising it