Originally posted by DeV
View Post
So let's play your game: €250,000 for 30 years is €7.5 Million. How does spending up to an extra €100 million on a sealift capable MRV, which will spend at least 95% of its time as an OPV, constitute good value for money if you measure it in such narrow terms?
It doesn't. The only thing that's VFM if you're looking at it in those terms is another OPV and keep hiring ferries.
But you've got to weigh up all the possible benefits.
Given that we're an island nation, I think an independent national civilian/mil sealift capability is borderline priceless - however I'm not advocating for Irish Shipping Part Deux. It's simply that the potential for such a vessel to be used as a vehicle for humanitarian, trade & military operations is vast, as are the political and economic implications.
Despite being a person who wants to see the IAC develop an overseas capability and become more army support orientated - if it's a choice between one C130J or a sealift vessel, I'll go with the sealift.
Getting back on to the MRV concept itself - I recall someone here posting a very interesting link on ship design considerations a few years back. What stands out in my memory, is how the costs began to spiral once a vessel became a certain size and it was designed to hit higher speeds. Can anyone link to it or comment? I'm just wondering about the consequences of trying to get a sealift vessel to hit 24kts+ (I'm aware that it's going to patrol a lot slower than that, but you still have to install the capability)
Comment