Being one better qualified to comment here:
The bilge pump has been fucked for years. In carrying out it's primary function of assuaging floodwater to prevent an adverse change in the metacentric height of the vessel, depleting it's righting lever and encouraging free-surface-induced list, it sucked in a bale of rags in the form of Bryan Robson. They blocked the inlet strainer, and left the crew fruitlessly baling out the floodwater with dustpans and buckets.
Nobody's bothered much about the bilge pump. It's sat there, in the lower reaches of the ship, neglected, chocked with shit and stuff that shouldn't be there.
Meanwhile, the ship's engines, normally functioning correctly, were sold off bit by bit to power other ships. In their place, smaller, cheaper units were installed. They malfunctioned, failed to perform, or just simply stopped working. Where they were working, the ship's Captain ran them anyway and the ship plodded on in all kinds of seas, but usually made no headway. Where the current was against the direction of travel, frequently the engines would fail even to overcome that, resulting in HMS Blades going backwards or in naval parlance, travelling astern. Any Captain worth his salt would recognise this and to save his ship, reinstall or buy upgraded engines. But for him, as long as the shafts were turning, why worry, eh?
The ships guns, the method by which they prosecute their campaigns, for some strange reason fire shells way below the calibre. Anyone with a knowledge of naval gunfire and ballistics will know that a naval artillery round is a high-velocity, high-explosive device, which is driven along it's spin-stabilised trajectory by high-quality, precision guidance systems and a meaty amount of cordite. To summarise, its exciting, high-accuracy stuff and having watched Naval Gunfire Support land on opposition territory using long range imaging, I vouch that you need quality people and quality equipment. Anyone under that amount of death from afar wil definitely know how punishing this phenomenon is. Ask any Argentine conscript. But the ship has been firing budget armament for too long. Too small for the calibre, too small a charge and the guidance system is fucked.
The ships missile and point-defence defence system, ostensibly in some areas a prototype/hybrid with older parts, is (on paper) a worldbeater. In previous campaigns, anything thrown at the ship has been artfully slapped away, or ended up in bits in the water. But weapons systems evolve. They also devolve or fall victim to complacency. See HMS Sheffield, sister ship to HMS Blades. The system, two high velocity multi-barrelled guns that point out to port and starboard, are not possibly the best money can buy and allow fast moving targets past, toward the ship with frightening regularity. The missiles, designed to take out high-angle attacks from accurate inbound targets, are sometimes slow to load, sometimes slow to acquire and often never leave the launcher.
The result of this is HMS Blades has been holed many times. She is shipping water in many compartments and is listing badly, with smoke pouring from various hits along her superstructure and waterline and her crew, loyal, faithful individuals who invest their faith, money and love in the vessel are powerless to do much because the Captain hasn't invested in the right areas, and has just dished out more dustpans whilst everyone awaits the next wave of attacks.
Unless the Captain breaks out the locker with the damage control gear, gets the equipment fixed or better still replaced, it will lose its reserve of buoyancy, capsize and sink, taking all hands with it.
pommpey
