RedDwarfIV

Something the authors of articles like this never take into account is the energy required to actually do this. A fleet with a nuclear carrier could produce fuel that way, with the carrier refuelling its escorts. But this wouldn't solve the problems faced in half the first series because Nathan James does not carry a means of generating electricity besides burning fuel. If you burn fuel to make fuel, you'll end up with less overall. And unless America shifts entirely to nuclear and solar (they've got the deserts for it) the process definitely would not be carbon neutral, because oil has to be burned in powerplants to make the energy that's used to make fuel from seawater. Sorry for responding two years after you posted this, but I felt it needed saying.

Cool. I know British destroyers and frigates are designed with air defence in mind. We don't want a repeat of Coventry after all.

How much air defence does the Arleigh Burke class have, anyway?

I imagine they'll be getting a long shore-leave anyway, what with the Nathan James needing significant repairs and restocking. Plus their captain is now tied to St Louis as CNO. I wonder if they'll get sent to Norfolk to start up another destroyer, or even a cruiser, to use in the meantime. In any case, those enlisted that reinlisted got a speech about how they weren't just fighting for America, but for all humanity or something, didn't they?

We've had a good variety of ships appear, from submarines to nuclear battlecruisers, hospital ships to fishing trawlers. Then there was that time Nathan James was tricked into thinking there was a HMS Suffolk around somewhere to help. So, what ships would you like to see in Season 3 (even if it's unlikely they'd appear.) Personally, I'd like to see an expy of HMS Clyde come up from the Falklands via Ascension Island. It's a tiny vessel with not a lot of firepower, but with good speed and a longer range than Nathan James has. As an expy, it would have the Clyde's 30mm cannon and strengthened rear deck capable of carrying a helicopter. Having such a vessel tag along with whatever ship CNO Chandler sends to Europe to deal with the Immune Cult there, would add to the legitimacy of the operation, even if the patrol boat couldn't do much by itself.

Between Vrenya, Solace, and Achilles, I'm pretty sure the Nathan James was never really the last ship at all. It's just the name of the book the series was based on.

But it wasn't a British submarine crew. It was the coxswain and his brother, while the rest of the crew was dead. Reminds me of the FS Dessaix from Axis Of Time - the 'captain' was a Chief Mate or something who had been in charge of the helicopter bay. He was an absolute mess of a petty officer, but he was the most senior crew member to cooperate with the Nazis. As far as I can see, Britain and the Royal Navy were not being portrayed badly here. It's just that two crew members who had the capability to be very nasty people were suddenly given free reign of a nuclear submarine.