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So, Fridtjof Nansen class against the Type 45 class. Overall better ship?
 
The Nimitz class beats all! :D he he

We'll soon see about that! Sortie generation rate is what matters, not all jets are up at once. Besides, a Nimitz tends not to work well as a GP warship, well, when it had the Vikings it might have.
 
So, Fridtjof Nansen class against the Type 45 class. Overall better ship?
I'm not sure the comparison is very good. The 45 is mostly anti-air, while Nansen is primarily for anti-sub.

But based on the specs they are at least comparable.

Nansen will have NSMs (one day). The 45 will have CIWS, making it better at surviving ASM attacks. The 45 may be equipped with Tomahawks for land attack later, something the Nansen has nothing for.

OTOH, Nansen is specifically for ASW, but only carries one helicopter, while the 45 in theory can have two (if I'm not mistaken). Nansen has a far more advanced sonar suite, but how important that is when both carry helicopters with sonobuoys I can't really say. What noise characteristics do they have? I doubt any of us know, but both are modern ships.

The 45 programme, six ships, apparently cost USD 10.6bn. The five Nansen ships cost USD 3.8bn. I feel Norway had more value for money here!
 
It seems safe to say that the T45s are top of the range air defence ships (indeed, it's been called the worlds best air defence ship) but a low end anti-sub platform while the Nansens seem to be around average in both fields.

I read somewhere that the noise signature of the T45 would be loud (by modern platform standards) due to the hull shape but that's just speculation. I think the system that puts the T45 miles ahead though is the PAAMS/Aster with the SAMPSON radar as it seems to be a much more capable option than AEGIS.

The Royal Navy tend to focus on specialist platforms I'd say, rather than multi-purpose. In my opinion the Nansens represent the budget end in AEGIS platforms, especially in size and range, however, they do seem to be some of the most capable ASW ships in NATO outside the USN and RN. Fantastic value for money as you said.

As for helicopters, the T45s usually put to sea with only one helicopter (it has provision for two) armed with 4 anti ship missiles and a couple torpedoes. The NH90 is roughly identical in role and armament.

Also, the ship builders had planned for 12 T45s but the government cut the program to 6, huge waste of money.
 
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F-35C is the main aircraft on US (and British) carriers.

Obviously, there are also support aircraft like Hawkeyes and helos, and possibly quite a few old Super Hornets to keep it real and balanced! :)

I'm hoping the Royal Navy purchase Hawkeyes for the new carrier fleet rather than rely on the old Helo-borne AEW systems.
 
I really would enjoy this topic continuing. BUMP.
 
In such a slow moving forum as this, bumping really isn't needed... The thread wasn't even half down the first page! :)

EDIT: to make my post a meaningful bump, I found this article to be very interesting: Defence spending in a time of austerity
 
These always come in to my hospital (I just work there, I'm not unwell), nice to see.
Royal_Navy_SAR_2.jpg
 
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Another "better ship" debate! :D Kuznetsov class against Queen E class. Just remember that the Kuznetsov will have had its Shipwreck missile tubes removed, Su-33s replaced by '29Ks, and its airwing increased by 2030. I AM NOT biased toward any one of these ships, (it is obvious by my avatar that I am American) I was simply pointing out some changes to the Kuznetsov. :)