March 17, 2024

Air Attack on Ships Part 1 - Level Bombing

Killing surface ships from the air was a major challenge during WWII. A number of different methods were tried, and while I've covered many of the unconventional ones at some length, the conventional methods also deserve attention.


Hiryu under attack by B-17s at Midway

The most basic method was level bombing, flying over the target at altitude and dropping bombs. This had the advantage of staying out of the range of lighter defensive weapons, and tended to be favored by interwar advocates of air power. Even the most optimistic realized that a single bomber wasn't likely to land hits, but the theory was that a reasonably-sized formation could drop enough bombs to land a few critical hits. Making this easier was the fact that high-altitude bombing was by far the most effective way to attack the deck of a battleship. Armor-piercing bombs dropped from high altitude could reach enormous speed on the way down, as shown in this table of altitudes at which various bombs would penetrate decks:1 Read more...

March 15, 2024

Open Thread 152

It's time once again for our regular open thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't culture war.

As a reminder, the New England meetup is coming up in early May. The AirBnB is full, but anyone who wants to come can get a hotel room nearby. Currently signed up to go are:

  • Bean and Lord Nelson
  • Sam Chevre
  • Hunter
  • Ian Argent
  • SoupPirate
  • John Schilling
  • Usea2b
  • smd
  • 2 Friedmans

Also, we have a request for travel funds from someone who would like to attend but can't afford to on their own. If you're willing to donate, send me an email.

Overhauls are Russia's New Nuclear Weapons - A Skeptical Look, Military Procurement - Pricing, Amphibious Warfare Part 5, Letters of Marque Today, and for 2023, my review of the museums at Fort Leonard Wood and Confederate Raiding Part 8.

March 10, 2024

Missile Defense Tests Part 3

After the recent post on NSM, I decided to take another look at missile defense in Command: Modern Operations. This is something I've done before, but Command has gotten updates since then, and there were some categories of missiles and ships that I didn't test back then.

To set the level, I re-ran the basic scenario, the 1991 (NTU) version of the missile cruiser California versus 16 P-20 Styx missiles fired from a bunker in Palos Verdes, Los Angeles.

ShipCalifornia 1991
Attacking WeaponP-20 Styx
Speed600 kts
Altitude164 ft
Detection Range29 nm
Engagement Range28 nm
Ph0.5
Missiles Launched30
Shot Down14
Sunk?No

A few things to note as a matter of model analysis. First, hit probability is down from 0.55 to 0.5, which probably accounts for the leakers that got through. Second, CMO has changed from shooting 2v1 to 1v1 in this case, although that mattered less than you might expect given that California was shooting at full rate through the entire engagement. Read more...

March 03, 2024

Freedom of Navigation and American Policy Part 2

From the earliest days of the Republic, America has been an advocate of the position that all ships should be able to sail the world's oceans freely for legitimate commerce, regardless of what any given government thought about it. This often brought it into conflict with other nations, ranging from the British and French, who both thought that interfering with shipping was a great idea in their efforts to defeat the other, to the Barbary States of North Africa, who thought that they deserved to get paid by anyone who didn't want their ship seized and their crew sold into slavery. As a result, the US fought an undeclared war with France and then a declared one with Tripoli over the matter.

Even while the nascent USN was fighting in the Mediterranean, the Napoleonic Wars were raging, and tensions between the Francophile Democratic-Republicans and the British began to grow. Some of this was because the Americans kept getting in the way of British plans to blockade Bonaparte into submission, but the biggest source of friction had to do with Impressment. The American merchant fleet was a haven for sailors who had run from the Royal Navy, and British warships would frequently stop American merchantmen to search for deserters. Tensions were increased further because many of these deserters had taken American citizenship, which the British refused to recognize, although the Americans were most outraged by the occasional seizure of native citizens. The British offered to end the process, but only in exchange for American recognition of their right to full control over the waters around Britain, which was a price too steep for the US to consider. Read more...

March 01, 2024

Open Thread 151

It's time once again for our regular open thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't Culture War.

I've finally gotten one of these out pretty much on time!

We're about two months out from our New England meetup, and the AirBnB is getting close to full, so sign up if you haven't already. It will be a great time, and you should come.

Overhauls are The Proximity Fuze Part 2, Modern Propulsion Part 4, The Designation Follies, A Brief Overview of the British Fleet, and for 2023 the carrier double feature on the Nimitz and Ford classes.

February 25, 2024

Freedom of Navigation and American Policy Part 1

Freedom of navigation, the idea that the waters of the world should be open to all, is America's oldest and most consistently held foreign policy position. Even before the Constitution was written, trouble flared on this front, as the Barbary States in North Africa had a habit of taking passing ships and holding them for ransom. Previously, American vessels had been protected by the RN, but with that shield gone, other means were required. Morocco was dealt with via a treaty that is still in effect, but the other Barbary states were less willing to deal, and in the 1790s, Algeria began to seize lots of American ships. Congress responded by authorizing the creation of a Navy (the Continental Navy having been disbanded after the Revolution) and the construction of six frigates. But before any could be completed, the matter was settled by briberydiplomacy, and things quieted down in North Africa for a decade or so.

But it was hardly a solution to all of the problems faced by American ships in the waters around Europe. France had seen the American Revolution and decided that it looked like fun, but that it needed more chaos and bloodshed. The rest of Europe decided that they should nip this in the bud, and declared war. The Americans were still reasonably pro-French thanks to their help during the Revolution, but the new French government quickly squandered a great deal of this goodwill by handing out privateering commissions to American ships and sending prizes into American ports for condemnation, greatly increasing tensions between the US and Britain. Both sides did their best to attack the other's commerce, even in American vessels, and for a while it was unclear whether the US would go to war with France or Britain over the matter, until Britain signed the Jay Treaty in 1794, agreeing to withdraw from the remaining forts in the new nation's territory in exchange for the Americans agreeing to allow seizure of ships carrying goods to hostile ports in Europe. This was a significant departure from the traditional position of "free ships, free goods",2 and the French responded by essentially declaring open season on the American merchant marine. Read more...

February 18, 2024

The Naval Strike Missile

Recent years have seen a significant rise in the importance placed on anti-ship missiles, and the most prominent of these missiles has been the Naval Strike Missile (NSM)3 developed by Norwegian defense contractor Kongsberg. NSM offers a major improvement in capability over legacy missiles like Harpoon and Exocet, and while competitor missiles have begun to emerge in recent years, NSM was good enough to be adopted not only by much of NATO but also by the United States, which is famously hostile to foreign systems.4


An NSM is launched

Norway had long maintained an indigenous defense industry, and it had been the first NATO power to introduce a proper anti-ship missile in the form of Penguin, a small weapon intended for use from missile boats and aircraft. As they were primarily expecting to use Penguin in coastal waters full of fjords and islands, the missile was equipped with an inertial navigation system to allow it to take advantage of terrain and fitted with an IR seeker instead of radar guidance, considerably reducing the odds that it would waste itself on a rock. Penguin was exported to a number of countries, including Sweden, Brazil, Greece, New Zealand, Spain, Turkey and, shockingly, the United States, who apparently didn't see it as worth the bother of developing an anti-ship missile for use by its helicopters. Read more...

February 16, 2024

Open Thread 150

It's time once again for our regular open thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't Culture War.

Apologies this is up late. Work has been busy, and I'm prioritizing the main posts.

Also, a reminder that all of you should consider coming to the meetup in Providence.

Overhauls are Classes, Aerial Cruise Missiles, The Proximity Fuze Part 1 and for 2023, my review of Top Gun: Maverick and Thoughts on the Chinese Balloon.

February 11, 2024

The Small Carrier Problem

The USN's supercarriers are extremely capable, but also very expensive, and even the USN can only afford a few. As a result, every few years, the suggestion of building smaller, cheaper carriers comes up. In recent years, these have gotten louder, driven in large part by the development of the F-35B, which can operate without the need for catapults or arresting gear and offers capability unmatched outside the F-35 family. There have even been tests with USS America, normally an amphibious helicopter carrier, serving as a "Lightning Carrier". Unfortunately, there are serious practical problems with all of this. The simple fact is that there are major economies of scale in carrier aviation, and STOVL isn't going to remove them, nor is something like America, lovely though she is, a good substitute for the CVNs.

But where do these economies of scale come from? The first and simplest is the fact that steel is cheap and air is free. What really costs is not size, but capability. A full-capability carrier is going to need radar, big engines, defensive weapons, mission-planning systems and fancy communications gear, all of which costs a lot more than the bare hull, regardless of the size of the carrier. Not to mention things like catapults, arresting gear, and heavy maintenance facilities, all of which need to be onboard to make a conventional carrier regardless of the size of the air group. Nor is the air group going to scale linearly. Sure, you can cut the fighter complement from four dozen to two dozen, but there's going to need to be some minimum number of fighters kept for self-defense, and since the threat doesn't halve for a smaller carrier, that might not be something you can cut too much, leaving fewer than half of the previous complement for strike missions. Things are even worse for the rest of the air wing. The complement of E-2 Hawkeyes (typically 4-5) is set by the need to keep one airborne at all times while allowing maintenance, and the size of the MH-60R detachment similarly comes from the need to keep a helicopter or two active to hunt subs. The EA-18G and MH-60S detachments could be cut, but you're still looking at needing more than half of the carrier wing for less than half the capability. Read more...

February 04, 2024

RAM

I've previously discussed Standard, Sea Sparrow, ESSM and Phalanx, but there is one last air-defense weapon that deserves discussion. This is the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile, better known as RAM.


A RAM is launched from USS Green Bay

Much like the other point-defense systems, RAM's origins trace back to Eilat, and the panic that it provoked within the USN. It was conceived to work in pretty much the same niche as Phalanx, providing a last-ditch defense against incoming anti-ship missiles. Effective as it was, Phalanx had a serious limitation, even while it was still in development. The use of a gun limited effective range to no more than 1500 yards, which was a serious problem in the face of supersonic missiles. The available window to engage such a weapon was short, and even if the Phalanx did shoot it down, the debris was likely to strike the defended ship. The obvious solution was to use a missile, which could engage at significantly longer range. Read more...