Posted on 02/26/2016 7:17:07 PM PST by MtnClimber
Much more interesting info at link, but could only exerpt a small amount.
I can see it now. An artificial intelligence deciding not to attack because it believes in peace. Meanwhile dumb russian missiles are making hypersonic sprints to hit an American shop before the defenses can react. We need faster missiles.
Very interesting ... TY
I recall being surprised when that Exocet missile really destroyed the Sheffield.
I think the days of surface ships may be limited.
Good read! I also like that it can be used with existing, multiple platforms on ships/jets.
With our cowardly, leftist, gender-oriented Secretary of the Navy over the Obama term, I’m surprised we still have a Navy, and one that wants to win a fight when necessary.
This admiral sounds like the guys I used to have lunch with - Arleigh Burke, Radford, Middendorf, Dan Galley, etc. - fighting men! And that was at only two tables. You should have seen who was at the others (OSS, CIA, AF, POWS, Army, Marines, ONI/FBI/SACB/HCUA/SISS, etc).
A 1000 lb warhead at waterline and at the center of a ship would be devastating. But, if you hit the ammo locker or fuel tanks it would be better. Bet that is in the works for target engagement. Just a guess.
Zer0 probably thinks a gay Navy is better than a well-armed Navy. Then if someone attacked us the DemocRATs can call them homophobic.
Seems to me that surface skimming missiles would be easier to bring down than one coming straight down.
Shooting up geysers of water in the path of the missile could knock it down or off course.
I would think the ultimate hit would be a missile that penetrated the deck and continued right through to the hull, detonating and blowing a hole in the bottom. Oh, and coming in supersonic at least.
Am I wrong?
I suspect you are right but it might not make much difference.
Modern ships are not heavily armored.
If a missile comes in high then it is easy to detect early with radar and to plan the response. If a missile comes in at wavetop level, the seawater of any wave higher than the missile will block the radar. And if there are planned course changes near-in, there is less predictability when there are only momentary radar images.
IIRC, the AS-4 was designed to do a near vertical Mach 4 dive. Dunno how much maneuvering it could do during that dive, but you had only one chance at knocking it down, and the dealing with all the left over Mach 4 debris still coming at you.
And IIRC, the Exocet warhead did not even detonate, which really ups the ante...................
Thanks for the interesting link!
Got a bunch on my FR home page but the page needs some maintenance..... most links work.
Hope it helps ya.... Stay Safe !!
Interesting.
The Japanese used armor piercing artillery shells with fins attached when they bombed Pearl.
The shells penetrated through the armored decks, exploding deep in the battleships.
The video of the Arizona, wow, the bow lifted out of the water. Mostly caused by the forward magazine exploding I guess. But a bomb/shell penetrated down to the magazine to set it off.
Aluminized Explosives can form that air pocket described in the link. As you state the Japs went old school with HE on delay to punch multiple decks if not the hull to get to the tender parts of the ship. Took disaster control parties out of the equation pretty much with horrific damage , damage to horrible to recover from or even delay evacuation of the crew.
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