The LCS (at least in LCS-1 class) is overweight and all classes are UNDERARMED. This is not peculiar to USN ships because the majority are underarmed. ... Quite bluntly, the SWO community hasn't figured out that Green Water (and Brown Water) operations are magnitudes more dangerous places than their experiences have taught them. If the USN gets into a shooting war in Green waters, we are going to get a lot of expensive gray ships sunk I've noticed that too. Big ship, lots of men, relatively little firepower compared to comparable WW2 vessels. We don't really have anything to cope with a huge wave of hundreds of speedboats coming all at once.
I would like to see several more CIWS-type guns on that ship that could be manually targeted against small dodging targets.
Take a look at the armament of a late-WW2 PT boat:
"two to four Mk-VIII torpedoes, two dual 50cal machine guns in the turrets, a 40mm Bofors cannon mounted aft, a 37mm cannon far forward, flanked by two 20mm cannons and an assortment of other weapons such as deck mounted mortars, additional 30 and 50 caliber machine guns including two multiple 5" rocket launchers." With a crew of up to 17, everybody appeared to have a heavy weapon except the guy steering the boat.
Ton for ton, the heaviest armed ships and boats of World War 2 were: (1) the LSSL (landing ship support, large) and (2) the PT (patrol torpedo) boat. Both started out as designs for other purposes but morphed, as the results of combat experiences, into gunboats.
The LSSL began life as the smallest ocean-going landing craft, the LCI (landing craft, infantry). Originally called the Landing Craft Support (Large) Mark 3, the LSSL used the same hull of the LCI, but was configured for gunfire support of the landing beaches. The U.S. built 130 of these “mighty midgets” during the war.
LSSL [aka LCS(L) Mk 3] specifications (1945):
Displacement - 250 tons (light), 387 tons (full load)
Length - 158’ 6” overall
Beam - 23’ 3”
Draft loaded - 4’ 9” forward, 6’ 6” aft
Speed - 16.5kts max at 650 shaft rpm, 14.5kts at 585 shaft rpm
Armor - 10-lb STS splinter shield to gun mounts, pilot house and conning tower
Complement - 6 Officers, 65 Enlisted
Propulsion - 8 GM diesels, 4 per shaft, BHP 1,600, twin variable pitch propellers
Endurance - 5,500 miles at 12kts at 45” pitch (350 tons displacement)
Fuel/Stores - 76 tons fuel oil, 10 tons fresh water, 6 tons lubrication oil, 8 tons provisions and stores at full load
Fresh Water Capacity - distill up to 1,000 gals. per day
Armament - bow gun, one single 3”/50 DP (dual purpose) gun mount
two twin 40mm AA gun mounts
four single 20mm AA gun mounts
four .50 cal machine guns
ten MK7 rocket launchers
The PT boat started the war as a torpedo boat to attack large vessels, but turned into a gunboat as the war progressed. The PT boat was not ocean-going with a range like the LSSL and it burned aviation grade gasoline. It was very heavily armed for its size and weight.
PT-596 specifications (1945):
Displacement - 56 tons
Length - 80’
Beam - 20’ 8”
Draft - 5’
Speed - 41 kts.
Complement - 17
Armament - One 37mm mount, one 40mm mount, one 20mm mount, two Mk 50 rocket launchers, four Mk 13 aircraft (22.4-inch) torpedoes and two twin .50 cal. machine guns
Propulsion - Three 1,500 shp Packard W-14 M2500 gasoline engines, three shafts.
Endurance - 6.3 hours at 40 knots on 3 engines, 474 gallons per hour; 10.3 hours at 2,000 rpm (35 knots), 292 gph, 518 miles max.