Posted on 08/26/2013 4:06:29 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
ROC Navy unveils "High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran" at TADTE 2013 show
At TADTE 2013, the Taipei Aerospace & Defense Technology Exhibition, ROC Navy (Republic of China - Taiwan) unveiled a vessel currently under construction by the Lung-De Shipbuilding Corporation dubbed the "High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran (WPC)"
The High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran is Taiwan's Navy future Littoral Combat Ship solution under the Hsun Hai program.
With a length of 60.4 meters this corvette size vessel is designed for littoral operations. A sign on display at the show indicated: "In order to face the increasing threat across the Taiwan Strait, ROC Navy has developed a new type of Littoral Combat Ship, High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran (WPC). This ship design increases ship mobility, and provides for greater stealth technology, larger capacity, and better adaptability to environmental conditions. This new class of ships is designed by Naval Shipbuilding Development Center (NSDC) and Ship Ocean Industries R&D Center (SOIC). The High Efficiency Wave Piercing Catamaran (WPC) is currently under construction by the Lund-De Shipbuilding Corporation."
ROC Navy future Littoral Combat Ship is heavily armed with 16 anti-ship missiles, a 76mm main gun and a Phalanx CIWS
This Taiwanese "Littoral Combat Ship" is heavily armed for its size as it is fitted with no less than 16 anti-ship missiles. Representatives at the show said the catamaran corvette may fire both Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III missiles making it a potent ASUW platform. HF-3 missile is expected to have a range of 130 kilometers and is reported to be capable of reaching speeds of Mach 2 while the older generation HF-2 missile has a range of 160 kilometers and reach subsonic speeds.
In addition to anti-ship missiles, the corvette is fitted with a 76mm main gun, 4x 12.7mm machine guns and a Phalanx 20mm CIWS. There is no helicopter hangar; however the deck may accommodate a medium size helicopter (10 tons class). Propulsion is achieved through 4 waterjets.
Basic ship specifications: Length: 60.4m Width: 14m Depth: 6m Max draught: 2.3m Max speed: 38 knots Endurance: 2000 nautical miles Crew: 34
Detailed view of the bow showing the wave piercing design of the hull allowing top speeds of 38 knots
What kind of power plant? Diesel?
With a 38-knot top speed, I’m betting gas turbines, and maybe pumpjet drive.
What aircraft defenses?
5.56mm
Strip all the armor and guns, and I’ll bet she goes like a bat out of hell!
This class of ship is know a a ‘Barf-a-matic’. They work great in short wave lengths, shorter than the vessel. (inland lakes, and bays). Offshore when the waves are significant, they are dangerous. US navy is falling for this too. Also we are building ships with very short life spans to replace 40-60 year old ships. Not a good practice.
They need to stop any PLAAN/PLA attack before it reaches the beach. Combining shore based missiles and guns with small corvettes and air power could make a PLAAN move very expensive.
No doubt the Chicoms will plan a rollback strategy of taking out airfields and naval vessels, but they still have to get sizable landing forces across 90 miles of water. If enough ROC forces survive and are able to engage during that crossing, then they might beat it back.
The PLAAN continues to build its amphibious capability and PLA airborne assets are building an airhead capability. One day, the Chicoms will use their toys.
A cat style boat turned in 224 miles per hour at the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout yesterday.
Looks a bit like a scaled down version of one of the U.S. LCS classes.
Amazing that you can find enough open water in Lake of the Ozarks to go 224 mph.
I’ve seen those boats. The toughest part seems to be keeping them from going airborne.
The lake is nearly 90 miles long. Plenty of room for a race course...
JHSV, not LCS.
I know its a long lake, I would think the issue would be keeping a large enough area clear of other boats and wakes.
The 224 mph boat was a 50 foot catamaran, powered by twin Lycoming T-55 turbine engines, producing 6,000 horsepower.
The 114 mph fast pontoon was a 25 foot Forest River Southbay, powered by three 300 horsepower Merc outboards.
Looks like a capsize waiting to happen, the first time it has an under-experienced skipper.
Cool. I’m an old Missouri boy myself. Wish I could have watched it.
The Water Patrol has changed quite a bit in the past five years. previously, the patrol was made up of old, tired, former sheriff's deputies who had to depend on 25 year old patrol boats. Now, the MO Highway Patrol owns the Water Patrol division and they cruse in 500 + horsepower Donzi power boats and take no lip.
This has calmed down the adult beverage consumption to some extent and while it's still legal to have a drink in your boat, the captain had better be sober.
One more week of nuttiness on the lake (Labor Day weekend) and things will slow down a bit. There was a time when the lake would roll up the sidewalks just after Labor Day but now the three counties have 100,000 full time residents and the restaurants and other stores stay open.
We now have four major grocery store chains represented, including a big Dierberg’s store out of St. Louis that features a lot of ready made foods.
Drive down to the lake, check in at the store and leave your charcoal in the bag.
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