Military History | How To Make War | Wars Around the World Rules of Use How to Behave on an Internet Forum
Australia Discussion Board
   Return to Topic Page
Subject: And now for something completely different... The geek shop
gf0012-aust    6/15/2009 7:48:19 PM
as per the title. I thought I'd create a dump spot for some theoretical discussions
 
Quote    Reply

Show Only Poster Name and Title     Newest to Oldest
Pages: 1 2
benellim4       6/16/2009 9:12:34 PM

On another note, I never understood what use light weight torpedos were on a surface ship when they faced heavy weights on a sub that have three or four times the range. Is it something to do with the sub needing to launch from close enough that the enemy won't have time to detect the torpedo's engine and triangulate back to the subs position?

For a couple of reasons.
#1 The way to out range a sub, is to use a helo. Helos carrying heavy weight torpedoes is a no go. 
The sub has to have a weapon with a long range because it needs to be its own delivery system.
#2 The sub has to sink a surface ship, which requires a larger warhead. Whereas, with the exception of a few Soviet designs, a lightweight torpedo will suffice for a submarine because the sub has done the hard work for you, it's already sunk itself. ;-)
 
Quote    Reply

benellim4       6/16/2009 9:13:12 PM




Mk50 CBASS? Do you mean Mk54 CBASS?



Typo, I was referring to migrating CBASS technology into the smaller weapons solution 



Why the dislike for the MU90?





No dislike for it.  It was an issue that it would be far easier to migrate CBASS into a defacto related system from the same source country than go through potential integration and development issues with a new "host sourced" weapons system.



Sounds like you're sold on the CBASS tech?
 
Quote    Reply

gf0012-aust       6/16/2009 9:39:15 PM
Sounds like you're sold on the CBASS tech? 

IMO, its an effective tool in current capabilities, and it does give fat subs a better chance to go in and kill small subs in greenwater. :)
the future stuff is even more interesting.  eg sympathetic systems which hunt and kill in tandem.  eg a tube sized swimmer that has on board sensors, SAR etc handing off to a killer tooling along beside it.

swarms of arrays, cec between arrays to the shooters etc.... 
 
Quote    Reply

Aussiegunneragain    benellim4    6/17/2009 6:41:56 AM




On another note, I never understood what use light weight torpedos were on a surface ship when they faced heavy weights on a sub that have three or four times the range. Is it something to do with the sub needing to launch from close enough that the enemy won't have time to detect the torpedo's engine and triangulate back to the subs position?




For a couple of reasons.

#1 The way to out range a sub, is to use a helo. Helos carrying heavy weight torpedoes is a no go. 

The sub has to have a weapon with a long range because it needs to be its own delivery system.

#2 The sub has to sink a surface ship, which requires a larger warhead. Whereas, with the exception of a few Soviet designs, a lightweight torpedo will suffice for a submarine because the sub has done the hard work for you, it's already sunk itself. ;-)



Thanks, but it doesn't really answer the question that am getting at so I'll rephrase it. Is a submarine going to be able to exploit the full range of its heavyweight torpedos or does it have to close to use them effectively and if it can exploit the full range, is it at all likely that the ship will be able to get within range with its lightweights in the open ocean? What I've got in mind is that some corvette and patrol boat type vessels don't have helecopters or ASW missiles and only have lightweight torpedos. Also sometimes the helo is unable to fly on a bigger ship.
 
Quote    Reply

Herald12345    A torpedo is a cruise MISSILE.   6/17/2009 7:13:17 AM
It swims instead of flies, but like any  missile, ASPECT of launcher and target and closing rates dictates how large a no escape zone the torpedo has.

Most modern torpedoes are active sensor guided chase weapons, which means that once the target is aware, it runs for it. It then becomes a stern chase.  

So as a rule of thumb you want to be as close as you dare so that most of the torpedo's endurance can be used for the chase. A 2000 second  20 m/s torpedo could use up to 1200 m/s seconds chasing its target. The optimum launch distance of separation could be as little as 500 seconds separation depending on aspect!
 
Herald
 
 
Quote    Reply

Aussiegunneragain       6/17/2009 8:34:47 AM

So as a rule of thumb you want to be as close as you dare so that most of the torpedo's endurance can be used for the chase. A 2000 second  20 m/s torpedo could use up to 1200 m/s seconds chasing its target. The optimum launch distance of separation could be as little as 500 seconds separation depending on aspect! 

Makes sense.
 
Quote    Reply
1 2



 Latest
 News 		  Most
 Read 		  Most
 Commented		  Hot
 Topics