randy@ms.uky.edu (Randy Appleton) (12/09/89)
From: Randy Appleton <randy@ms.uky.edu> I have noticed there seem to be two distinct types of magazines in naval missiles. There seem to be the new, American type that hold >40 rounds, and the older type that hold around 8 or so. Is the difference important? Would a ship with a 40 round magazine be *much* better than an 8 round one? Could a single 40 round ship be the equal of 2 or more 8 round ships? A related question would be this: Do most ships have more than the listed number of missiles on board, so as to reload after a battle? Thanks in advance.... Randy randy@ms.uky.edu
terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker) (12/11/89)
From: terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker) In article <12147@cbnews.ATT.COM> randy@ms.uky.edu (Randy Appleton) writes: > >I have noticed there seem to be two distinct types of magazines in naval >missiles. There seem to be the new, American type that hold >40 rounds, >and the older type that hold around 8 or so. > >Is the difference important? Would a ship with a 40 round magazine be >*much* better than an 8 round one? Could a single 40 round ship be the >equal of 2 or more 8 round ships? > >A related question would be this: Do most ships have more than the listed >number of missiles on board, so as to reload after a battle? > First, I am not sure of which launchers you are refering. Some of the earliset USN launchers had 40 rounds. I belieave your question can be answered in the abstract. The number of rounds available is not the only factor in effectiveness. If the launchers have the is only one of the factors applicable. For the same rate of fire (ROF) more missiles simply means you can fire longer. For AAW missiles (those launchers I think you were refering to) ROF isn't as important since the fire control systems can only guide one or two missiles at a time (I know that Aegis is different). For anti-ship missiles you want the missiles fired as rapidly as possible to minimize the dispersion of the missiles so they can overwhelm the defenses. Consequently many SSMs are canister launched. In essence they have 8 launchers, each with only 1 round. To sumarize there are a variety of factors involved in answering your first question. Some of those factors are; speed of reload, ROF, guidance capabilities, missile size, and application. The number of launchers is somewhat independent of the magazine size. More launchers enable you to cover more area, or to launch (and hopefully guide) more missiles. As a rough rule of thumb, more launchers with fewer rounds indicates a design for a short intense conflict (as many earlier soviet designs). Fewer launchers with more missiles each indicates a design for a longer conflict (as most USN designs). As usual only a war will determine which decision was best. In wartime, most ships would carry their maximum number of rounds. Usually, the ammunition in wrahdips can only be carried in designated magazines, and most captains wouldn't care to have ammo stored anywhere else. When the ammo in the magazine is expended, that's all there is. The magazine then must be reloaded from off ship. Some weapons have ready service rounds, that are ready to load and usually on the mount. These rounds come out of the magazine and the magazine still determines the total number of rounds carried. Terry Rooker terryr@cse.goi.edu
tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) (12/12/89)
From: tek@CS.UCLA.EDU (Ted Kim (Random Dude)) In article <12147@cbnews.ATT.COM> randy@ms.uky.edu (Randy Appleton) writes: > >From: Randy Appleton <randy@ms.uky.edu> > >I have noticed there seem to be two distinct types of magazines in naval >missiles. There seem to be the new, American type that hold >40 rounds, >and the older type that hold around 8 or so. > ... >A related question would be this: Do most ships have more than the listed >number of missiles on board, so as to reload after a battle? I would say there are actually four basic types of missile mounts: 1. 8 cell trainable launcher; examples: Mk16 launcher for ASROC Mk29 launcher for Sea Sparrow These launchers have 8 missiles in the launcher and a below-deck magazine with a few more sets of eight missiles. Reloading is pretty slow (minutes per missile) and in some cases is manually done. Due to the nature of the weapons you don't launch more than one or two at a time. (In the case of ASROC, generally only one is launched at a time to prevent mutual interference between the homing torpedos. In the case of Sea Sparrow, there is generally only one director for the mount.) 2. 4 missiles in a fixed, bolt-on canisters; examples: Mk 141 launcher for Harpoon Mf 143 Armored Box Launcher for Tomahawk These launchers are one-shot deals. But you can basically launch them all at once or in a short time. These are anti-ship missiles (Tomahawk can be land-strike too) and so they can be launched in a big salvo to try to overwhelm the enemies defenses. I think you cannot reload (replace) these things at sea. These launchers are pretty cheap and can be put onto ships rather easily. 3. rotating arm launchers; examples: Mk 13 single-arm launcher Mk 26 dual-arm launcher These launchers are serviced by integral below-deck magazines of about 40 missiles. Firing rate is something like one per 10 seconds per arm. Reloading is through a loading hatch, which probably requires a crane and thus port facilities. These launchers can carry a variety of things, but were originally meant for long-range anti-air warfare. Thus, effective rate of fire may be more limited by the number of directors. 4. vertical launch cells (Mk 41) These are one shot deals, but they come in 32 and 64 cell models, with a few cells taken up by an integral loading crane. You can fire all of them in very short time. There is a crane, so maybe you can reload them on a calm sea, though who knows if replenishment ships carry these modules. This type of launcher will eventually be able to launch everything. >Is the difference important? Would a ship with a 40 round magazine be >*much* better than an 8 round one? Could a single 40 round ship be the >equal of 2 or more 8 round ships? The 8 round and 40 round magazine launchers are often not directly comparable, since many cases they are for different purposes. But if they were, I suspect for many cases 8 missiles is enough for a single battle. But, due to reloading constraints, ships with the smaller magazines may have to go to port to get reloads. -ted Ted Kim UCLA Computer Science Department Internet: tek@penzance.cs.ucla.edu 3804C Boelter Hall UUCP: ...!{uunet|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!tek Los Angeles, CA 90024 Phone: (213) 206-8696