Webster

The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions." --American Statesman Daniel Webster (1782-1852)


Thursday, March 23, 2017

More ships used in "Red Storm Rising"



This is the second of the series of the equipment used in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising.  I will also be including Air force, Army equipment from both NATO and the Warsaw Pact.  I will continue to work the Escort ships that protected the convoys that were needed to resupply the battered NATO forces that were slowing down the Warsaw advance. Part of the book was the the Soviets started the war because they needed oil from the Middle East and they wanted to seize the oil and after knocking NATO out, they would be able to send a category "A" units to grab the oil in 1988, Islamic terrorists from Soviet Azerbaijan destroy an important Soviet oil-production facility at Nizhnevartovsk, RSFSR, crippling the Soviet Union's oil production and threatening to wreck the nation's economy due to oil shortages.
   



Class and type: Knox-class frigate
Displacement: 3,201 tons (4,182 tons full load)
Length: 438 ft (134 m)
Beam: 46 ft 9 in (14.25 m)
Draught: 24 ft 9 in (7.54 m)
Propulsion:
  • 2 × CE 1,200 psi (8,300 kPa) boilers
  • 1 × Westinghouse geared turbine
  • 1 shaft, 35,000 shp (26,000 kW)
Speed: >27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Complement: 18 officers, 267 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • AN/SPS-40 Air Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-67 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SQS-26 Sonar
  • AN/SQR-18 Towed array sonar system
  • Mk68 Gun Fire Control System
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
AN/SLQ-32 Electronics Warfare System
Armament:
Aircraft carried: 1 × SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS I) helicopter



 Pharris suffers extreme damage following a torpedo attack by a Victor III submarine, using what Omalley called a "Pump Fake", the submarine makes a hard turn with the screws, and in the ensuing cavitations caused by the maneuver, drops a noisemaker to divert the attention and ducks in deep to get around the surface ship. (the bow forward of the ASROC mounts was torn off), warranting an extensive repair. Her captain, Ed Morris, is subsequently transferred to the USS Reuben James (FFG-57).

The Knox class are 438 feet (133.5 m) long overall and 415 feet (126.5 m) at the waterline, with a beam of 46 feet 9 inches (14.2 m) and a draft of 24 feet 9 inches (7.5 m). At 4,200 metric tons (4,130 tons), with a length of 438 feet (133.5 metres) and a beam of 47 feet (14.3 m). The steam plant for these ships consists of two Combustion Engineering or Babcock & Wilcox "D" type boilers, each equipped with a high-pressure (supercharger) forced draught air supply system, with a plant working pressure of 1,200 pounds per square inch (8,300 kPa) and 1,000 °F (538 °C) superheat and rated at 35,000 shaft horsepower (26,000 kW) driving a single screw. This gives them a speed of 27 knots (50 km/h).
These ships were designed primarily as antisubmarine warfare (ASW) platforms.  As built, their main anti-submarine sensor was the large bow-mounted AN/SQS-26CX low-frequency scanning sonar, operating as an active sonar at a frequency of about 3.5 kHz and passively at 1.5–4 kHz. The active modes of operation included direct path, to a range of about 20,000 yards (18,000 m), bottom bounce, and convergence zone, which could give ranges of up to about 70,000 yards (64,000 m), well outside the capability of ASROC, and requiring the use of a helicopter to exploit. Twenty-five ships of the class (DE-1052, 1056, 1063–1071 and 1078–1097) were refitted with the AN/SQS-35(V) Independent Variable Depth Sonar, an active sonar operating at about 13 kHz The IVDS' sonar transducers were packaged within a 2-ton fiberglass-enclosed "fish" containing the sonar array and a gyro-compass/sensor package launched by the massive 13V Hoist from a stern compartment, located just beneath the main deck, to depths of up to 600 feet (180 m). The IVDS could take advantage of water layer temperature conditions in close-range (less than 20,000 yards (18,290 m) submarine detection, tracking and fire-control.The AN/SQS-35 "fish" was later modified to tow an AN/SQR-18A TACTASS passive towed array sonar, the active sonar transponder being removed from the fish as part of the modification.


As built, they were equipped with one 5 in (127 mm) 54 caliber Mark 42 gun forward, an eight round ASROC launcher (with 16 missiles carried) abaft the gun and forward of the bridge, with four fixed 12.75 in (324 mm) Mark 32 anti-submarine torpedo tubes. A helicopter deck and hangar for operating the DASH drone helicopter was fitted aft. The helicopter facilities were expanded in the 1970s to accommodate the larger, manned, Kaman SH-2D Seasprite LAMP helicopter. While as built, anti-aircraft capabilities were limited to the 5-inch gun, it was planned to refit the ships with a short range surface to air missile system to replace the cancelled Sea Mauler. 31 ships (DE-1052–1069 and 1071–1083) were fitted with an eight-round Basic Point Defence Missile System (BPDMS) launcher for RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles, while DE-1070 was fitted with an improved NATO Sea Sparrow launcher. It was planned to equip the other 14 ships with Sea Chaparral, based on the Sidewinder air-to-air missile, but this plan was abandoned. All ships were refitted with a 20 millimetre Phalanx CIWS aft during the 1980s, replacing the Sea Sparrow launcher where fitted. Surface warfare weaponry was at first similarly limited to the gun, with several ships receiving an interim upgrade allowing Standard ARM anti-radar missiles to be fired from the ships' ASROC launcher in the 1970s. Later, all ships were modified to launch Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the ASROC launcher, which could carry two Harpoons, with two more carried in the ships' ASROC magazine

U.S.S Nimitz

  U.S.S. Nimitz, the lead ship of her class, the keel was laid down in 1968 and she was commissioned in 1972. 


Class and type: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Displacement: 100,020 tonnes (110,250 short tons)
Length:
  • Overall: 1,092 feet (332.8 m)
  • Waterline: 1,040 feet (317.0 m)
Beam:
  • Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m)
  • Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m)
Draft:
  • Maximum navigational: 37 feet (11.3 m)
  • Limit: 41 feet (12.5 m)
Propulsion:
Speed: 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
Range: Unlimited distance; 20–25 years
Complement:
  • Ship's company: 3,200
  • Air wing: 2,480
Sensors and
processing systems:
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite
  • SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures
Armament:
Armor: Unknown
Aircraft carried: 90 fixed wing and helicopters

 In the book, in the first battle of the Atlantic,the U.S.S Nimitz was escorting a Marine division to Iceland to reinforce the garrison that was stationed there. she was damaged by 2 hits from  "Kelt" missiles that damaged the ship forcing her to divert to England and her squadrons were sent to Scotland to assist in the defense there against the Soviet Backfire and Blinder bombers.  Iceland was captured by a brilliant mission called "operation Polar Glory" where a soviet airborne division was landed there by ship and overwhelmed the marine garrison.

   I am enjoying writing this, I will focus on some Soviet equipment tomorrow and switch back and forth from ships, to airplanes and to tanks and vehicles.

2 comments:

I had to change the comment format on this blog due to spammers, I will open it back up again in a bit.