Naval warfare/tactics

Can we have a naval strategy thread? I'm kind of familiar with combat in large carrier groups, but I have no idea how to construct an intelligent attack plan without carriers.

Procedure for Attacking Submarines

- Destroyer detects Submarine
- ASW Helicopter or Plane launches Sonobuoys around detected area (The Sonobuoys are mini sonar systems that float in the water).
- Each sonobuoy also communicates with the fleet’s computerized detection system and if dropped in the right place the fleet will know about threat.
- Now the threat is detected the ships/helicopter/ plane can drop torpedoes on threat killing it.
- I advise not to use your ships to attack the Sub so as not to give it a chance to fire back at the ship. By letting aircraft do it the Subs dont stand a chance.
- If a threat gets really close into the fleet most ships will have CIWS (Close in Weapon Support) which it can use to get rid of incoming missiles.

How to Attack a Carrier Fleet

The tactic a hostile fleet uses to attack a Carrier Battle Group is to attempt to overwhelm the Fleet’s detection system with a multitude of Air to Surface Missiles in hopes that one or two will get through. If the fleet has 15 CIWS available to engage incoming missiles, the individual systems can engage 3 targets from the time they are first detected and has enough ammunition to handle at least 3 targets, 46 incoming missiles might ruin your Aircraft Carrier’s day.

There are various ways of launching those anti-ship missiles. Ships can do that, but many modern vessels have radar systems capable of far greater range thasn the anti-ship missiles, which means a fast-thinking enemy can use the launch detection to pinpoint where the enemy ship is, which leaves it vulnerable to incoming missiles. The Soviet Union pioneered the idea of using anti-ship missiles fired from bombers, an idea they perfected. In a war between the Warsaw Pact and NATO, that was a key element of Russian plans, to use many bombers with anti-ship missiles to destroy as much of the NATO fleets as possible.

Close in Weapons Systems are the key to many warships' survival. There are two types of close in weapons systems, ones which use gatling guns like the American Phalanx, Russian AK-630, Dutch Goalkeeper, Chinese Type 730 and South African Denel 35DPG.

There are also missile CIWS systems, which have a far greater range but rely more on accuracy than putting up a flood of metal to stop the inbound. Such systems include the American RIM-116, French Crotale-NG and the Israeli Barak-II. All are quite effective at stopping inbounds, but particularly with supersonic missiles like the Russian SS-N-27 and Argentinian AS-25K and high subsonics such as the Chinese C-802, American Harpoon and French Exocet, the system can be beaten, especially if more than one missile is fired at each ship.

Most new naval vessels use VLS (Vertical Launch System) to fire all of its types of missiles. Many submarine types have the ability to fire such missiles through torpedo tubes, and virtually all US attack subs after mid-series Los Angeles-class boats have vertical launch tubes. A few conventionally fueled subs also have these. Some older vessels such as the Russian Slava-class cruiser and some American Spruance-class destroyers use angled or arm-mounted missile launchers.

This post has been edited by South Africa on Jul 20 2008, 04:14 AM

Greece, if you want to attack far inland without carriers your options are somewhat limited. Most destroyers carry cruise missiles such as the Tomahawk and BrahMos, which is about all you can really do. If your targets are right on shore, you can use the guns destroyers carry.

Against a naval force, your best bet is to be very wary of both air and submarine attacks. Most navies have gotten anti-sub warfare down to a science, and virtually anything frigate and larger (and many Corvettes) carry a helicopter(s) dedicated to anti-sub warfare.

Some destroyers are dedicated at various roles. The British Type 45, for example, is primarily an air-defense destroyer - has got some fangs, but most of its assets are dedicated at air defense.

In any warfare, if you know what the other guy is doing, you usually win. That drives the development of better radar systems in ships. The American AEGIS system takes that further still, linking the defense and offensive systems right with the radar systems, allowing very fast responses to any potential threats.

Defensive or closer to home combat also allows air assets to get into play. More modern airborne early warning and command aircraft (Such as the American E-3B Sentry, Russian A-50 Mainstay, Israeli Phalcon (which is also used by Chile, India and South Africa on various platforms), Brazilian EMB 145 AEW&C and the Australian Wedgetail) are able to track many targets on water, in the air and even on land. These systems are in some cases even able to provide a radar lock for missiles, which is the ultimate fear of inbound fighters or bombers.

This post has been edited by South Africa on Jul 20 2008, 04:26 AM

Carrier Fleets

United States

- Aircraft Carrier
- The Carrier's air wing - 3 squadrons fighters (F/A-18), 1 squadron Marine fighters (F/A-18), 1 squadron AWACS (E-2C), 1 squadron electronic warfare (EA-6B, moving to EA-18G), 1 squadron support (C-2 Greyhound), 1 squadron Sea Control (S-3 Viking) and 1 squadron helicopter ASW.
- A destroyer squadron
- 1 to 2 Aegis guided missile cruisers
- 2 to 3 guided missile destroyers
- 1 to 2 Attack submarines
- A combined ammunition, oiler and supply ship

French

- Carrier
- a carrier air wing (Groupe Aérien Embarqué, GAE, in french), a complement composed of about 40 aircraft :
Rafale (up to 12)
Super Étendard (up to 36)
E-2C Hawkeye (2)
SA365 Dauphin (3 or more)
- one Rubis Class SSN
- two anti-submarine destroyers (currently F67 or F70 Class)
- one or two anti-air destroyers (currently Cassard Class destroyers, soon helped by Horizon Class destroyers)
- one frigate in forward patrol (usually a La Fayette Class)
- one supply ship

Russian

- A Carrier
- 1 Battlecruiser
- 1 Cruiser
- 1 ASuW Destroyer
- 1 ASW Destroyer
- 1 ASW Frigate