Thought I had forgotten my mythical fleet?
Not a chance.
Next on the list to actual take the fight to the enemy in the Pacific theater and even off the coast of Africa and in other confined waters around the world is a patrol boat.
Working in concert with LCS (properly named Off Shore Patrol Vessels)...LHD's with their embarked helicopters will be squadrons of Austal 30m Fast Patrol Vessels.
Of course we'd need to determine a type of weapons fit for them but that shouldn't be an issue. The goal here is to act as screening forces for the larger ships and to fill the role of WW2 Torpedo Boats.
Its a hole in our capabilities that we can easily fill. Visit and Boarding activities can more easily be carried out from these boats and when you consider the crowded water ways in which future combat might take place, an ink bloat strategy on waves might prove helpful.
Less expensive and more plentiful is the way to go.
Mike at New Wars along with the guy talking about buying Fords not Cadillacs have won the day with me. Stats via Austal.
GENERAL VESSEL DESCRIPTION
Vessel type Fast Patrol Craft
Material Aluminium alloy
Hull form Monohull
Deadweight (max) 16 tonnes
PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS
Length overall 30.0 metres
Length (waterline) 24.6 metres
Beam (moulded) 6.4 metres
Depth (moulded) 3.2 metres
Draft (approx.) 1.5 metres
PERSONNEL
Crew 11
PERFORMANCE
Range at 10 knots >1000nm
Speed 40 knots
PROPULSION
Main engines 2 x MTU 16V 2000 M92
2 x 1630kW @ 2450rpm
Propulsion 2 x Kamewa SIII waterjets
WEAPONS AND SENSORS
Standard 2 x 0.50 calibre general purpose machine gun mounts
1 x 20mm cannon
SOL there are lots and lots of good FPB designs, Austal's included. Since the LCS has limited logistics capacity i.e. POL and provisions for any smaller boat, another ship is needed. The obvious answer is the JHSV which far exceeds LCS when it comes to payload. Of course, it does not have weapons and sensors but sure HAS room for them~
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