The commander of the same cruiser, beaten and thrown out of Soviet territorial waters (incident off the Crimean coast, 1988), was not dismissed, but on the contrary, went on a promotion, taking command of an aircraft carrier strike group led by the aircraft carrier Saratoga. Nothing good came of this venture: an admiral with the speaking surname Philip Dur was soon appointed responsible for another shameful incident. In 1992, during joint maneuvers with the Turkish Navy, his ship was accidentally shot by the Turkish frigate Muavenet. Some of the admiral's subordinates literally put their feet on the rocket console.
New century - new jokes.
The multipurpose nuclear submarine took a heroic death without lowering the flag in the face of the enemy! As the investigation later established, the “enemy” turned out to be the 24-year-old painter of the shipyard Casey J. Fury. Trying to end his shift early, he set fire to rags in one of the submarine's rooms and left the workplace to the sound of sirens from fire brigades. He has nowhere else to hurry - Fury will spend the next 17 years in a federal prison cell (on the causes of the fire on the Miami submarine, 2013).
These were funny jokes. But there are also not funny ones.
The Americans have more cruisers and destroyers than the rest of the world combined:
- 22 missile cruisers of the "Ticonderoga" type;
- 62 Arlie Burke-class missile destroyers (+ six more at various stages of construction);
- 2 under construction rocket and artillery destroyers of the "Zamvolt" type (out of three planned).
The cruiser (left) is smaller in displacement, but has a third more ammunition and the advantage in the number of radars. The destroyer "Berk" is more squat, durable and tenacious (as tenacious as a modern armored ship can be). Both ships are equipped with the Aegis (Aegis) combat information and control system. Own means of detection and fire control allow hitting targets in outer space.
"Berks" are rapidly going into the lead, becoming the largest-batch type of warship with a displacement of over 5000 tons in the history of navigation. Given the plans to build a third sub-series of these destroyers and the slow pace of shipbuilding in other countries, the US Navy will hold the lead in the number of destroyers, at least until the middle of this century.
USS Zumwalt
Zamvolt will be as powerful as WWII battleships. Pentagon officials are enthusiastic, however, the number of new super destroyers was limited to just three units (at a cost of $ 7 billion per ship, including R&D). 80 missile silos, 920 high-precision artillery ammunition of 155 mm caliber, full automation, electric "transmission", multifunctional radar with active phased array and stealth technology … Despite this, the huge destroyer cruiser looks like a fishing felucca on radar. In addition, it has a weak wake - the destroyer will be practically invisible in images from space. It is scary to think that one such ship will surpass the entire Black Sea Fleet in power.
Launcher
Another surprise from American engineers is the Mk.41 universal launcher. The lightweight structure of space trusses, mounted below the deck of the ship, allows the use of the entire range of US Navy missiles, with the exception of submarine ballistic missiles. The rest - cruise "Tomahawks", anti-aircraft missiles SM-2 and SM-6, self-defense missiles ESSM (four in a mine), transatmospheric interceptors SM-3, anti-submarine rocket torpedoes ASROC-VL, promising anti-ship missiles LRASM. The missiles can be installed in any combination, in accordance with the forthcoming tasks of the ship. American destroyers carry 90 … 96 launch silos (cells) on board. Cruisers - 122. Ships of their NATO allies - from 8 to 48.
Launch of CRBD "Tomahawk"
Against this background, as usual, Zamvolt stands out: it is equipped with new Mk.57 armored installations, which can also be used to store and launch a wide range of missile weapons.
Submarine forces
In the common consciousness, the opinion has become stronger that the Yankees are betting on expensive aircraft carriers, while we have chosen a cheaper and more efficient submarine fleet. This is not entirely true. Yankees are also aware of the incredible capabilities of submarines, so they treat this type of technology with great attention and respect.
Currently, the US Navy has 72 nuclear-powered submarines (more than all countries in the world combined):
- 40 multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Los Angeles type (the last one was built in 1996);
- 11 multipurpose nuclear submarines of the "Virginia" type (seven more boats are at various stages of construction, plans include the construction of at least 30 submarines to replace the aging "Losy");
- 3 multipurpose nuclear submarines of the "SeaWolf" type (real "Zamvolts" of the underwater world, the most powerful submarines-hunters, which did not go into series due to the collapse of the USSR; the last of the "wolves" was completed in 2003 in the form of a special operations submarine);
- 14 strategic Ohio-class SSBNs with Trident-2 ballistic missiles;
- 4 converted Ohio-class SSGNs (22 mines were converted into launch canisters for Tomahawks, the maximum ammunition load is 154 cruise missiles. The two remaining mines are used as airlocks for the exit of combat swimmers).
Multipurpose nuclear submarine "North Dakota" leaves the assembly shop, September 2013
All American submarines are nuclear powered, the last "diesel" Yankee built in the late 1950s. The American navy is clearly offensive. It was created not for defense, but for conducting hostilities on foreign shores.
Aircraft carriers
They have never been proven useful in the past 50 years. However, they do exist. And the very fact of the creation of such technology unequivocally hints at the capabilities of the American shipbuilding industry.
10 nuclear powered "Nimitz" and 10 universal amphibious assault ships-helicopter carriers with a continuous flight deck ("Tarawa", "Wasp", "America" with a total displacement of 40-45 thousand tons), which can also be used as light aircraft carriers with "vertical" ("Harrier II" or promising F-35B).
Reconnaissance and strike drone X-47B aboard the aircraft carrier "Harry Truman"
Amphibious forces
Conventional Mistral-class amphibious assault ships in the US Navy as stars on their flag:
- 9 amphibious transports-docks of the "San Antonio" type (two more are under construction);
- 12 obsolete landing ships of the Harpers Ferry and Whitby Island types;
- 1 amphibious assault ship "Austin" - currently used as a platform for testing laser weapons.
In addition to the listed landing ships, the Navy has dozens of landing ships created on the basis of high-speed civilian container ships. Officially, these ships belong to the Sea Transport Command and are manned by civilian crews. In peacetime, Leviathans lie down in secret parking lots on the islands in the Pacific and Indian Ocean (Guam, Diego Garcia) in order to wake up at the right time and deliver a tank army with all the necessary equipment and equipment to the other end of the Earth.
These gas pipelines are huge (length 300 meters, in / and “loaded” over 60 thousand tons) and an unusually high speed (25-30 knots). Unlike conventional transports, these amphibious assault ships are able to unload in almost any conditions, incl. on unequipped coastlines (lighters, pontoons) or even on the high seas (using MLP transshipment terminals).
Epilogue
"The impregnable walls of Britain - the wooden sides of its ships"
A nautical nation, the heiress of the British Empire, from birth absorbing sea salt and a passion for the water element. Thousands of kilometers of maritime borders, washed by warm seas and two great oceans. Hundreds of overseas bases, dozens of allies, critical dependence on maritime trade, and a 3,000-mile wide "anti-tank moat" with salt water. All of this obviously influenced the historical development of the United States, and to this day makes the American public treat their fleet in awe.
The capabilities of the US industry allowed the Yankees to conduct hostilities in a relaxed mode, not particularly straining about the inevitable losses. In August 1942, a Japanese squadron shot four American and one Australian cruiser (“the second Pearl Harbor”) overnight. It is still unclear how the watchkeepers of all five cruisers were able to oversleep the enemy, despite the volleys of 203-mm guns that thundered all night and the bright flashes of flares visible from a couple of tens of miles. The Japanese went around the island of Savo, but every cruiser they met slept peacefully and did not prepare for an attack at all.
As for the lost ships, this is a profitable business. Over the next four years, the Yankees built another 40 more powerful and modern cruisers.
Ultimately, the Yankees flattened Japan, sinking 1200 ships of the imperial fleet during the war years. The dying Japanese fleet resisted to the last, demonstrating miracles of bravery and heroism. The samurai in despair banged their heads on the decks of American aircraft carriers, but neither their endurance, nor their high fighting spirit, nor their bright victories at the beginning of the war could turn the tide of the war. American sailors tore the Imperial Navy to shreds. The ratio of personnel losses was 1 to 9.
The Yankees had their own heroes: the wounded commander of the submarine Howard Gilmore did not manage to reach the hatch and gave the order for an urgent dive when the submarine was suddenly attacked by Japanese destroyers (posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor).
Captain Fleming, who rammed the Japanese cruiser Mikuma in his burning bomber.
Another submarine, Archerfish, has chalked up a record trophy - the aircraft carrier Shinano. The largest ship ever sunk in a naval battle.
Colossal combat experience. Absolute numerical superiority. Future technologies, often bordering on science fiction. 300 warships of the ocean zone. 3700 units of aircraft. "Unsinkable budget" of $ 150 billion.
The mutated "Two-power standard" (the old British rule, according to which the British fleet had to double the fleet of the nearest rival), turned the US Navy into a fierce clot of military matter, surpassing in its power all existing fleets on Earth.
Missile destroyer Spruence, 61st ship of its type
Marine radar base SBX. A floating analogue of the Don-2N radar (a centimeter-range over-the-horizon missile attack warning station). The basis for the marine radar was the CS-50 oil platform, built at the Vyborg shipyard
The MQ-4C "Triton" drone of the Naval Aviation. Takeoff weight ~ 15 tons. The UAV is able to spend 24 hours at an altitude of 18 thousand meters, having surveyed 2.7 million square miles of the ocean surface during this time.
Coastal zone warship LCS (by “coastal zone” the Yankees do not mean their own coast, but the Persian Gulf and countless islands in Southeast Asia - where these ships will serve). It is a high-speed (over 40 knots) platform with a modular composition of weapons, performing the tasks of a patrol cutter, corvette, minesweeper, small anti-submarine ship, high-speed transport and a mobile helicopter base in the zone of military conflicts.
USS Essex amphibious assault ship (LHD-2)
Multipurpose fighter with vertical take-off F-35B in the hangar of the landing ship Wasp
Shock test of the landing ship "San Antonio" (test of resistance to hydrodynamic shock). The explosion power is 4, 5 tons of trinitrotoluene.
Cruiser "Bunker Hill". Full speed ahead!
