Continuation of the saga of the most outstanding ships. There are no random names here - each of the heroes is forever marked in the history of the fleet. Laurels of military glory and unconditional victories in the "Constructors' Cup". These combat vehicles will have to remake the world more than once and force us to be convinced of their unsurpassed capabilities.
So, a new chapter, a new time, new technologies:
6th place - destroyers URO type "Orly Burke"
A unified family of warships equipped with the Aegis combat information system. A total of 62 destroyers in the US Navy, six in the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (Atago and Congo), three in the South Korean Navy (King Shogen), five in the Spanish Navy (Alvaro de Basan), five in the Norwegian Navy (Fridtjof Nansen), in the near future - three more destroyers in the Australian Navy (Hobart class). Even without taking into account the numerous copies and analogues of American destroyers, in the foreseeable future no country in the world will be able to break the record for large-scale construction of Berks.
The situation with the Aegis destroyers threatens to spiral out of control. Despite the prohibitive number of ships built, their construction is still ongoing. In November 2013, John Finn, the 63rd US Navy destroyer, was laid down. An order for nine such ships is ahead. From the beginning of 2020, when the first of the built Aegis destroyers have already left the fleet, Flight III - destroyers of the third sub-series, whose construction will continue until 2031, will go into production. It is planned that the squadrons of these ships will sail the ocean until at least 2070.
This is despite the fact that the first Orly Burke was commissioned back in 1991. And none of the foreign competitors has so far been able to surpass the Berk in terms of the aggregate combat capabilities.
80 years at the forefront of technical progress! Success is determined by a number of reasons:
- BIUS "Aegis" ("Aegis"), which united into a single network all weapons systems, means of detection, navigation and damage control of the ship - up to the automatic closing of doors in the emergency room in order to prevent further spread of fire (water). An automated robotic ship capable of simultaneously fighting dozens of surface, underwater and air opponents. Independently making decisions and exchanging information with their own kind;
- the mighty AN / SPY-1 radar with a peak radiation power of 6 megawatts. As a result, the small destroyer was able to control space heights;
- universal launcher Mk.41 - 90 silos for storing and launching any missiles from the US Navy arsenal (except for naval ICBMs).
Joint maneuvers of the BOD "Admiral Panteleev" and the destroyer USS Lassen (DDG-82)
There are also disadvantages. Like any modern ship, the super destroyer is completely incapacitated by the explosion of a sack of TNT (detonating the USS Cole), demonstrating survivability at the level of a can. All hope is only for active defense systems, which also do not shine with perfection. The Burke deftly hurls Tomahawks at targets in the Iraqi desert and strikes objects in low-earth orbit, but due to its design flaws, it is unable to effectively defend itself against attacks from modern anti-ship missiles. The power plant of the last century, archaic anti-aircraft fire controls … Despite the continuous evolution, it is increasingly difficult for the Berks to be at the forefront of progress, competing with modern destroyers of other states.
Either way, the Berk-class destroyers are an outstanding example of extremely standardized design and a model for large-scale construction. The most numerous type of warship in history with a displacement of over 5000 tons! These destroyers have solid combat experience: it is not the first country to have experienced a missile strike from these small, but very formidable ships.
5th place - nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of the "Nimitz" type
The biggest, most expensive and most stupid participants in today's review. A relic class of ships that lost their combat value with the development of jet aircraft. Their technical complexity is prohibitive. Efficiency (cost / benefit) is extremely low.
None of the 10 Nimitz have any decent combat history. And this despite the fact that over the entire period of their existence, the Pentagon "plunged" into many military conflicts, where the American fleet was actively used. "Nimitz" are of little use in local wars for oil, where the full-fledged air force decides everything. And it is worth noting that neither now, nor during the Cold War, nor in the foreseeable future will there be a situation where there would be at least some opportunity to use these giants for their intended purpose - apart from ground-based aviation. The Alien Landing on Easter Island is a second-rate story for Hollywood (a la "Battleship"), but not a reason for writing modern Navy doctrine.
However, there is still a reason - the industrial and military lobby, jobs, adherence to tradition, as well as the prohibitive steepness of such "floating airfields". From a military point of view, "Nimitzes" do not work off even 1% of the funds invested in them. But from the point of view of the media, these are real media bombs that make the whole world tremble. "100 thousand tons of diplomacy", "main aggressors" - and other funny pictures that fill TV screens all over the world. After all, few ordinary people guess that even 10 "Nimitz" would not have enough strength to attack at least a country like Iraq.
As a result, we have fantastically beautiful, but completely useless and ineffective ships. The victory of technology over common sense. Nevertheless, 10 leviathans, 100 thousand tons each, inspire alarm and respect for their creator. Those who were able to build such a squadron have other, much more terrible and deadly means for waging war at sea.
And the aircraft carrier "Nimitz" itself became the embodiment of all dreams of a strong and mighty fleet. They will remember him for a long time.
4th place - special equipment of the Shipping Command
… Above the sea, a zhovto-blakit fire will blaze - and thirty-three heroes will find themselves on the shores, in scales, like the heat of grief!
No, this is not a dream of a drunken Bandera. Ironically, the yellow-blakite colors are the symbols of the Maritime Sealift Command. These guys are not spoken about out loud. They do not make beautiful TV stories about them and try to attract media attention to them less often.
In peacetime, high-speed rokers and mobile landing platforms quietly rust in secret parking lots in remote naval bases - Guam, Diego Garcia, Guantanamo … But when the time comes, the world will know what was hidden behind the peaceful appearance of these monsters.
Their displacement exceeds the / and the aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov"
The standard reactivation time is 96 hours. Short jump to the specified port. And so the caravans of leviathans get up for loading, in order to then deliver their mournful cargo to the other side of the Earth with lightning speed.
Almost all of them are impromptu on the basis of former civilian container ships. The Yankees are buying up high-speed gas turbine ships (24 knots and above) all over the world and, according to their insidious plans, turn the once peaceful workers of the sea into lethal amphibious means capable of transferring an armored brigade or other large-sized cargoes vital for the maintenance of a database on foreign shores.
What gives reason to classify these freaks as warships?
1. Appointment. Transportation of heavy loads in the interests of the army. First of all, armored vehicles. Any UDC of the type of the Mistral under discussion is just a puppy against the background of the Sealift Command, which is capable of taking on board 100 Abrams at a time. Moreover, the security and defensive armament of the ro-ro and UDC (MANPADS, machine guns) generally corresponds to each other.
2. Special features not inherent in civilian courts. Sealift Command ships are capable of unloading in any conditions - in ports of friendly states, on unequipped coast (pontoons) and even on the high seas using landing boats and MLP platforms. Ramps on each side, cargo booms with a lifting capacity of 50 tons, boats, lighters, a helipad … Finally, too high speed, inadequate crew size (on board reserved cabins for hundreds of people - military specialists accompanying the precious cargo), special layout of holds, special power supply - there can be no mistake. This is a warship.
3. The appearance, symbols, names (most are named after the dead US servicemen), home ports and sources of funding - all unconditionally indicate that we face formidable landing ships, pretending to be "civilian container ships" just for fun.
Finally, their exceptional role in the strategic military operations of recent decades. Without these supermachines, neither Vietnam, nor Iraq, nor Yugoslavia would have happened - the American army would sit locked on its continent, unable to maintain a database in the Old World.
"Randall Shewhart" (in honor of the Delta sniper who died in Somalia) - ex. Dutch container ship "Laura Maersk"
Mobile landing platform "Monford Point" (Alaska-class tanker with cut-out tanks)
Unloading on the high seas
"Lance Corporal Roy Whit" (in honor of the Marine who covered the grenade with his body) - ex. Soviet gas turbine "Vladimir Vaslyaev"
USNS Seay Unloads Democracy
