A joke about something in a healthy person and the same thing in a smoker becomes an unexpectedly capacious metaphor when it comes to patrol ships. How it looks Smoker's patrol ship, already mentioned earlier. Now, within the framework of a detailed study of someone else's experience, it makes sense to look closely at the "patrol ship of a healthy person." For comparison.
Speech in this case will focus on the US Coast Guard ship of the "Legend" class. This is the class of the largest ships in the service of this structure.
The history of these patrol ships began back in the 90s, when the Coast Guard command came to the conclusion that the existing ship and aircraft fleet was useless. I must say that the victory in the Cold War was not easy for the Americans, including at sea. Until the Soviet Union collapsed, the Coast Guard had to be content with very miserable funding compared to the Navy. In 1993, an estimate was made that 207 aircraft and 93 ships did not meet the changed threats, were physically worn out, had a high operating cost due to constant breakdowns and, as a result, had to be replaced. By 1998, the Coast Guard had finally decided on its needs, and sent out a request for quotations regarding the new technology to interested companies.
We will not go into details, but in 2002, the Integrated Coast Guard Systems LLC consortium, a product of Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, signed a 20-year contract with the Coast Guard. worth $ 17 billion. In 2005, the contract was revised, taking into account the new requirements for the Coast Guard, which stemmed from the wars unleashed by the United States in the so-called "Fight Against Terror", its cost increased to 24 billion, and the term of execution increased to 25 years. The program eventually received the name "Integrated deepwater system program" or simply "Deepwater program".
The new long-range patrol ship was one of the key points of this program.
The first set of requirements for the new ship was formed in 2002, and in 2004 it was expanded and finally frozen. A year later, the first ship - "Bertholf" ("Bertholf") was laid down at the shipyard of "Ingalls Shipbuilding", in Mississippi.
The ships were built quickly. The Bertholph was launched one and a half years after the laying, and entered service in the summer of 2008. The rest of the ships of the series were built about the same quickly. The period from laying down to launching never exceeded two years, and the full term of construction and commissioning - from laying down to commissioning never reached four years, usually remaining within three years and several months.
At the moment, seven ships have already been built and adopted by the Coast Guard - the already mentioned Bertholph, Waesche, Stratton, Hamilton, James ("James"), "Munro" ("Munrow"), and "Kimball" ("Kimbell").
There are two more in the building - "Midgett" ("Midgett) and" Stone "(" Stone "). And a couple more ships that do not yet have names in the order. In this case, the series may be increased.
The ships had problems at first. So, on the first three ships of the series, then it was necessary to strengthen the hull, and the Stratton also had problems with corrosion and leaks, which also had to be eliminated. In addition, in 2018, Lockheed became a defendant in a lawsuit for hiding the fact that part of the communication equipment supplied to the Customer under the program was inoperable - the equipment could not simultaneously send and receive signals at the same time at different frequencies, although this was stipulated by the contract. Lockheed fixed it and paid a $ 2.2 billion fine. In a funny way, the losses of the corporation for the repair of communications equipment and the amount of the fine were the same.
According to open information, all technical problems on the ships have now been eliminated.
The ship was originally conceived of a dual purpose, and so it was created. The design, measures to ensure survivability, the strength of the hull and the redundancy of systems on the ship basically correspond to the standards of the US Navy, that is, in terms of strength and survivability, the ship corresponds almost completely to warships. Only steel is used as superstructure and hull materials. Measures have been taken to reduce the effective scattering area and visibility of the ship in the radar range.
Initially, it was planned that in low-risk conditions (the enemy is poorly armed and trained, has a small number of coastal patrol vessels, and a few anti-ship missiles), the ship will be able to carry out most of the operations characteristic of the US Coast Guard and successfully repel attacks against itself. Low-risk operations include: self-defense and protection of entrusted waters, facilities and territories in the theater of operations, escorting ships, protecting ports, intercepting ships at sea. In conditions of medium risk (the enemy is armed with anti-ship missiles, a certain number of aircraft and submarines, has a network of radar stations and controls the coastal zone), the ship is imputed to be able to carry out actions in self-defense, fire along the coast and evacuate non-combatants. In high-risk conditions, where there are chances to be attacked by an enemy with developed and combat-ready armed forces, the ship, in the basic version, cannot and should not act. At the same time, in the event of an "emergency", the ship should be able to operate in conjunction with the US Navy ships using the Link-11 tactical data transmission system, which it is equipped with.
The ship has data transmission systems that are fully compatible with those of the US Navy ships and can operate with them in a single ACS.
The ship is equipped with:
- AN / SPQ-9A artillery fire control radar (8-10 GHz, range up to 20 nautical miles, limited ability to detect air targets at low altitude).
- AN / SPS-73 surface target detection and navigation radar (see range).
- radar for detecting air and surface targets 3D TRS-16 AN / SPS-75.
- Electronic warfare system AN / SLQ-32.
- Optoelectronic sighting system Mk.46 on the first four ships, and Optoelectronic / infrared sighting system Mk.20 on all from the fifth.
- Systems of state recognition and navigation.
- Protection of the crew from weapons of mass destruction - radiation, chemical and biological.
- Radar exposure warning system.
- Interference systems SRBOC and NULKA.
Originally it was planned that the ships would be able to install anti-sabotage and mine action GAS sometime in the future, in case of war, but the growing terrorist threat forced the United States to start a ship modernization program, codenamed RESCUE 21 ("Rescue 21"). According to this program, the ships will receive data transmission systems that allow the exchange of tactical information with the heads of seaports, a GAS capable of searching for mines and frogmen will be installed on each ship, all machine guns will be replaced with remote-controlled ones, and their sighting systems will be integrated into the ship's CIUS, and firing from machine guns will be able to be carried out on the guidance of both the radar and the optical-electronic systems of the ship. According to the authors of the modernization program, the presence of the GAS will help fight the terrorist threat in ports, and the automation of the aiming of machine guns will help to shoot boats with suicide bombers going to the ship, including from different directions at the same time. Some of the ships have already been modernized.
In the basic version, the ship's weapons are: a 57-mm automatic cannon Bofors Mk. 110, with a rate of fire of up to 220 rounds per minute. The gun is loaded with programmable detonation projectiles, and can be used against air, surface and limited ground targets. The ship is also armed with the Falanx 20-mm anti-aircraft artillery system, the artillery mount of which is installed on the roof of the helicopter hangar. In addition, the ship is armed with four.50 caliber machine guns (12.7 mm) and a pair of 7.62 mm machine guns.
However, this is a peacetime weapon. In case of participation in hostilities together with the US Navy, the design provides for a quick replacement of the Falanx installation with the RIM-116 missile launcher. Also, the ship can be very quickly equipped with anti-ship missile launchers (astern above the slip), and, according to open sources, "means of mine warfare." It is indicated that for this, the ship provides for both the appropriate places and the necessary power supply.
The aircraft armament of the ship in a typical version is one multipurpose helicopter. However, there are two hangars on the ship, and when carrying out anti-terrorist operations, it is envisaged to have two helicopters on board.
The ship has enough space to accommodate a spetsnaz detachment and various additional personnel, as well as rescued hostages.
In the near future, the typical aircraft armament will be one helicopter and two vertically taking off UAVs.
Behind the landing site, the ship is equipped with a launching and receiving area for boats, consisting of a deck on which cranes and a short-range boat (optionally two) are located, and a slip in the center of the deck, from which launching and acceptance of a long-range boat is carried out … The launch of the boat from the slip and its entry back is allowed on the move.
Another small boat is located on the launching and lifting device on the right side of the side near the power plant gas ducts.
The US Coast Guard operates without the presence of bases around the world, autonomously, and therefore the ship can be at sea for a long time. A normal supply of food on the ship provides autonomy up to sixty days, and in the reloading version, up to ninety. The cruising range at an economic speed is 12,000 nautical miles. The total displacement of the ship in the "military" version is 4600 tons. The maximum speed is 28 knots.
The economic progress of the ship is provided by two diesel engines MTU 20V 1163, with a capacity of 9,900 hp. each, and the afterburner is a gas turbine unit with a General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engine, with a capacity of 30,000 hp. similar to the base turbine on US Navy ships.
The ships are actively used to carry out tasks to combat drug trafficking in the Caribbean, smuggling, protect the US maritime borders, suppress maritime poaching and display the flag in potential "hot spots", for example, in the South China Sea, near the border between the territorial waters of South Korea and the DPRK, in the Sea of Japan. The Americans also do not forget about our country - at least one ship is regularly on combat patrols in the Bering Sea, and periodically, when the ice situation permits, makes calls to the Arctic.
Also, the crews regularly participate in joint military exercises with the US Navy, where they work out full-fledged combat missions that can arise in front of the ship in the course of a real war, including firing at surface, air and coastal targets, guarding convoys, landing special forces, defense naval bases and ports from saboteurs, fighting mines.
By all indications, the combat readiness of the Coast Guard crews in the worst case for them is not lower than that of the crews of the US Navy ships, and most likely (especially recently) - higher.
Of course, America is a rich country, and in principle can afford everything. However, we must admit that similar, and even heavier armed (although, apparently, inferior in electronic and radio-technical weapons, and significantly - in displacement) ships are, for example, in Venezuela, which could never be classified as a rich country.
On the part of the Russian Navy, the construction of patrol ships of project 22160 was and remains stupidity of unprecedented proportions, moreover, due to the material interest of individual participants in this scam. But if it was really necessary to build them, then it would be worth taking an example from the Americans. Well, if you learn something from someone, then good. Russia possesses almost all the technologies necessary for the construction of such ships, albeit at a somewhat inferior technological level.
But instead we have 22160
However, black stripes do not last forever, and learning something good from professionals is worth now.
