Naval Pictures Forecastle: Laying siege to the poop deck!

[JadeHellbringer]

It's time to say goodbye to both a good ship and the end of an era.



Peru's light cruiser Almirante Grau, the last of the gunships, retired at the end of September after several decades of service with both the Peruvian and Dutch navies. The eight six-inch guns have gone silent forever, and with their retiring the final major warship using guns as its primary weaponry is gone.

[Wrangler]

Sad. I guess they could not afford to upkeep her. I hope to god they don't scrap her.

[kato]

Actually, that's probably the strongest gun broadside an active ship has, now that I think of it.

The heaviest broadside can be delivered by the Russian (3) and Chinese (4) Sovremenny class destroyers with their two twin 130mm guns, which if their autoloader works and burns through at full speed deliver 4,676 kg throw weight per minute.

The heaviest reliable broadside is that of the Italian Durand de la Penne destroyers at 2,848.00 kg (with a 127mm and two 76mm capable of firing to either broadside) owing to its high-RoF 76mm Super Rapid guns.

The Iver Huitfeldts if mounting 2x 76mm instead of CIWS (which they don't) in addition to their 127mm can deliver 2,271.36 kg per minute. Turkey also still operates two ex-German 1950s frigate tenders (with 2x 100mm + 2x 40mm) that can deliver 2,080.8 kg per minute and are probably the next best out there.

[Daryk]

It's time to say goodbye to both a good ship and the end of an era.
*snip*

It's interesting that she should retire within a few weeks of the first ship to use a laser weapon being decommissioned (USS PONCE).

[Daryk]

Looks like the US NAVY has changed it's mind again on the unmanned MQ-25 Stingray aerial tanker.  They completely revamped it!
*snip*

Well, at least one contractor has... there are three other versions out there that may look more like the original proposal...

[kato]

It's interesting that she should retire within a few weeks of the first ship to use a laser weapon being decommissioned (USS PONCE).

*cough*

[worktroll]

It's time to say goodbye to both a good ship and the end of an era.

The spirit of HMS Warrior nudges the spirit of HMS Dreadnought. "The children did well, didn't they?"

[Weirdo]

Dammit, you're gonna make me cry...

[Dragon Cat]

Arleigh Burke with its helos

[Liam's Ghost]

I'm so old. My first thought was "since when did a Burke get helos?" Then I realized it's not the nineties anymore.

[Kidd]

Russian Navy Buyan-class corvette firing Kalibr missile from the Caspian Sea



Indian Navy Veer-class missile boat INS Pralaya, nice shot showing off its CIWS and SS-N-25 Switchblades, aka Harpoonskis

Arleigh Burke with its helos

lovely  ^-^

[Wrangler]

I'm so old. My first thought was "since when did a Burke get helos?" Then I realized it's not the nineties anymore.

I like the Burkes without the hangars to be honest.  The additional hangars makes it bit less in my eyes even I know this expands it's capacities. 

[I am Belch II]

The Indian Veer corvette is a very angry patrol boat. 16 Anti Ship Missles, a 3in gun, and CIWS in the back. That's a big punch in such a small craft.

[DoctorMonkey]

I'm so old. My first thought was "since when did a Burke get helos?" Then I realized it's not the nineties anymore.

An awful lot of what an ASW ship does is have a towed sonar array and a helicopter so with negligible to no loss of AAW capability the Arleigh Burkes can acquire that capability... but it does mean that calling them destroyers is even more ridiculous. They really should be reclassified as cruisers.

The Indian Veer corvette is a very angry patrol boat. 16 Anti Ship Missles, a 3in gun, and CIWS in the back. That's a big punch in such a small craft.

I like the CIWS being on the back so you fire your missiles and then run away, expecting return fire from that direction.


And here's a random ship photo - this time HMS Achilles (1907)

[Sharpnel]

The Indian Veer corvette is a very angry patrol boat. 16 Anti Ship Missles, a 3in gun, and CIWS in the back. That's a big punch in such a small craft.

There's two AK-630 CIWS on the Veer

[JadeHellbringer]

The spirit of HMS Warrior nudges the spirit of HMS Dreadnought. "The children did well, didn't they?"

Dreadnought replies "How the bloody hell should I know? I found ramming was more my style in the end anyway."  ;D

[I am Belch II]

The CIWS is a 30mm also, more firepower than the US CIWS.

I just remember when the US PT boats were out it was the most firepower in the smallest ship pound for pound. I wonder what ship holds that title now?  That Veer has to be in the running.

[Kidd]

The CIWS is a 30mm also, more firepower than the US CIWS.

I just remember when the US PT boats were out it was the most firepower in the smallest ship pound for pound. I wonder what ship holds that title now?  That Veer has to be in the running.

The Veer's double CIWS is grand-looking and impressed me too, but loses out to the more modern Kashtan system IMHO.

The Veer would probably give the Greek Roussen class and Egyptian Ezzat class a run for their money, but IMHO the king of the small missile boat category goes to the Israeli Sa'ar-4.5 class, example INS Tarshish below.



The Sa'ar 4.5 carries a 76mm gun, Phalanx CIWS, 16 Barak-1 SAMs, 8 Harpoon AShM and sometimes ASW torpedo tubes too, but I vote her mainly because of her dazzling array of ECM systems, possibly the most on any ship of any size currently in service. A matter of quality over quantity...

...but if raw throw weight is what one desires, the Taiwanese Tuo Chiang class is no slouch either with 16 antiship missiles and a very intriguing structure to boot.

[Sharpnel]

The above ship will carry even more weaponry in the follow-on vessel of the class as they will also be armed with a SAM launcher

[Kidd]

The above ship will carry even more weaponry in the follow-on vessel of the class as they will also be armed with a SAM launcher

The Tuo Chiang-class? No, they will replace the 8 HF-2 antiship missiles with the SAMs, leaving her with 8 antiship missiles and dunno-how-many SAMs.

[kato]

I just remember when the US PT boats were out it was the most firepower in the smallest ship pound for pound. I wonder what ship holds that title now?  That Veer has to be in the running.

Depends on what that firepower is supposed to be good for.

For a mission somewhat in line with PT Boats? Romanian Smardan / Brutar-II class river monitors. 322 tons and 44m length. Carrying a tank turret from a TR-85 MBT (100mm), one twin 30mm AA turret (dunno where that's from), two ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns (ea quad 14.5mm), two twin MG turrets from TAB-77 APC (ea 14.5mm + 7.62mm) and two Grad MLRS (ea 40 122mm rockets).

[Kidd]

Romanian Smardan / Brutar-II class river monitors. 322 tons and 44m length. Carrying a tank turret from a TR-85 MBT (100mm), one twin 30mm AA turret (dunno where that's from), two ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns (ea quad 14.5mm), two twin MG turrets from TAB-77 APC (ea 14.5mm + 7.62mm) and two Grad MLRS (ea 40 122mm rockets).

[Weirdo]

If you look really REALLY closely, you might find a patch of deck that doesn't already have a gun sitting on it.

[sadlerbw]

Depends on what that firepower is supposed to be good for.

For a mission somewhat in line with PT Boats? Romanian Smardan / Brutar-II class river monitors. 322 tons and 44m length. Carrying a tank turret from a TR-85 MBT (100mm), one twin 30mm AA turret (dunno where that's from), two ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns (ea quad 14.5mm), two twin MG turrets from TAB-77 APC (ea 14.5mm + 7.62mm) and two Grad MLRS (ea 40 122mm rockets).

Hmm, are you sure it is really a boat, and not a bunch of tanks and APC's welded together with an Evenrude-ski out back?

[kato]

If you look really REALLY closely, you might find a patch of deck that doesn't already have a gun sitting on it.

And then that patch is either:
- the one where they used to mount the four extra .50cal MGs that aren't carried anymore.
- the hatches into which the MLRS can be retracted for reloading under armour.
- or the rails for naval mines that run from the MLRS positions all the way to the stern of the boat...

[ANS Kamas P81]

I'd nominate the Kogalniceanu river monitor; adds a second tank turret aft as well as two twin 30mm AA mounts on top combined with the two quad 14.5mm mounts just aft of the A turret, and still loads two 40-shot 122mm launchers.  Plus whatever AA missiles the crew brings along, and I'm sure there's a few single belt-feds stored aboard just in case you run out of ammo for everything else.

[kato]

Yeah, but that comes at the cost of 570 tons weight. I wouldn't rate the extra armament being worth the 77% more weight.

[Wrangler]

Accuracy is more important with those River monitors.  Do they have fire controls that are meant to handle being on the water. I know it's not as bad say coast vs semi-calm river.

[Giovanni Blasini]

It's time to say goodbye to both a good ship and the end of an era.



Peru's light cruiser Almirante Grau, the last of the gunships, retired at the end of September after several decades of service with both the Peruvian and Dutch navies. The eight six-inch guns have gone silent forever, and with their retiring the final major warship using guns as its primary weaponry is gone.

This means we're down to only two nations that field cruiser class vessels, and one of them, the US, is planning to reduce our cruiser fleet by half over the next five years.

[Sharpnel]

We're building destroyers today that mass more than WWI Cruisers