The US Navy
has always had a love-hate (mostly hate!) relationship with small patrol
boats. Witness the building and then
rapid abandonment of the Cyclones, Pegasus class hydrofoils, and various
riverine boats. The current Mk VI patrol
boats are underequipped, underutilized, and lack any coherent concept of
operations which would take advantage of their potential. With suitable modifications, various
specialized versions could be built and integrated into multi-function
squadrons. The following story illustrates
the concept. Detailed descriptions of
the Mk VI versions are presented after the story.
 |
| Mk VI Patrol Boat |
The usual disclaimer (which no one
takes note of): This is NOT intended to
be a fair and balanced simulation of combat.
It is intended to illustrate concepts and tactics in a more entertaining
and understandable format than a simple listing. Enjoy it as such.
_______________________________________
Mk VI Story – Gunboat Diplomacy
The eight Mk
VI boats of the squadron crept silently through the night toward the Iranian naval
base facilities with the MkVI-ISR surveillance boat in the lead, cautiously
sniffing the electronic air for any sign that they had been discovered.
The boats had
been working their way up the coast, hugging the shoreline, with the ISR boat
scanning the shore with IR sensors, monitoring communication signals, and
plotting radar sources. So far, there
was no indication that the Iranians were aware of their presence.
Stealth was
vital for this mission, as was plausible deniability. The new Administration had decided that Iran had
finally gone too far. The seizure of US
boats and crews a few years ago, followed by numerous taunting harassments of
Navy ships by Iranian small boats, followed by a period of harassments of
carriers by UAVs intruding into the carriers aircraft operating space had made
a laughingstock of the US Navy and US political resolve on the world
stage. Now, the most recent series of
mock attack runs by Iranian small boats on US warships had been a step too far
for the new Administration and the President was determined to send an
unequivocal message that the days of “strategic patience” were over.
So it was
that the squadron of MkVI boats were approaching one of the naval bases that
the Iranian boats operated from. The
squadron’s orders were to clandestinely wreak as much damage on the base and
boat facilities as possible.
Tomahawk and
Air Force bomber attacks had been considered but ruled out because they would
leave far too much evidence of their presence.
The President wanted plausible deniability as part of a larger political
game. He had no problem with letting Iran know who
had hit them and why but he wanted no blatant evidence. The use of the MkVI boats would maintain the
thinly veiled, plausible deniability that would prevent Iran from claiming
proof of US
involvement on the world stage and escalating the incident. Of course, if they did choose to escalate
without the benefit of clear and overwhelming evidence … well, there were assets and plans in place
for just that eventuality – and that would be communicated via back door
connections, as well, once the attack was completed.
As the
squadron, throttled down to bare steerageway, rounded the headland that
partially sheltered the port, it became clear that the Iranian base was
suffering from the fruits of its repeated successes. In a word, they had become complacent and
were taking no great security precautions.
They flatly did not believe that America had the political will to
take any substantive action against them, especially inside their territorial
waters and against a base on their mainland.
The squadron
spread out with the five MKVI-Attack boats in a line abreast and a bit in
front. The two MKVI-AA (anti-air) boats
hung back a bit, covering each flank and the ISR boat dropped further back to
continue monitoring.
The base was
clearly visible about two miles ahead – well within rocket range of the attack
boats. Though not guided, the Hydra 70
2.75” rockets were computer controlled by the boats fire control system to
achieve the best aiming aspect by the launcher.
Each boat had several pre-assigned targets and now each rocket launcher
twitched as the final aiming corrections for the first round of targets were
made. The boats each carried four rocket
pods with each pod containing 19 rockets.
That gave a total of 76 rockets per boat and the five attack boats
carried a total of 380 rockets. Each
boat would retain 10 rockets for defense on the way out. The base would receive the remaining 330
rockets.
The boats
idled, waiting silently for the pre-determined launch time. At the exact same moment, all five boats
began firing. The initial salvos
exploded out of their launchers and sped toward the targets at 2400
ft/sec. Travel time was only about 5
seconds. The base lit up as the rockets exploded
on their targets and secondary explosions added their fireworks. Some of the rocket warheads were point
detonation and some were air burst, depending on their assigned targets. What wasn’t destroyed outright in the wave of
explosions was shredded by shrapnel.
Even before
the first rockets hit their targets, the rocket launchers were adjusting their
aim for the second round of targets. And
so it continued until all the assigned targets were serviced and the rockets
were expended.
Piers, boats,
fuel storage tanks, control facilities, munitions storage, and warehouses were
all targeted and, now, were all burning furiously. Notably, a pair of barracks for the Iranian boat
crews had been allocated ten rockets each.
The destruction was devastating and, this late at night, most of the
Iranian crews were in the barracks. The Iranian
death toll would be high and this was another aspect to the message being
sent. The US would hold individuals
accountable and the prospect of enemy deaths would no longer inhibit military
actions.
On one of the
boats, a Hellfire launcher trained slightly to one side to target a large,
lavishly decorated house that Iranian officers and leadership used as their
quarters and as a luxury headquarters.
In fact, the base commander and his family occupied one wing of the
house. Four Hellfire missiles shot off
the launcher and impacted the house.
There was nothing but rubble left when the dust settled. This was yet another part of the message –
that the fear of collateral damage would no longer unduly restrict US military
actions.
As the boats
completed their assigned attacks, silence settled back over the squadron and
the boats throttled up a bit. Led by the
ISR boat, the squadron reversed course and began their return. Surprisingly, they did not immediately
throttle up to full power and begin a high speed run straight to the safety of
international waters, twelve miles out to sea.
Instead, they began to slowly retrace their ingress route. It was assumed that as Iran began to
react the first place they would look was on a direct line to open waters.
The boats
hugged the shore, proceeding slowly along the coast. They would continue this way for several
miles before breaking veering off to international waters. The exposure time was longer but the planners
had concluded that the overall safety was increased.
After about
15 minutes, the ISR boat noted indications of helos and UAVs swarming towards
the area and a few Iranian boats that had survived the destruction appeared to
be putting to sea. Sure enough, the
majority were heading directly out to sea, right where the squadron would have
been if they had made a direct run for safety.
After a few
more minutes, the ISR boat spotted an infrared heat source several hundred
yards ahead and about a hundred yards inland.
It appeared to be an Iranian truck of some sort with several people
milling around. They were likely Iranian
soldiers ordered to look for intruders.
The squadron
was prepared for this eventuality and this was why each boat had retained 10
rockets. The ISR boat issued the first
spoken command of the evening and assigned one of the attack boats to eliminate
the threat. A minute passed as the
target was acquired and then five rockets ignited out of their pod. One of the rockets hit the vehicle near the
cab and a second exploded on the ground almost beneath the vehicle. It was shredded and flipped over in a
spectacular fireworks display. The
remaining three rockets impacted in the area, killing or severely wounding the
presumed soldiers. This was further
proof that the US
military would not be unduly constrained by fear of collateral damage. The vehicle and people were almost certainly
Iranian army and the squadron would take no chances.
The squadron
continued on their way. Several more minutes
passed and the ISR boat noted a small UAV about 3 miles out and heading in their
general direction, possibly attracted by the attack on the vehicle. Again, a brief message designated one of the anti-air
boats to deal with the intruder, if it continued to close.
The AA boat’s
Mk38 Mod 2, 25 mm remote control gun tracked the UAV. The UAV was a small one and flying low,
probably using an optical scanner of some sort, looking for the source of the
base attack. The squadron was tucked
inshore and throttled way down, leaving no wake. Unless the UAV had an infrared scanner, it
wasn’t likely to see the boats from a couple of miles away.
The UAV
continued to close. As it approached
three quarters of a mile, the Mk38 fired.
The first short burst missed but before the UAV operator could react and
veer off, a second burst connected and sent the UAV tumbling to the sea.
By this time,
the squadron was far enough away from the base to turn out to sea and head for
international waters. Besides, they had
begun to attract attention and a change of direction would be a good idea. Turning perpendicular to the shoreline, the
squadron increased speed to 12 kts.
Ten minutes
later, the ISR boat detected a helicopter headed their way. The flanking anti-air boat needed no
directions for this encounter. As the
helo reached five miles, the boat’s Stinger mount launched. The missile tracked the low, slow helo and
impacted with a brilliant flash of light and a couple of seconds later, a sharp
crack of thunder. The helo wasn’t
instantly killed but did immediately veer off, losing altitude steadily. It likely wouldn’t make it back to its base.
It was
obvious the Iranians were beginning to realize that the squadron was the source
of the attack so there was no further need for stealth. The boats throttled up to 37 kts to complete
the run to international waters. At that
speed, the 12 mile territorial limit was just a 16 minute run away.
However, 12
minutes into the dash, the ISR boat detected communications signals from ahead
and offset a bit to starboard. One or
more surviving Iranian boats must have put to sea and were now being vectored
towards the squadron or, perhaps, had just stumbled into the right
location. Either way, it didn’t matter.
The AA boats
dropped back a bit and the attack boats formed a line abreast, oriented towards
the threat. Two Iranian small boats
appeared in the attack boat’s IR scans, about two miles out. The ISR boat allocated one Iranian boat
target to each of the two closest attack boats.
The boat’s Hellfire launchers trained and fired one missile each. One of the target boats exploded in a
blinding flash. The other missile
clipped a wave top just before impact and skidded above the boat – a clean
miss. This prompted the lucky, surviving
boat to launch its rockets in an immediate and, probably, unaimed attack. The rockets arced over the squadron and
impacted the water well beyond the boats.
The attack
boat that had fired the errant missile immediately launched another missile and
this one found its mark, demolishing the Iranian boat.
With no
further threats, the squadron resumed its dash to international waters where a
Burke destroyer was waiting to escort the boats back to their mothership.
______________________________________
The MKVI
boats described in the story were one of three specialized, conceptual versions,
as described below. The boats operate in
squadrons with types being mixed and matched according to the mission.
Mk VI Anti-Air
2x Stinger Pod Mounts, 4 missiles/pod, 2 pods per mount, 16 missiles total and ready, mounts fore and aft, FIM-92, effective firing range 5 miles
Mk 38 Mod 2 Remote Weapon Station, effective range 9800 ft (1.8 miles), max firing range 22,000 ft (4 miles)
4x twin 0.50 cal M2 machine gun, 1 mile range
Mk VI Attack
2x AGM-114 Hellfire Pod Mounts, 4 missiles/pod, 2 pods per mount, 16 missiles total and ready, mounts fore and aft, effective range 4 miles
2.75” Rocket Pod Mounts, 4x on 2 mounts, 76 rockets total, Hydra 70 rockets, 8700 yd (5 miles) effective firing range, 11,000 yd (6.25 miles) maximum range
Mk VI Surveillance
Signal collection and analysis electronics
Passive signal triangulation electronics
Radar threat receivers
Laser detectors
EO/IR imaging sensors providing hemispherical coverage
IR tracking sensors
