The Ship Model Forum

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[quote="carr"]No, no, no! Well, maybe, maybe, maybe. Well, yes, yes, yes.[/quote]Oh! Nice!

[quote="carr"]It all depends on what you're trying to accomplish.[/quote]Yeah, I guess you're right. The Street Fighter is not the right category to fit the 1990s modernized Gearing in. The idea was to actually fill the bulk of mission requirements originally postulated for LCS.

[quote="carr"]Given that a modernized Gearing can't be a Streetfighter (300-1000 t, $80M, swarming), what do you want it to do? Maybe, maybe, maybe![/quote]This would also be an off-the-shelf type of project as well. The mission would be to support mine sweeps, provide counter battery fire, ASuW, NSFS, UAV operations, NSW staging and support, etc

I imagine 2-3 hulls with Mk42 5"/54caliber guns pulled off decommissioned ships replacing the 5"/38 caliber twin mounts, 2-3 CIWS, SLQ-32 ECM, SPS-49, SPQ-9A, TAS-23, SRBOC chaff launchers, glide scope, etc.

This would be an interesting group of ships in order to test the idea of LCS before going all in like the Navy did.

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I am looking to do a 1990 SLEP/Modernized Gearing as a Street Fighter demonstrator. The 5"/38 is out, an era appropriate 5" gun will be installed. This DD will satisfy all of the requirements of the Street Fighter/pre-LCS study that led to the LCS.

Tell me what systems you think it should have!

[quote="Jack Ray"]That's a lot of weaponry for such a hull. This reminds me of the fire support conversions based on landing ships like LSMs and LSTs. Are you using modified land-based howitzers?[/quote]Hey, Jack!

No, not the land based howitzers but instead one of 3 different options.

1) The 155m AGS(L) which is the light version of the DDG-1000 gun
2) The 155mm version of the Mk71 gun
3) The 155mm version of the Mk45 Mod4

I prefer the Mk71 155mm, because it has a 75 round ready-service loader, but the Navy would likely use opt for the 155mm version of the Mk45 because it would be cheaper than either other option.

This would offer the Navy the ability to use the entire 155mm family of munitions, the most important, the Excalibur Increment 1b. This would allow the 155mm/60caliber gun to fire precision guided rounds well over 50nm. It would in fact put the LRLAP out of business.

Then there is a design I have built upon the "Improved Spruance-class Hull". That is the Sprucan widened by 10' with a RCS reduced superstructure. That bad boy will have its 4 weapons modules with 3 Mk71 8"/60s and a 64-cell Mk41 VLS pad with an LPD-17 sensor package and a heavy CIWS suite...but that is for another thread! :thumbs_up_1:

That's a lot of weaponry for such a hull. This reminds me of the fire support conversions based on landing ships like LSMs and LSTs. Are you using modified land-based howitzers?

Jack

[quote="Jack Ray"]It should be a small destroyer, or even a frigate. Some of these would be optimized for mine warfare, but most would be general purpose. Also, it should be relatively inexpensive while maintaining mil-spec (heavy duty). The LCS is costly, but standards of construction and many fittings are "cheap".[/quote]You may be interested that I have a slightly larger design filling a Perry-class hull. It's an NSFS ship armed with 3 155mm guns, 32 VLS, a 76mm SR atop the helo hangar between the hangars accommodating 2 HH-60s and 6 Shadow UAVs and 10 ScanEagle UAVs, and open stern for small craft, TRS-4D and SPQ-9B, SEWIP, NULKA, SeaRAM, 21-cell RAM, 2 Mk38 Mod2s, and 4 GAU-19s.

Hey, Jack!
[quote="Jack Ray"]It should be a small destroyer, or even a frigate. Some of these would be optimized for mine warfare, but most would be general purpose. Also, it should be relatively inexpensive while maintaining mil-spec (heavy duty). The LCS is costly, but standards of construction and many fittings are "cheap".

Jack[/quote]
Thanks for chiming in! I think a ship arranged like a Gearing-class DD would be greatly arranged for this. I am working on a Gearing-class hull that will have a stern that instead of dove-tailing in is as wide as the beam. That would accommodate 3 deck guns. With a combined stack, there would be a LOT of topside space PDS such as 21-cell RAM, 11-cell SeaRAM, and Millennium Gun placements, and a 32-cell VLS cluster just aft of the stack. Then, a helo hangar and landing pad. Side-scan sonar would be appropriate for this kind of ship, so it would be mounted on the keel instead of the bow. TACTAS could be in the stern if necessary.

I imagine the radar suite being SPQ-9B and TRS-4D with ECM performed by SEWIP, 2 RAM, 4 SeaRAM with 4 Millennium guns (2 of which are slaved per SeaRAM).

Helo hangar carrying 2 HH-60s and 12 Shadow UAVs and 6 Scan Eagles. The stern should be open enough to embark 2 11m RHIBs.

That is the general idea so far.

:big_grin:

It should be a small destroyer, or even a frigate. Some of these would be optimized for mine warfare, but most would be general purpose. Also, it should be relatively inexpensive while maintaining mil-spec (heavy duty). The LCS is costly, but standards of construction and many fittings are "cheap".

Jack

Operating the mission requirements established over the massive wargame that determined that a shallow draft warship was needed.

Before LCS was designated, there was the Street Fighter. The Street Fighter was supposed to be a ship that could engage many Fast FIACs at a single time while engaging counter battery fire and sweeping mines. That's a lot of jobs! This some how evolved into the LCS program. Where we have a ship that can barely defend itself and has to run if a corvette shows up to engage it.

So, engaging the missions I proposed above, should it be a small destroyer? A gunned up PC? How and what?