The Ship Model Forum

I am proposing a new design Burke that tries to overcome the problems of the current Flt III design while retaining some Burke characteristic such as deckhouse dimensions, ship beam, number of decks/levels but increasing the length by 100 feet.
I would mount either a Mk 71 or AGS Lite forward with lengthening of the forward hull to accomodate a 64 VLS cells.
Aft, a lengthened deckhouse to accomodate a second Mk 71 aft of the Phlanx mount and retain the forward Phlanx.
Secondary armament would be two P/S STALES Super Rapid 76 mm with both guided AA rounds and Volcano ER ammunition including the basic ER unguided round, the infra red homing antiship round and the ER GPS rounds.
STALES mount incorporates low RCS and the shield over the onboard guidance unit and Multiple Feed which select up to 20 different rounds out of an 89 round magazine.
The deckspace between the funnels would be lengthen so that a pair of SEARAMs are mounted fore and aft while the spaces on either side of the aft funnel would house the STARLES 76 mm SRs.
So three sections are added to lengthen the ship to 605 or so feet to accomodate these systems while retaining, I hope, producibility features of the standard beam and of course the 14 foot AMDR systems and existing forward deckhouse.
Length to beam ratio would be about 10.X to 1.0 although realisticly, the length might have to go to 120 feet split among the three sections. (I lack knowlege of how you would approtion the sections and freely admit I'm a landlubber who likes the Navy and enjoys these forums)
Stern would be of full beam like the existing Flt III design and feature the current towed and VDS sonars and the hardkill torpedo countermeasure towed passive/active array with, space permitting a port and starboard launcher for full size Mk 48 adapted for surface launch and dispense with the SVTT system. Mk 48s would be carried in two quad trainable tubes but have no reloads and though a two tube stern launcher is preferable, there may not be enough space, especially if a small boat launcher was there so boats would have to be stacked one on top of another as in the current Flt III design to allow more space.
Countermeaures would be reloadable automatically instead of sending someone out on the exposed deck and be faster in reloading. A revival of rocket launcher countermeasures might be in order.
The Russians have a rather poor reloadable twin launcher or mortar which could be improved on.
The French proposed a 72 round unguided rocket launcher that reloaded below decks.
If the beam could be increased, margins in weight growths and acceptable stability might be improved if it doesn't cause a five year delay to start lead ship producing.
Now gentlemen, pick the concept apart all you want!

The Mk71 gun is dead and you can stick a fork in it. The AGS, and Mk71 need a ship larger than the Burke class. And if the USN wants more AGS guns at sea I think they will go with a Zumwalt derivative with reduced electronics, and reduced composite material. Adding the Mk48 to surface ships isn't worth the money because a surface ship's sonar won't be able to provide it with good enough firing solutions and the wire guidance will be far less useful. I'd keep the 127mm/62 Mk45 mod2 forward, and add two 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II guns. The Bushmaster II will be sufficient for perforating pirate ships, light aircraft, and fast attack boats.

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║ Seasick║
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