Naval Drones

 
https://www.navalnews.com/event-new...avy-details-mrss-requirements-and-challenges/
"The ships are set to include a well dock, like previous amphibious vessels. However, Capt Powles explained, the dock will require integration and interfacing with larger and more complex insertion craft (that bring increased range and capability requirements) and with uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs)."

" “MRSS is being designed as a drone carrier …. [Operating] uncrewed systems in all environments – air, surface, sub-surface – is an integral part of this concept,” Brig Haw added."
 
Scott Kenny said:
What size well deck is the RN currently using? Can't they already accept something the size of an LCAC?
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The ALBION class can in theory accommodate an LCAC, if the dock is set up appropriately. The BAY class dock is pretty much shrink-wrapped around the LCU Mk.10.

Incidentally, 'well dock' is on my list of things that make me want to beat the Royal Navy around the head with a haddock, alongside 'Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear' and its ilk.
 
Yellow Palace said:
The ALBION class can in theory accommodate an LCAC, if the dock is set up appropriately. The BAY class dock is pretty much shrink-wrapped around the LCU Mk.10.
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Hopefully the MRSS has a well deck at least big enough to handle an LCAC, though that does kinda imply a pretty large ship if you want one that can make fleet speed.


Yellow Palace said:
Incidentally, 'well dock' is on my list of things that make me want to beat the Royal Navy around the head with a haddock, alongside 'Ship Submersible Ballistic Nuclear' and its ilk.
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Yeah, some of the terms of art are beyond clunky. I had to write up a whole "spaceship directions and vocabulary" file for my world building.
 
How do they sweep for pressure? I always thought that was the capability gap.
 
Scott Kenny said:
As I understand it, they drag a device through the water that makes a very large pressure wave. IIRC this was one of the major H53 missions, since they could drag that device around without making a pressure wave themselves.
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The AMCM sleds were for sweeping magnetic and acoustic influence mines. The MH-53 could also drag Oropsa sweeps for clearing moored contact mines.

Despite several tries at solutions for sweeping pressure mines, none have proved practical. Pressure mines have to be hunted, not swept.
 
TomS said:
The AMCM sleds were for sweeping magnetic and acoustic influence mines. The MH-53 could also drag Oropsa sweeps for clearing moored contact mines.

Despite several tries at solutions for sweeping pressure mines, none have proved practical. Pressure mines have to be hunted, not swept.
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I could have sworn my friend said they had a way to sweep pressure mines back in 1972.
 
Scott Kenny said:
I could have sworn my friend said they had a way to sweep pressure mines back in 1972.
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Possibly Washtenaw County (MSS-2), an LST converted for minimal manning (6 crew onboard, all topside during operations)with the tank deck and wing tanks pumped full of foam so she would stay afloat if a mine did detonate. She was used to check cleared lanes during the clearance of Haiphong in '73. Haiphong was mainly mined with magnetic/acoustic influence mines, but this sort of ship could also clear basic pressure mines by sailing over them. It's not really practical for sustained clearance ops, for obvious reasons. Even a heavily reinforced and buoyant hull can take only a limited number of mine hits without something critical breaking.

For my bonafides on the topic, I spent a couple of years supporting OPNAV N852, the Mine Warfare division within the OPNAV Expeditionary Warfare branch (It is now N952; the numbering changed after I left.) I wrote at least one of their annual Mine Warfare Plans, back during the first real push for new AMCM systems like RAMICS and ALMDS around 1999. I just dragged out my copy and there's nothing about sweeping pressure mines.

You can find a ton of patents for ideas to do this (towed flat plates, ring vortex generators, etc.) But none of them seem to work reliably and efficiently in practice. The best solution I know of so far is to go really slow to limit the pressure signature. If Leonardo has found a feasible method for sweeping pressure mines, it's a huge technical breakthrough.
 
TomS said:
Possibly Washtenaw County (MSS-2), an LST converted for minimal manning (6 crew onboard, all topside during operations)with the tank deck and wing tanks pumped full of foam so she would stay afloat if a mine did detonate. She was used to check cleared lanes during the clearance of Haiphong in '73. Haiphong was mainly mined with magnetic/acoustic influence mines, but this sort of ship could also clear basic pressure mines by sailing over them. It's not really practical for sustained clearance ops, for obvious reasons. Even a heavily reinforced and buoyant hull can take only a limited number of mine hits without something critical breaking.
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That would be the right timeframe, he has some stories about clearing Haiphong. And a few NorVN Navy patrol boats that hadn't gotten the message that the US was cleaning up their mess!
 
Oddly narrow shape for a UUV but I cannot imagine it’s a weapon system. Status 6 works because it’s a nuke, and I doubt that’s where the PRC is going. Plus Status 6 is fired from a specialist submarine, and we haven’t seen a PLAN equivalent yet.
 
Josh_TN said:
Oddly narrow shape for a UUV but I cannot imagine it’s a weapon system. Status 6 works because it’s a nuke, and I doubt that’s where the PRC is going. Plus Status 6 is fired from a specialist submarine, and we haven’t seen a PLAN equivalent yet.
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Agreed. That's why I'm leaning UUV, not Sino-STATUS-6.
 
Josh_TN said:
Plus Status 6 is fired from a specialist submarine, and we haven’t seen a PLAN equivalent yet.
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If it's nuclear powered like Poseidon, it wouldn't necessarily need a submarine to launch. Could also be stuffed into specialized containers which are submerged in specific location and recovered again when needed or just remain there until needed.

I'm also not sure it's a Poseidon style weapon, but I don't think launch platform is all that important tbh.
 
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15977537
NEW YORK--During a U.S. naval test off the California coast last month, which was designed to showcase the Pentagon’s top autonomous drone boats, one vessel stalled unexpectedly.

As officials scrambled to fix a software glitch, another drone vessel smashed into the idling boat’s starboard side, vaulted over the deck, and crashed back into the water – an incident captured in videos obtained by Reuters.

The previously unreported episode, which involved two vessels built by U.S. defense tech rivals Saronic and BlackSea Technologies, is one of a series of recent setbacks in the Pentagon’s push to build a fleet of autonomous vessels, according to a dozen people familiar with the program. Weeks earlier, during a separate Navy test, the captain of a support boat was thrown into the water after another autonomous BlackSea vessel it was towing suddenly accelerated, capsizing the support boat, according to four people familiar with the matter. The captain was rescued and declined medical attention. The incident was first reported by Defense Scoop.

Both incidents stemmed from a combination of software failures and human error, including breakdowns in communication between onboard systems and external autonomous software, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to share sensitive information.

The Navy, Saronic and BlackSea declined to comment on the incidents.

[snip]
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