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petsan · 03-31-2007, 23:28 PM

I keep hearing about Irans small boat suicide fleet, Small boats that put to sea armed with rockets, machine guns and mines showed how Iran would actually fight if rising tensions over its nuclear program should lead to war in the Arabian Gulf. Groups of the boats might swarm around U.S. warships, then withdraw into the cover of islands, haze and shipping, Iran could sortie nearly 400 small, high-speed craft armed with rocket launchers, torpedoes and mines. “In an enclosed, narrow and rather shallow region such as the Persian Gulf, this tactic can be very decisive against large units and can deny the enemy from effective deployment, sea lines of communication and power projection.”In the 2002 Joint Forces Command war game Millennium Challenge, anti-U.S. forces used swarms of small boats and aircraft to rip into a U.S. invasion fleet, sending much of it to the bottom of a shallow sea.

I have seen ideas of countermeasures like JDAMing the iran fleet while still in port, Rockeye bombing the small boats with B-1s, Also the marines did a study in which a LPD-17 launching multiple EFVs and RHIBs from its well deck has turned out to be the best FAC killer option for the US Navy during wargames. There is a story about a LPD-17 used in a small boat attack simulation in the Strait of Malacca. The pirate force player was able to close the range of over 40 small boats to within 2 miles before being detected
as a threat. The LPD-17 released all 14 EFVs into the water, and lined them up between the LPD-17 and the FAC force. For people not familiar with what the EFV can do, the 30mm cannon the EFV is basically the same Mk44 that is being refitted to the AC-130U gunship, and has armor piercing rounds that will go through 25mm of steel at 2,000 meters range. The EFV line supported by the LPD-17 and attack helicopters tore the small boat attack to pieces, mostly because the EFVs are very hard to see at night while at sea, and virtually invisible to a FAC radar while at sea.

I was wondering if Nuc submarines could also be used to attack the small boats by launching many 12.75" Mark 54 or 12.75" Mark 46 torpedos (The Mark 46 torpedo Mod 5 is extensively modified and has the capability of attacking surface targets) from shallow water the swarm of lightweight torpedoes would seem to come out of nowhere. Theoretically a 26" diameter tube (with some kind of sleeve) launch 4 or even 8 at a time

Any thoughts.......

03-31-2007, 23:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
petsan New Member Join Date: 03-27-07 Posts: 1	Iran's Small Boat Surprise I keep hearing about Irans small boat suicide fleet, Small boats that put to sea armed with rockets, machine guns and mines showed how Iran would actually fight if rising tensions over its nuclear program should lead to war in the Arabian Gulf. Groups of the boats might swarm around U.S. warships, then withdraw into the cover of islands, haze and shipping, Iran could sortie nearly 400 small, high-speed craft armed with rocket launchers, torpedoes and mines. “In an enclosed, narrow and rather shallow region such as the Persian Gulf, this tactic can be very decisive against large units and can deny the enemy from effective deployment, sea lines of communication and power projection.”In the 2002 Joint Forces Command war game Millennium Challenge, anti-U.S. forces used swarms of small boats and aircraft to rip into a U.S. invasion fleet, sending much of it to the bottom of a shallow sea. I have seen ideas of countermeasures like JDAMing the iran fleet while still in port, Rockeye bombing the small boats with B-1s, Also the marines did a study in which a LPD-17 launching multiple EFVs and RHIBs from its well deck has turned out to be the best FAC killer option for the US Navy during wargames. There is a story about a LPD-17 used in a small boat attack simulation in the Strait of Malacca. The pirate force player was able to close the range of over 40 small boats to within 2 miles before being detected as a threat. The LPD-17 released all 14 EFVs into the water, and lined them up between the LPD-17 and the FAC force. For people not familiar with what the EFV can do, the 30mm cannon the EFV is basically the same Mk44 that is being refitted to the AC-130U gunship, and has armor piercing rounds that will go through 25mm of steel at 2,000 meters range. The EFV line supported by the LPD-17 and attack helicopters tore the small boat attack to pieces, mostly because the EFVs are very hard to see at night while at sea, and virtually invisible to a FAC radar while at sea. I was wondering if Nuc submarines could also be used to attack the small boats by launching many 12.75" Mark 54 or 12.75" Mark 46 torpedos (The Mark 46 torpedo Mod 5 is extensively modified and has the capability of attacking surface targets) from shallow water the swarm of lightweight torpedoes would seem to come out of nowhere. Theoretically a 26" diameter tube (with some kind of sleeve) launch 4 or even 8 at a time Any thoughts.......