Arsenal Ships

**Wayfarer** · 05 Mar 11,, 04:12

SC-21 (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arsenal ship - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NEW WARS: Revisiting the Arsenal Ship

A few questions for the resident naval experts, why haven't we seen Arsenal ships under construction/deployed, is their purported ability as great as they sound ?

Lastly, do they represent a revolution in Naval Warfare, obsoleting the need for Aircraft Carriers, as the missile would represent a cost-effective counterpart to a say F-35 or equivalent carrier-based aircraft, capable of accomplishing the same role, but with less risk.

Uneducated plebeian here, but am looking for some expert opinions on this concept.

**USSWisconsin** · 05 Mar 11,, 14:27

The arsenal ship was a big deal in the 1980's but it was eventually dropped in the 90's, the Cold War was over, and the need didn't justify the cost - and the VLS arrays on new ships were greatly increasing the number of launchers on the primary combatants. The AS would have had a similar purpose to the B1-R being discussing in the aviation thread. A missile truck, slaved to Aegis cruisers and destroyers - providing a big stock of missiles to supplement the launchers on the fully equipped ships which would have handled targeting and firing them. IMO, They were not a major revolution in naval warfare and would not replace carriers, they would simply add more missile launchers to the fleet, which at the time of their conception was not enough- the idea of making them into NGS platforms was dropped along the way as they were to valuable and vulnerable to expose in that way.

**Gun Grape** · 05 Mar 11,, 16:36

We have Arsenal Ships. The concept didn't go away. Its the four SSGN Ohios.

**HKDan** · 06 Mar 11,, 03:06

The U.S. Navy has enough trouble filling the VLS cells that it already has. The last thing they need is another big empty space to have to fill with expensive munitions.

**USSWisconsin** · 07 Mar 11,, 14:58

Originally Posted by Gun Grape

We have Arsenal Ships. The concept didn't go away. Its the four SSGN Ohios.

True, but not very recognizable as Arsenal ships, since the SSGN are designed to be able to work autonomously (the original AS concept was reliant on other surface combatants) and operate below the waves.