Anti-terrorist equipped sub load
 

This recent Somalia attack has mee thinking. What's do you think would be a *minimal* submarine loadout for a anti-terrorist mission?

I'm thinking:
Special forces
5 ELINT UUVs (currently in concept phase development)
5 Anti-mine UUVs
12 TLAMS (Eventually upgraded to RATTLRS)
6 torps

Seems like the most important component would be the TLAMS. That way you sit a ready sub off the coast of every nation with suspected terrorist cells and hover. Then you wait for a terrorist leader sighting and launch immediately. The rest of the loadout are for just in case some ELINT snooping, anti-mine for terrorist mines, or anti-shipping for smugglers comes up while on patrol, waiting for the signal to strike.

Sounds like a plan?

Actually what would be nice is a gun. I have sometimes thought we should have heavier guns for that type of thing. Or rather more. One or two five inchers perhaps.
Another thought would be a load of small missles, perhaps with an incindiary warhead.

I suspect a dry deck shelter and a full load of TLAMs (assuming they were in the inventory) would be the big thing. The thing about TLAMs, every time there's a big war the inventory is hugely depleted so for a while afterwards SSNs are often just leaving with ballast in their missile tubes.

They might keep a couple torpedoes on board, still though, as much for ceremony as the possibility of actually using it, though. If they were called upon to sink a vessel believed to be carrying a high value target, it'd be nice to have. Other than that, it'd be mostly TLAMs.

The mine hunting gear would be there if they felt like there was a credible mine threat, but I doubt there's really much of one in Somalia. Mines would impliy organization and that's something Somalia really lacks. The ELINT UUV idea might be a good one if they had it.

If I was doing it, I'd use the SSN in support of an ESG carrying special operations forces. I'd stick them outside of the mouth of a harbor and have them set up a barrier and just call in anything they saw. If I decided I wanted to deliver SOF then I'd call the SSN back over the horizon from the beach, and have a helo bring the special operators to them from the ESG. Then the SSN could deliver them covertly.

you should read the book: "Rise to Victory". During the book there was a TLAM strike on a terrorist camp, and they used a virginia class ship, armed with like a hundred missiles, to blow it up.

It's closer to half that. The Ohio SSGNs could mass that kind of firepower, though. They give you a lot of bang.

yep, they carry like 117 or something close to that.

More than that I think. For a while there was some debate about how to mount them in the old Trident tubes. One way allowed for more missiles to be mounted. I don't know the trade offs, though. Eventually they decided on more missiles.

There's also all this stuff they want to stick in the Trident tubes; equipment for SOF mostly. That cuts down the number of missiles they can carry. The actual number they'd carry at any particular time is probably not any fixed value.

Im not an expert but we are talking about tomahawks?TLAMs?Right?
120warheads in Ohio is only possibile if there is missiles with MIRV configuration in vertical silos.. in other words NUKE!!!!
If im wrong sorry..but i smply cant see way to fit 120 cruise missiles in horisontal launch tubes rack:down:

They DO have forward firing torpedo tubes...:yep:


Edit: It is possible to put more than one tlam in the tubes, and fire them too.

Fitting them into the existing vertical hull penetrations originally designed for the ICBMs they formerly carried is exactly how they did it... the SSGN Ohios are capable of carrying up to 154 TLAMs.

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_di...0&tid=300&ct=4
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/...edy_vssgn.html

TG

The SSGNs are configued to carry multiple missiles in each tube. The size difference between a TRIDENT D-5 missile and a UGM-109 Tomahawk is staggering, akin to the difference between a bush and a redwood tree.

They are carried in a configuration that is similar to a revolver, though it doesn't revolve. The Ohio class SSGN doesn't just have the capability of carrying 120 missiles...it carries more. That's even with 4 tubes out of commission because of the dive lockout chambers and the SOF gear.

Those of you unacquianted with the sheer massive size of the Ohio class submarine, keep in mind that this thing is basically a 4 story building underwater. It's the only submarine deck I've ever had to climb DOWN from to get into a small boat.

A note: SSGNs cannot torpedo-tube launch horizontal tomahawk AURs yet. There's really no need for them to, especially with the limited amount of weapon stowage in the torpedo room.

The Ohio rebuild is not a pipe dream or a futuristic vision. They are operational and will begin deployments this year. They are just as real and proven as the USS Virginia.

If not in some ways more capable in the SOF role due to the sheer number they can carry I'd imagine compared to the Virginia which was built with SOF in mind from the outset.

I guess there bulk is the only thing against them in terms of getting really close to the shore line.