Shipbucket

I was taking to a friend about my current dilemma with trying to find a good design that sated most of my needs for one of these ships. Currently, I'm using Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigates for the role, but as these ships get older, maintaince costs increase, and they still have decent crews. The vessels should be in reserve anyway, waiting to be called on for their real mission, ASW instead of chasing pirates in motorboats.

His suggestion was in using The HSV as a pirate hunter, saying it was really what the ships were intended as from the beginning, and that the main reason we weren't building more is that they were a foreign (Austrailian) design. Doing some reseach on them, I couldn't really find anything unpleasent said about them, so I extended the bow a bit, placed an OTO 76mm there, stuck a SeaRAM launcher atop the hangar and lastly placed an I-Mast 400 behind the bridge. Is this really a good pirate hunting solution? I need something for off the coast of Somalia and to patrol the Malucca Straits for pirates.

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We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

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This is what I had in mind. Seems the thing has a good record so far. (I'll credit if I actually use this for anything other than this post)

The thing can take two Helos as well--I'll add them if as well if I use this. They'll be gunships for pirate killing.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

I doubt this is an good idea, but well, if you want it you better use an I-mast 100 then this huge one. you can also put an RAM on it, because the I mast makes the guidance for the searam useless.
my idea for an frigate/lcs was this, maybe you can use it for some ideas... viewtopic.php?f=15&t=340

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Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

With RAM vs SeaRAM it is mainly a matter of autonomy as opposed to guidance. My understanding is SeaRAM can be set to engage targets automatically without input from ship's sensors. There may be a guidance issue of it being more accurate against certain forms of attack, but mainly I was wanting a system that if the crew were surprised wouldn't wait for someone to tell it what to shoot at. This capability might be present with I-Mast, but I wasn't certain. Your design while quite effective, looks just a little bit too odd for me. You are correct about I-Mast 100 having the better footprint. I'll change that on the final. As for it not being a good idea, I haven't seen anything compelling as to why it wouldn't be.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

The only real problem I see with it is range, 4000 miles would be eaten up pretty quickly getting there and patrolling.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

well, the problem is that your ship isn't an warship. it is build for transporting things. the huge powers placed on an hull from firing an gun might not be good for the ship. you will need to strengthen it. also, it will be an large target for the pirates weapons, without any armor. it also misses the capabily to launch a few RHIB's to capture the pirates, and you will need some light guns as well (look at the dutch opv, the holland class... it has no AA capability, but it has an oto 76mm, 30mm(marlin) and 2 12.7mm(hitrole) guns

_________________
Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

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I did modify the Holland OPV to carry the correct firepower. Bit of a squeeze getting it there, but hopefully it would work. I put the SeaRam mounts in such fashion that I could cover most arcs, which required two mounts. I don't know how many ESSM I can fit back there, but even 4 cells will give me enough of them.

Still need to add the helos, and hopefully, RAM Block II will be ready before these start to deploy anywhere.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

As far as the HSV goes, it shouldn't be exposed to too much fire from pirates. The 76mm offers more than ample standoff range to kill them at a distance, and there a large stocks of ammo for it, so it's pretty cheap to use. We aren't worried about arresting them after all. Most of the work will be done by the embarked gunships anyway.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."

about the holland: no, just no. you have placed an VLS through the ammo storage for the 76mm, the76mm has not enough room at the front, the searams are placed at the worst place possible (radars blocked, CIC and other important spaces pierced) and you have used an old version of the drawing.
the 76 mm stealth is an good idea, but it needs to be placed at the original position. other improvements might be an SAM launcher placed instead of the marlin, or an (larger) launcher instead of the 76mm.

for the hsv: you can't always use only your gun against pirates. don't ask me why, but you just can't. and an RPG or man launched missile reaches far enough to damage a ship from a fairly long range, that's why the holland class' CIC is heavy armored.

_________________
Drawings are credited with J.Scholtens
I ask of you to prove me wrong. Not say I am wrong, but prove it, because then I will have learned something new.
Shipbucket Wiki admin

The 76mm ammo storage is behind the mount? I figured it would be underneath the unit, leaving room behind it. I agree that the SeaRam placement isn't ideal, and needs altered. Perhaps adding on a few more meters to the design will solve lots of problems.

The HSV has lots of storage space for onboard marines, and they'll be packing plenty of sniper rifles, grenade launchers, and ATGW. Given your average pirate band is armed with a few AKs, an RPG or two and maybe a LMG, that should be plenty. There is plenty of room on the stern to mount some .50s or 20mm without interfering with helo ops too much.

_________________
We can't stop here--this is Bat country!

If it's close enough to cast a shadow, I think the flying house wins initiative.

Bronies are like the Forsworn. Everyone agrees that they are a problem but nobody wants to expend the energy rooting them out.

"That is a very graphic analogy which aids understanding wonderfully while being, strictly speaking, wrong in every possible way."