An Independent Navy For An Independent Nation: Palma,Mozambique,Twenty-fourth of March,Twenty Twenty-one

 

On the Twenty-fourth of March,Twenty Twenty-one,insurgents of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant attacked the town of Palma in Mozambique killing civilians,includings citizens of the United Kingdom,herein we shall consider how the proposed Independent Navy For An Independent Nation might have responded to this event.

 

The town of Palma shall lie within the area of responsibility of the East Indies squadron,which shall be commanded by a commodore (who shall also be in administrative command of the Fourth Mining Squadron) who shall answer to the eastern patrolling division commander,a rear admiral (who shall also be the administrative commander of the Third Fisheries Protection Division).

 

The rear admiral in turn shall answer to the vice admiral commanding the away flotilla (who shall also be the administrative commander of the First Frigate Flotilla),who shall be subordinate to the full admiral in administrative and operational command of the active Second Fleet.

 

The East Indies patrolling squadron shall normally have a patrolling brig,a mining sloop and a destroying frigate at it's disposal which it shall commit to Combined Task Forces 151,150 and 152 as required.

 

The Persian Gulf shall lie within the area of responsibility of the East Indies squadron,however,for the last thirty years one of the four battle divisions shall have been operating in this area continually and,in this case,the Third Battle Division's operational commander,a rear admiral (who shall also be the administrative commander of the Flying Division) shall have been appointed Commander In Chief Persian Gulf,flying his flag in the Second Fleet's flagship Her Majesty's Ship Africa,alongside the full admiral commanding the fleet,the major general commanding the First Royal Marines division,the commodore commanding the fleet's air assets and their subordinates.

 

Also aboard Africa shall be her,half sized,peace time air wing of two dozen Furious fighting aircraft,half a dozen Perseus patrolling aircraft and a dozen Hermes helicopters along with fifteen hundred men of the Seventh Royal Marines Light Infantry Battalion Group (a battalion reinforced with divisional assets,including two troops of Royal Marines Artillery),and the flotilla's third echelon medical facilities.

 

Her Majesty's Ship Royal William,the Third Battle Division's replenisher and the other half of Africa's battle squadron,shall carry half of the combat supplies and headquarters and train elements of the fleet's Fifth Royal Marine Battalion Group,the rest of which shall be dispersed as ship detatchments on frigates and other vessels of the Second Fleet.

 

Each of the big Falkland class frigates (Falcon,Fearless,Formidable and Foudroyant of the battle division's destroying squadron and Her Majesty's Frigates Fiji and Furious of the eastern patrolling division) shall carry a troop of forty marines from the Fifth Royal Marine Battalion Group in addition to a flight of two Hermes Helicopters and various jollyboats,pinnaces,launches,lighters and vehicles.

 

Her Majesty's Submarine Courageous shall also be lurking somewhere in the vicinity of the East Indies station.

 

All of these vessels shall be logistically supported by a small Royal Naval Harbour Service squadron at Diego Garcia,one of four regional logistical support areas,the others being Bermuda,Gibraltar and the Falklands,and whilst each base area shall be unique,all may be categorised as either soft,firm or hard depending on their value and the cost of defending them.

 

For example,the proposed east coast base area shall include a wind farm,a biomass power plant,a blast furnace,a steel mill,a ship breaking yard,a ship building yard,refitting docks,a naval dockyard,an armaments depot,a fuel depot,a marine barracks and civilian housing,in an area with secure supply lines and defensive depth,surrounded by multi layered air,surface and submarine defences,all of which shall necessitate and facilitate it's hard defence.

 

On the other hand,the proposed Waterguard anchorage at Ducie shall offer only a small anchorage,little land,no industry,no population,no defensive depth and tenuous supply lines in an area of little strategic value,therefore,it shall be softly defended,permanent facilities being limited to a dredged channel,moorings,dolphins and navigation marks,Her Majesty's Waterguard Cutter Kingfisher (an Albatross class patrolling cutter,that is,an escorting sloop fitted for but not with it's fighting systems) and the Pegasus aircraft based there being supported by the medium sized depoting vessel Fort Detroit carrying thirty thousand long tons of fuel and armed only to repel pirates,smugglers,poachers,sabateurs and terrorists,but able to run away bravely when faced with more substantial threats.

 

Diego Garcia shall fall between these two extremes,with tenuous supply lines,little land and no industry or population but with a large anchorage and air base,in a strategic position,far from potential threats,with enough land to accommodate an army garrison and over the horizon radar systems,therefore,it shall be firmly defended by an infantry company,artillery battery and a flight of Royal Flying Corps' Furious aircraft.

 

Her Majesty's Ship Polyphemus,a large Antaeus class Royal Naval Harbour Service depoting vessel,shall deploy to Diego Garcia for a year at a time carrying three hundred thousand long tons of fuel and thousands of tons of ordnance and dry stores with a pair Royal Naval Harbour Service Aidful class tug boats and an eighty foot Albacore class patrolling launch on her deck and aircraft in her hangar along with the requisite command,logistic,medical,maintenance and hotel facilities,and supplies for the army garrison.

 

Civil Waterguard assets protecting the British Indian Ocean Territory from pirates,smugglers,polluters and invaders shall include a brace of Pegasii,Her Majesty's Waterguard Launch Flying Fish (of the Albacore class),Her Majesty's Waterguard Cutter Cormorant (of the Albatross class) and Her Majesty's Rescue Tug Rambler (of the Racer class),all supported by the giant Polyphemus.

 

Potential reinforcements for the East Indies station shall include naval vessels drawn off the Third Battle Division or the neighbouring Pacific,South Atlantic and Mediterranean stations and,from the United Kingdom,two battle divisions from the fleet's ready and standby groups and the ready brigade from the British Army's Light Infantry Division.

 

Diplomatic,signals,satellite,human and open source strategic intelligence shall be used to keep deployed commanders informed of events in their areas of responsibility and based on this intelligence the fleet,flotilla,division and squadron commanders shall be engaged in a continuous process of evaluating potential contingencies,planning potential responses and training to execute those plans such that they may have a relevant plan in place to modify as required when actual events occur.

 

It shall be reasonable for the East Indies squadron's commander to assume that his mining sloop shall be most useful in the Gulf of Oman,Gulf of Aden,Red Sea or Straits of Malacca,that his destroying frigate shall most likely be required anywhere from the Gulf of Oman to the Mozambique Channel and that his patrolling vessel,Her Majesty's Brig Folkestone,shall be best used to cover the rest of his vast area of responsibility but that he shall need another frigate for high noon at Whitsun Reef.

 

It shall be reasonable for the eastern patrolling division's commander to assume that Her Majesty's Frigate Fiji from the quiet Pacific station might be of more use to the East Indies squadron in the South China Sea. 

 

It shall be reasonable for the Third Battle Division's commander to assume that he shall be unable to disengage from combat operations in the Persian Gulf as his Furious aircraft shall likely be needed for bombing targets around Erbil but that his replenishing vessel,marines and some of his patrolling aircraft and destroying frigates may be released for use elsewhere if necessary (the large bunkers and magazines of the Africa class shall allow them to operate for long periods without replenishment) and that a flight of Hermes helicopters shall therefore be cross decked from Her Majesty's Ship Africa to Royal William.

 

It shall also be reasonable for the away flotilla commander to assume that two troops of his battle division's marines and two flights of it's Hermes helicopters may be of more use to the East Indies squadron whose mining sloop and patrolling brig shall have the spare capacity to accommodate them.

 

Thus on the Twenty-fourth of March,Twenty Twenty-one,the stage is set.

 

The Type 31 "Frigate": Roles

 

 

Picture: Unknown artist,Babcock International image

 

The Royal Navy is currently procuring five Type 31 surface combatants,costing two thousand million pounds,as replacements for five Type 23 or Duke class frigates,here we shall consider which roles these new vessels shall be suited to.

 

 

Picture: Liam na mara

 

The most basic of the major warships shall be the humble Albatross class naval cutters,chartered to the Waterguard service,which shall be forward deployed in often remote locations to perform civil tasks such as law enforcement,pollution control,research and life saving.

 

 

Picture: Unknown artist,Babcock International image

 

Whilst the Type 31's size and diesel propulsion shall give them reasonable range,endurance,speed and sea keeping for Waterguard cutter tasks,their complex weapons and sensors shall create large crew and maintenance requirements,neither of which is desirable for vessels which must spend long periods far from a naval dockyard.

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Louise George,Crown Copyright

 

The Fishery Protection Squadrons' patrolling brigs shall be more complex vessels than the Waterguard cutters,for which they shall provide distant cover,carrying an armoured turret containing two Five and a Half Inch Naval Guns and able to fire three short tons of projectiles per minute to a range of forty miles for engaging land targets,providing local area air defence against subsonic targets,providing point air defence against supersonic targets and crippling or destroying any surface vessel of any size or type currently in service.

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Irish Defence Forces photograph

 

The Type 31's hull,machinery and sensors shall be adequate for the role of a patrolling brig,however,their Bofors 57 Mark 3 guns shall be out classed by the armament of cruisers,destroyers,frigates,corvettes and patrol vessels operated by Russia,China,Iran,North Korea,Argentina,Cuba,Venezuela,Spain and,even,the Republic of Ireland (not to mention Syrian coastal defence guns) making them incapable of protecting the United Kingdom's shipping by seeing off foreign warships or of providing useful fire support to marines.

 

Picture: S.A.C. Dave Vine,Crown Copyright

 

The sloop shall be a more sophisticated vessel than the patrolling brig,intended to perform a variety of specialised tasks such as mining and hydrographing in addition to performing all of the roles of the brig.

 

Picture: L.A. (Phot.) Kaz Williams,Crown Copyright

 

The Type 31's shall lack the space necessary to accommodate specialised equipment such as the Eighty Foot Mine Hunting Launch and the large sonars used for surveying,in addition to their inadequacies in the patrolling brig role.

 

 

Picture: Grand Logistics

 

The destroying frigate shall be the most sophisticated of the surface combatants,being able to destroy sea (both on and below the surface),air,land and even space targets in the case of fully upgraded vessels,with missiles,guns and torpedoes whilst also carrying helicopters,boats,vehicles and marines.

 

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Mehr News photograph

 

The Type31s,despite being based on the design of a "credible frigate",shall have no ability to engage submarines,such as those used by Russia,China,Iran,North Korea,Argentina,Cuba,Venezuela,Spain and,even,drug cartels,due to their lack of a suitable sonar suite and shall be unsuited to engaging land and sea surface targets due to their small calibre guns and lack of heavy missiles.

 

Picture: L. (Phot.) Daniel Shepherd,Crown Copyright

 

The Type 31s shall be able to provide local area air defence to high value assets,such as the Queen Elizabeth class flying ships,with their twelve Sea Ceptor missiles,provided there is no submarine,surface ship or land based threat (either due to a lack of enemy assets or the presence of friendly frigates) but the same effect might be achieved at a fraction of the cost by adding more effective Stand Alone Defensive Systems and missiles to those high value assets,which already have the systems to support them.

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,Royal Navy photograph

 

Some have suggested that the Type 31 shall be suitable for dealing with,near mythical,"small boat swarms" but such a threat is best dealt with at long range by combat aircraft or helicopters,as the Royal Navy has proven,or,as the United States' Ship Vincennes demonstrated,with a larger calibre gun rather than at very short ranges with a smaller gun.

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,unknown copyright

 

The Schleswig-Holstein opening,should permit small boats to get close to a Type 31 in peace time before beginning a war by attacking it but that is somewhat unlikely as it would require the enemy to keep their armed forces on a war footing,without anyone noticing,whilst waiting for the uncertain outcome of a small boat attack on a low value target to initiate combat operations.

 

Picture: Sergeant Don L. Maes,United States' Marine Corps photograph

 

A terrorist small boat attack such as that on the United States' Ship Cole shall be far more likely but Bofors guns are not the most appropriate way to deal with a threat which may be avoided simply by using secure harbour facilities,a lesson which the Royal Navy often seems to forget.

 

Picture: Unknown artist,Babcock/Royal Navy image

 

The Bofors 57 Mark 3 shall add a fourth short range air defence system to the Type 31 class which shall also have two Bofors 40 Mark 4s (which shall at least be well positioned,a refreshing change for the Royal Navy) and Sea Ceptor missiles,but these Bofors guns shall be funded at the expense of more useful systems such as sonars,torpedoes,larger calibre guns and heavy missiles.

 

Picture: Unknown artist,Marinette Marine Corp image

 

The United States' Navy also uses the Bofors 57 Mark 3,which it calls the Mark 110,and,despite having "concluded that the MK46 was more effective than the MK110" (the ballistically literate consider this improbable),intends to fit them to it's new Constellation class frigates,which shall otherwise be rather more credible than the Type 31s,incidentally the Mark 46 uses the same 30mm gun found on many Royal Navy warships and our proposed Type 23M or Royal Duke class.

 

Picture: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Sean Furey,United States' Navy photograph

 

An earlier generation of American "frigates" (American frigates have somewhat different origins to the Royal Navy's),the Perry class,carried the short ranged 76mm Mark 75 gun which saw very little combat use.

 

Picture: L.A. (Phot.) Ian Simpson,Crown Copyright

 

In contrast,the longer ranged and harder hitting 4.5-inch Mark 8 gun is one of the most frequently used weapon systems carried by Royal Navy frigates and destroyers,having engaged aircraft,missiles,ships and land targets in Iraq,Libya and particularly the Falklands,where land based artillery was subject to severe logistical constraints and little air support was available for ground troops.

 

Picture: Unknown artist,Babcock International image

 

Had the Type 31s been designed to carry the 4.5-inch Mark 8 naval gun,like our proposed Royal Duke class,then they should have been able to out gun most naval patrol vessels and also usefully engage land targets,in addition to having superior air defence capabilities,but with the Bofors 57mm Mark 3 as a main gun they shall be little more than "Faux Frigates" (F.F.31) which shall look like real warships but be unable to perform their roles.

 

Picture: Unknown photographer,BAE Systems photograph

 

It is noteworthy that the Royal Navy decided to adopt the previously alien Bofors 57 Mark 3 shortly after agreeing to closer collaboration with the United States' Navy,there is then a possibility that the Type 31s have been rendered useless in the name of Americanisation.

 

Defining The Modern Brig

In the days of sail the term "brig" referred to a two masted square rigged vessel.

Brigs were used as minor warships,smaller than sloops,although there were also brig rigged brig-sloops.

Such low cost vessels were not well suited to operating with the larger vessels of the battle line.

Often they were used for patrol,constabulary and other low threat tasks.

Although the historic meaning of the term "brig" has no relevance to today's vessels,there are many modern naval vessels which mirror the low cost,limited fighting capacity and many roles of the historic brig:

Mine hunters.

Mine sweepers.

Offshore patrol vessels.

 Survey vessels.

 Coast guard cutters.

Like their ancestors,modern brigs are lightly armed,carrying the most basic naval weapon,the cannon.

In situations short of war the brig may find it's self very close to potentially hostile vessels.

Unlike missiles,cannons have no minimum engagement range and high ammunition storage density,making them ideal for generating low cost,high volume fire against short range and low value targets.

Such armament is well suited to dealing with civilian vessels involved in fishing,smuggling and piracy.

It is also adequate for dealing with other brigs.

Many of the brig's roles will require the facilities for launching boats.

Helicopter hangars and flight decks are also useful for many roles.

Requiring little in the way of weapons,sensors and trained manpower,brigs cost little to buy or operate.

It is this low lifecycle cost which makes the brig preferable to a sloop or a frigate.

However,with only limited ability to defend themselves from anti-ship threats the modern brigs cannot operate in a hostile environment without an escort.

Consequently they are of limited utility in war fighting operations.

These limitations were illustrated during the Argentine invasion of South Georgia.

Her Majesty's Ship (H.M.S.) Endurance,a brig armed icebreaking patrol vessel was faced with threats including missile armed corvettes.

Brigs are incapable of engaging true fighting ships,that is properly the task of the more capable frigates or sloops.

Brigs should only be used independently in low threat environments.

The modern brig may perform roles such as mine hunting and surveying in support of a task group but will require the protection of other warships to do this.

A defenceless brig is more of a burden to a task group than a war fighting vessel like the sloop.

Brigs may relieve more capable task group vessels of minor roles such as search and rescue and providing assistance to damaged ships.

Particularly large brigs may be required to meet the demands of speed,range,endurance and seakeeping needed for fleet operations or long range patrol duties.

If armed with a large enough gun,brigs may provide naval fire support for ground forces.

If fitted with mine rails,they can perform minelaying tasks.

Low cost weapons such as these are in keeping with the low cost nature of the brig.

However,the brig's lack of fighting ability limits it's utility to such an extent that it is an inapropriate choice if there is any prospect of the vessel being used for warfighting.

Brig armament can be recommended only for those roles which are unlikely to involve combat operations or for those navies which cannot afford a more capable vessel.

For more fluid environments,the frigate or sloop is a more suitable vessel than the brig.