Naval armament

(ordnance) The combat equipment used in naval ships and by naval aircraft.

A general term that covers the ordnance and control systems used by naval ships and aircraft. It includes a wide spectrum of weapons designed for use against targets in the air, on land or sea, or under the ocean surface. The spectrum of weaponry used by naval forces runs from small arms to nuclear warheads and includes weapons that are intended for use against a particular type of target as well as general-purpose weapons.

Naval armament may be air-, surface-, or submarine-launched. It can be categorized as tactical or strategic, or by its intended primary target: surface attack, air defense, or antisubmarine. Many weapons can be used against different types of targets. Naval weaponry includes guns, guided missiles, rockets, bombs, depth charges, torpedoes, and mines.

Guided missiles

In the years since World War II, guided missiles have taken first place among families of naval weapons. Naval missiles may be adaptable to multiple launch modes: from ship, submarine, and aircraft. Modern missiles are more compact, saving critical space and weight, and their guidance systems have steadily become more sophisticated. Shipboard launchers can handle two or three different weapons, eliminating the need for separate launchers.

An Ohio-class missile submarine carries 24 Trident fleet ballistic missiles (Fig. 1), developed to replace the earlier Polaris and Poseidon. See also Submarine.

Trident missile being fired from a submerged submarine. (U.S. Navy)

Standard, the Navy's principal air defense missile, replaced the first-generation Tartar, Terrier, and Talos. A supersonic solid-fuel weapon, it is produced in medium-range (MR) and extended-range (ER) versions.

Sea Sparrow is an antiaircraft adaptation of the airborne Sparrow III missile, developed as a relatively uncomplicated basic point-defense missile system (BPDMS) to protect ships without Standard missiles.

Tomahawk, a long-ranged land attack cruise missile, was used in the Gulf War and in Kosovo. Capable of attacking targets at a range up to 1000 mi (1600 km), Tomahawk has greatly increased the striking power of the surface warship, which at one time was thought to have been relegated to a subsidiary role by the aircraft carrier. It is also used by aircraft; submarines can carry them in torpedo tubes, and some submarines have been armed with vertical tube launchers.

Harpoon is a long-range antiship missile, originally designed as an air-to-surface weapon but now used in surface ships and submarines as well.

Antisubmarine weapons

ASROC (antisubmarine rocket), launched by surface warships, was originally designed to carry either a nuclear depth charge or a homing torpedo. All nuclear ASROC warheads were taken out of service by 1989. ASROC is an unguided rocket carrying a Mark 46 homing torpedo. Aimed by shipboard computers using target information obtained by sonar, the rocket is fired from a launcher and follows a ballistic trajectory to the target's predicted position. Torpedo and rocket then separate; the torpedo, slowed by a drag parachute, lands in the water and seeks the target. See also Antisubmarine warfare.

Rockets

Naval rockets, as distinguished from guided missiles, are unguided weapons carrying explosive warheads. Their light weight, in proportion to explosive payload, and lack of recoil allow them be used by attack planes and helicopters. See also Rocket propulsion.

Torpedoes

Torpedoes travel underwater on their own power to attack the vulnerable hulls of surface ships and submarines. Modern naval torpedoes are fast, far-ranging, and armed with a powerful explosive warhead. Torpedoes may be homing (guiding themselves acoustically to the target); nonhoming (following a preset course); or wire-guided (controlled by signals from the firing ship, transmitted through a trailing wire). They can be launched from surface ships, submarines, or aircraft. Homing torpedoes are used as payload by the ASROC system. Methods for countering the homing torpedo, like the weapons themselves, have been worked on since World War II. It remains a highly effective weapon, and will probably continue in service for a long time. See also Acoustic torpedo.

Guns

Though missiles are widely used by ships and aircraft, guns remain significant naval weapons. Missiles are superior for most long-range attack missions and for defense against supersonic planes and missiles at high altitudes and long ranges; the opposite, however, is often true for such missions as shore bombardment, fire support of land forces, and defense against small attack craft. Renewed attention has been given, both in the United States and in other countries, to lighter guns, with high rates of fire, and to quick-reaction control systems for close-in defense against aircraft and missiles in combination with short-range antiaircraft missiles (Fig. 2).

Mark 45 lightweight 5-in. (127-mm) gun mount. (U.S. Navy)

Bombs

These are free-falling weapons, unlike missiles, which are self-propelled. Bombs take many shapes and sizes, from small antitank and antipersonnel bomblets dispensed from a larger shell or bomb, to heavy weapons designed for blast effect. Most planes and helicopters carry arms externally to accommodate weapon-mix versatility and to keep aircraft size and weight down. High aircraft speeds led to development of streamlined, low-drag bombs. Bombs can be “dumb,” that is, uncontrolled, or “smart.” Smart bombs have guidance systems and movable control surfaces, and their trajectory can be adjusted to steer them toward a target.

Mines

A mine is a thin-cased, non-self-propelled weapon filled with high explosive and placed underwater, where it is designed to explode when struck, or closely approached, by a ship. Mines can be contact type (fired by actually striking the hull of a passing ship) or influence type (detonated by the close approach of a ship). An influence mine may be magnetic (actuated by a ship's magnetic field), acoustic (actuated by the underwater sound that a ship generates), or pressure (actuated by the change in water pressure caused by a ship's passage). It may also be fired by a combination of these influences. Influence mines are thus much harder to sweep than contact mines. Mines are planted by submarines or aircraft; some navies also use surface minelayers.