NAVAL FAST STRIKE CRAFT and PATROL BOATS by ROY McLEAVY Alusated by JOHN W. WOOD, 4. mene BLANDFORD PRESS POOLE ponseTBlandford Press Led Link House, West Sree Poole, Dorset BHIS TLL © Blndtord Pres 1979 Fist published 1979 All rights reserved. No par ofthis book may be produce, or ‘eanamited in any form orby any mean electronic or mechanical inciang photocopying, recording or by any information storage and rewicral sytem, without permission in writing fom the Pablober By the same author Hovercraft and Hydeofoils Colour printed by ackvile Pres, Billericay ‘Texte. printed and bound in Gres Btn by Cox & Wyman Lid London, Fakesham and Reading 07137 0846 2 FOREWORD ‘At no time in history have the navies of the world had so ‘varied an assortment of warships and weapons at their dis posal. Not only are today’s warships more powerful, faster {nd more seaworthy than inthe past, but the weight oftheir fffensive firepower ha increased to such an extent that they ‘bear scant resemblance to their predecessors. "Advances in weapon technology have affected warships both large and small In 1945 atypical motor torpedo-boat displaced 40-50 tons and was armed with one 2-pounder gun, one twin Ocrlikon and two torpedo tubes. By compari- Son its present-day counterpart, a craft ike the Combattante TM, has a fully laden displacement of 480 tons and is armed with four ship-to-ship missles, ewo 21 in. torpedoes, to fully automatic 7 mm. dual-purpose guns and two twin 30 mim, cannon. It packs the ‘punch of 22.500 ton frigate and tan be purchased at only one-sixth ofthe price ‘Because of the immense damage it can inflict on much bigger vesscs, a missle-armed fas strike craft snow rated as a major warship, Unlike the motor torpedo-boats of World War Il, which had to move in so close to their targets that they were in constant danger, not only of being blown out ofthe water by shells, bue hie by rifle fie, new generation strike craft, aided by radar, computers, low-light TV cameras and laser Tange-finders, can unlessh thei missiles from the horizon by day or night in almost any weather at targets 20 km, away 3‘with a 99 per cont. certainty of scoring a hit Equipped with slightly more sophisticated missiles the strike craft ean even engage targets up 0 90 km. away, simply by calling on consort vessels of aircraft located nearer to the foc to provide the launched missiles with mid-course guidance. Having launched its missiles, ie then depends on its speed, manocu¥~ ability and electronic counter-measures to escape detection and destruction In these days of high inflation and spiralling defence costs the misslecraft is seen by many nations, arly the smaller ones moving towards economic and military inde~ pendence, as a “best buy", Not only docs it mect their Immediate strategic and tactical requirements at an attractive price, but its small size and high degree of automation eases the problems of manning and the provision of maintenance and base facilities. In cases, where, because of local sea con- ditions, additional speed and stability is required, the smaller navies are turning to hydrofoil missilecraft and, in areas where shallows dicate a need to combine speed with amphibious capability, 70 mph hovercraft areavailable asthe ‘missile platform, Although considerable numbers of fast patrol boats are at present equipped with torpedoes or guns, it should be remembered that many of 25 m. or morein length are capable of being fitted with anti-ship missiles ifthe need arises. ‘The pages that follow recount some of the more dramatic events that have taken place in the evolution of both fast strike craft and fase patrol boats, as well as describing the duties they perform, their weapons, their electronic sensors and their propulsion machinery, Full colour illustrations, brief ‘character studies’ and specifications are provided for the great majority of these vessels in service throughout the world. Since one of the primary objectives of this Book isto aid the speedy recognition of these craft, hints on “spotting” ate also included, Readers finding their interest aroused by this new area of | » 3 weapons technology and wishing to keep themselves Birt progress ar ily ro find temscver uy indeed recent survey shows that theft patrol boa i already the single class of warship inservice, Today i accounts Fetabout 0 per cnt of the tual number of warships in fervice and under constriction sare which naval ship- frders predict will expand annually into the foresceable fare Roy McLevy Tanbridge Wells January 1979ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Iewould have been impossible to have assembled the mass of informacion comaned in dhs book without the goodilland co-operation of many. members of the shipbuilding and dseociated industries throughout the world, The author tpishes to acknowledge his indebtedness tall he builders of Tighe warships who heeded his plea for facts and figures and in pasicular to John Brookes of Vesper Thornycrot, who, fore his recent retirement, provided not only information, butako great dealof advice and encouragement throughout the ‘gestation’ period. 1 am also indebted to my old colleague Ray Blackman, ‘editor of Jan's Fighting Ships from 1948 to 1973, to Captain John Moore RN, the curent editor ofthis invaluable public tion, as wells to two other well-known warship specials, Antony Preston, former editor of Nevy International and Trevor Lenton, editor of Naval Red, for filling na vanity ‘of gaps in my knowledge of this fed Gather sources to which acknowledgements are gratefally 1madcare Siegfried Brier and the editors of Soldat und Technik, Aviation & Marine International, Aviation Weck, Sea Power and Hovering Craft and Hydroo "Among the many technical papers referred to in the course of preparing the manuscript were ‘Arming, the Light Naval Graft by Clr Mark Martin RN (Retd), Mark Martin & Parmer, Dartmouth; ‘General Design Aspects of Small Fast. Warships’ by A. L- Dorey, Technical Manager, Vosper 7‘Thornycrofe (UK) Ltd; “The Diesel Engine for Powering High Speed Craft’ by N. J. Wadley, Senior Marine Applica tions Engincer, Paxman Diesels Ltd, "The Amphibious Hovercratt as 2 Warship by Ray Wheeler, Technical Direc- tor and Chief Designer, British Hovercraft Corporation; “The Compact Gas-Turbine for Powering Small Fast Ships’ by N. J. H. Ballantine, Industrial and Marine Division, Rolls-Royce Led; ‘Air Defence of Small Fast Warships’ by Wg Car R. A.G. Ellen, OBE, RAF, British Manufacture and Research Co, Ltd, Grantham and “Weapon Electronics for ‘Small Fast Warships and Security Vessels’ by Capt. Peter Manisty, DSC, RN, Plessey Radar Led. All the above were presented at the Symposium on Small Fast Warships and Security Vessels, staged in London in March 1978 by the Royal Institution of Naval Architects “The author would also like to acknowledge the help and encouragement given by those behind the scenes: Barry Gregory of Blandford Press; Mrs Erika Lock who typed the igene Kolesnik and Will Horton who worked lunstintingly on checking it and finally to Jack Wood and his artists whose colour illistrations depict the new generation ‘of small fast warships with such vivid realism. THE MINI-WARSHIP ~ ITS EVOLUTION aval history is fll ofDavid and Goliath stores in which rl ighy bil cat have sucrsully attacked nd sk inrger atveraies any equivalents to fast patrol boss: were employed by the Phocians, Grsks and Romana for interdcan and the atom of enemy coastal waters and ports. Neal thee fed years ago fast cers, mounting ight cinnon 3nd designed helpenforce and msintingoodorderatsea, were fot ancommon nthe Mediterranean the North Sead the Bale ‘Thenin th carl 167s with the adventof htop, fame the fist major turning pont night wardhipdevelop- tmenc, Prompted iitally by order from overseas navi then by contacts from the British Admiralty, Jon Tac Thornycott 4 Thamesde boatbuilcr, began the constr tion speclly designed rorpedo-boats, based on is seis of fst seam launches ‘They were an immed succes riculry among. the smaller nations and those with fmited defence budgets who recognized ca an inexpensive shorecut to ataningsddiuonsl powers 3c ‘Within » decade Thornyerofe syd Alfed Femandce Yar- row, another Thamer based boatbulder were both soppy Ing torpedor boas by the score co navies throughout te tev aly the rat had Geo dng sound te Jparcype torpedo, a primitive arangementconsting of an eerictescherge one end ofa pot mounted a the ow of SeE Stacking aft Bur by the Ie Tae ths had been 9replaced by one ofa much more formidable variety ~ an utostabilzed, self-propelled torpedo designed in Italy by 4 gifted English marine engincer, Robert Whitehead. Fired by Pressurized steam from a long tube located a either the bo ‘r stern of the boat the Whitchead Torpedo Mik ill, buie i 1876, was 35.6 em. (4 inn diameter, travelled underwater 4 21'knots, hada range of 350 m. (000 yas) and caried 26.3, kg. (68 Ib) of gun cotton. By the mid-1890s, the names of Whitehead and Thornycroft had become synonymous with that of the motor torpedo-boat and were to remain $0 for three-quarters ofa century. ‘Not suprisingly, before long some of the customers for the early lightly buile craft began to recognize their severe shortcomings in open sea conditions. They decided they ‘wanted bigger, more seaworthy ceaft with inereased fire= power, greater speed and longer range: New designs were prepared which came within three categories. Those of about &@ fein length and designed for hoisting sboard batlships and cruisers were known a8 Second Class; craft of around 125 fe were known as Firs Clas; and those with 3 length excess of 145 ft were classified a8 Seagoing. “As the attention of overseas navies began to focus om the larger craft, so the British Admiralty decided thatthe time had come to introduce 4 counterpart ~ the torpedo-boat destroyer (TID), aterm later abbreviated to destroyer. More than thy TBDs had been ordered by 1895 and in 1595 the Royal Navy proudly demonstrated the performance capabil- ity of ts new class of warship to the world by setting up a new international sea speed record of 29.3 knots with the Boxer, one of the first of the new breed, built by Thomycrott-Laird. A typieal TBD displaced about 240 tons and in addition to its main armament of three torpedo tubes, ‘mounted one 12-pounder and thee 6-pounders. It was soon recognized that in practice the TBD had all he qualities ofa super torpedo-bost. Here was 4 true case of the remedy proving worse than the disease. Not only was it eapable of 10 ‘TYPICAL SOVIET LIGHT AA MOUNTINGS 16S folly-stomasc Twin 25 mm Semi Srcosed | mounng Employed on 2 number ‘Stelder Soviet pata one sod cout ine sweepers acutstipping and destroying small torpedo-boats because of {Svan superior spect scswortinest, range and Brepower turit was abo capable of sacking crisers and Dates oth inshore and in open sea "The mor torpedor boat was the fist light naval craft n modem naval history to haves own weapon, fa ow iden tity and a recognized offensive role. MTBs they became Known, werecinpoyed extensively bythe opposing sisi eth Word War Resa wing ram mare aout he sesgn ofthese craft and the aces employed by th com= po ert gr gel dpogni eae sbjece Ince yearsimmediately following World Wall here was a marked lack of terest n MTB, slough small mambers twerebull for avis ofthe newly emergent nations and ew Uthe older ones, sncuding Denmark, Greece, Norway and Sweden, which required them to defend their deeply scored, freteed and broken coat, ask for which the torpedo-boat sede “Then in 1967 came an event which projected the ight craft from torpedo-boat and arange of laser roles to thatof major ttaship. On 31 Octobe 1967, Rusian-bule Styx anteship Inisiles red by a Komar-case mise cat within Port Said Harbour sank the Tact destroyer Eilat ata range of ten miles. Russits drive to surpase the United States in gon power had led them co start experimenting with anti-ship Inissiles inthe carly 1950s. Unable to match American sea tomeair power, they developed this weapon to cnable smal Converted torpedo-boats to threaten any US Navy caters Spprouching Sovi-oceupid tcitory. ‘Antrship misses have given todiy’s fst patrol boats firepower out of al propor wo tee sie. They ean int Severe damage on much larger ships wihle stil retaining Stffent speed and manocuvrabiity to eicape detection before completing their atacks and making theiresape. The pairing ofthe fant patrol boat with the ant-ahip miele as 2 td an impacts dramatic on naval panning asthe introduc. Boh of te submarine in Word Wat Tand naval aviation and Sera caries in the 198s and 19308, Naval historians empare the sinking ofthe iat with the bate between the fine onclads during the American Civil Wat and General Bly Mitchell's early demonstration ofthe effect of ai power fon bateshis. Patol crt ~ some litle more than motorboat with Timed wespon copsbilty ~ are generally tall vessels employed net only for naval dui but so for customs, feasigiard, police and. immigration authority. work ‘though many carry light armament they are not rally onsidred to be fighting ship. Bui to 2 wide ange of Gisign and varying comerably in terms of electronic favigation and surveillance equipment they range in length ffom about 121035 m Fst strike (or ack) craft ae considered to ange in splacement from between 100 to 40 tonnes. The am tment ofthe average strike craft luge ant-ship mae a their launching canisters, automatic dual-purpose guns for the apuna seh and sr targets and rapide cannon pts (ccasionlly,surfac-to-ir missles for close-in seledefence aint low-lying strat or antrship mises Speds of above 40 knots ate not normally requiced and this evel of Performance generally can be supplied by disel engines Most FPBs today are powered by either two deel ving to proper sats o our dvd ving fe sat Ggher performance is necetaty gurturbines are toca fed! but ir exceptional for tmareea to txceed 30 knot since he stainment ofthis sped requires tot only garturtine power but aso the fing Of super Cavicting propeller Higher spe sil are stainable by employing hovercraft and Bydrofas as misse platforms. Apart from speed Advantages the amphibioutcapaies ofthe fully skirted Hoverrst enabes to make the ranstion from seo shore B -without dficulty, permitting it to operate in shallow water Ind even across 'miod fats marshet and sand banks. Teis quallyathome on seas frequently frozen oversn winter, ike the Bali, enjoying fll mobility when al other surface craft tre brought to a standstill for several months. Fast strike itovercraft can be deployed from hides above the shoreline tnd ‘scrmbled” to mtereepe and intertogate approaching Suspect craft, or alternatively, dhe cam be controled from + Iobile base, like a "mother ship pateolling oftshore. A furcher quality ofthe missle-arrying amphibious hovercraft is tat because of is very low acount and magnetic under- tater signature itis virally immune to underwater explo- rom the point of view of costetfctiveness the 30-60- nothydrofolinalso an atrative mvestment Icom fa ess than the destroyer or figate it replaces and besides being much faster, a cat with elecroncilly controlled ally ube Inerged fois reduccs its speed only slightly in higher sea Stats In fact, itis now generally accepted that hydrofoil s the only type of escort vesel which can ether match of txceed the seaway performance ofthe main vessels of task force: Additional abvantages ae its ability to provide a very Steady platform forts weapons and forlaunching and waking hoards elicoptcr in rough weather, plus, of course, the ‘improved economics which can be realized with te intro- dluction of high speeds. Since te hydrofoil patrol craft will probably average three times the speed of the vets it Feplacesit wl be capable of patrolling an aca three Gmes the Sie, allowing a proportional reduction in che number of pattol craft required to undertake a particular tak ‘Other points in is favour ae that has greater manoewv= ability its maintenance requirements are generally lower than those of comparable conventional vessels and its erei= ing roqutements ar lower, The reduced maintenance de ‘ary lngely tothe exceptionally smooth riding qualities of the latest multary hydrofos and their relatively Tow pitch “ and roll angles. On conventional patrol boats ofthe planing hull type accelerations of 10 g have been recorded ~ but crews hhavenot been ableto tolerate this forlong. Anaverage person finds that accelerations are percepable at 01 g, start be- ‘coming uncomfortable at about 0.1 g and become intolerable lover extended periods at 1g. U.S. Navy crews operating Boeing's PHM patrol hydrofoil misslecraft in the Mediter- ranean expect t0 find vertical acceleration remaining below Oil g ata speed of 45 knots for more than 95 per cent. of the time, while those operating in the Balic will find them below O11 g for 90 per cent. of the time. [Navies naturally rely on theie fst strike craft for a quick response in an emergency, and, therefore, one ofthe primary jtirements is that they should be capable of sailing athigh speed. Hydrofoils and hovercraft offer higher speeds than those atzinable by fast strike craft and fast patrol boats with ‘conventional displacement hulls, consequently the demand for these newer, non-displacement craft will almost certainly Continue to grow. A clear indication of this trend is that, at the time of writin, thirteen navies have hydrofoils on order fr in service while another seven have either ordered or are about to order hovercraft. "Now fora word or two about small warships in general ~ hhow they are built, the machinery that sets them in motion, their weapons and electronics, Hulls ‘The modem fist strike craft is a direct descendant of the destroyers and motor torpedo-boats of World War Il In ome cases present-day hulls bear many ofthe characteristics Of their forebears, in othcr cases they differ quite eonsider- bly. The Brtsh tradition of the hard-chine, planing type hha popular with most Aled torpedo-boat butlers during the wat yeas has now been discarded in favour of 2 round bilge type hull with a knuckle forward to deflect spray, 15 -/-increase buoyancy at the bow and dampen piteh in heavy seas, Hard chines were introduced as a means of safeguarding lateral stability on planing hull designs but at the speeds required of today's craft, the high accelerations generated by this hull form in rough water would result in intensive heav~ ing and slamming which would not only prove unacceptable tothe crew but would damage the sensitive weaponry and its associated electronics "The round bilge igi craft was introduced in Germany and was used extensively by Lirssen Werft for their wartime S-boats. Because ofits improved seakeeping it has also been adopted in recent yeas by French Swedish Norwegian and Israeli shipyards. In fact most of the world’s small fast war- ships now employ this form of construction, ‘The structural design of the small warship docs not differ fundamentally from that of any other small craft. Atypical ‘main hull structure is of welded steel and is built on the longitudinal system with web frames and longitudinal sifen- ing members. Considerable care has to be taken in the design to keep weight roa minimum in te interes of performance, bbutrather heavier plating and additional framing isemployed inthe forward section ofthe hull to withstand wave impacts experienced when encountering seas at high speed. The upper deck and superstructure are constructed in partly ‘welded and partly riveted marine grade aluminium alloy. Because of its light weight and reduced maintenance requirements, the use of aluminium in small hulls is likely to be mereased oinclude decks and main structural bulkeads Mild steel is one of the most popular materials with ship- builders because itis not expensive; itis easily fabricated by welding and is strong for its weight. However, patrol boats hhave been built successfully in timber, aluminium and rein- forced plastic or a combination of these materials. Timber, ‘once used widely for small craft has one very big disadvan tage—itis prone to rot. Another disadvantage's that although atone time cheap material for boatbuilding, timber is now 16 very expensive, and for these ressons vescl of timber onstruction ar likely to Become rare in future ‘Ship length and displacement is dictated mainly by the extent of te armament its rogired to carry. Once the {astomer has selected the weapons tthe length ofthe ship fan be determined from the amount of space requied for the various guns, surface-o-surtace mises and tele associ= ted electronics, Most antcship missiles ean only be fred ‘within certain limits of roll and pitch and vertical acelera- tions. Active or roll damping fins are ited t some raft co feluce or dampen the overall roll motion and thereby Improve the seakeeping characteristics ofthese designs, par~ ticularly athigh speed. Roll reduction factors of between 50 perecn and percent are beng achieved consistently with these fins or ‘stabilizes’ and in view ofthe necessity forthe traft over as stable platform as possible when preparing fo launch its missles, ther ase is likely to become more ‘widespread in the years immeshately ahead Power Plant With the introduction of lightweight, high-speed marine diesels and gas-turbines, the petrol engine, employed exten sively on World War Il motor torpedo-boats, has almost ‘completely disappeared. Its of interest to note chat during. 1939-1945 che great majority of Allied MTBs were powered by petrol engines of about 1,000 hp per shaft, and to extend their range deck-mounted long-range tanks had to be fitted, During the same period the S-boats of the German Navy were using diesel engines developing up to 2,000-2,500 hp. per shaft. ‘There is litle doubt that there is a marked preference in navies today for high speed diesel engines, which are avail- able in a power range of up to 6,000 hp per shat. Their main advantages are their economy and reliability, combined with the fact that a diesel-powered craft is less expensive to 7purchase its fuel costs and maintenance overheads are lower find trained diesel engineers are more readily available for repair and overhaul. Considering that the high speed diesel ‘an attain 812,000 hours beeween overhaul the maintenance cost is less than half that of a comparable matinized gas turbine. For economical cruising the engine will operate for Jong periods at low speeds and remain capable of delivering full power on immediate call. Diesels can also deliver full power continuously for several days, although this obviously reduces the normal time allowed between maintenance periods. However, when a substantial increase in power is required the specific weight of the diesel engine becomes prohibitive and, for larger vessels, the employment of gas turbines is essential. In addition, for large conventional FPBs, hydrofoils and hovercraft of larger tonnage, gas-turbines do offer substan- tial advantages, They develop more power per unit of space and weight, are easier to produce, provide very high torque at low rotational speeds, warm up and accelerate more rapidly and, finally, they are available in a selection of powers in combination of one to four engines from 1,000-192,000 shp. Marinized gas-turbines are adapted from existing aircraft power plants ~ that for the Bocing/NATO PHM jis developed from the General Electric TF39 which powers the C-5A transport and the DC-10 Trijet - combined with specially designed free-power turbines which convert the gas energy to rotative mechanical power. The rotor of the ti bine's fre totum independently ofthe gas generator's speed, and can, therefore, supply variable horse-power output and rotational speeds. Since the gas-turbines were not designed for sericea maine environment, he rrbine blades ae coated agains salt water ingestion and magnesium parts have been replaced with a superior resistance to salt water corro- sion, Special filters are fitted to the mouth of the gas-turbine air intake to prevent salt water from reaching the turbine's blades. 18 re 2 long-range cruise requirement exists for gas turbine powered fast patrol boats, 1 CODAG (Combined {Diesel and Gas-turbing) arrangement can be used. Atypical sn would be a fourasaft system employing twin Pro Gn gesturbines cach diving + ixcd-ptch or controllable Airchpropeler va an inner vee-dive gearbox and shaft and Rio diesel, both driving controllable-pitch propellers via fo outer inclined shaft A typical sprint speed employing faeturbine power would bein the region of 38-40 knots Ste the crusing speed withthe discs alone would be Thout 25-28 knots. Rolls-Royce has installed the Proteus in ple, double and rplearangement in «combination of propuision forms of CODAG, COGAG and CODOG. Weapons [Atypical weapons fi for a modern strike craft of 300-400 tons displacement comprises a medium calibre automatic fan for use aginst other ships, shore bombardment and Anti-aircraft fre; a medium calibre automatic cannon of 20, 430, 35 or 40 mm. for closesin AA defence and use against Surface targets, anda surface-to-surface missile system with two to six missle launcherskontainers, cach with a self contained active or semi-actve homing missile. Providing Howage space is avalable spare rounds may be carted also. ‘Thelauncherkontaner serves a packing case for transport- ing the missile to the ship and protects it from the weather ‘when at seat permite the mise to be delivered toa vessels ‘complete and tested item and once it has been attached t0 the permanent deck mounts on the ship it is ready for Jmmediate firing. Once it has been plugged-in, esting can be undertaken sutomateally from the mussle control panel in the ship's combat information centre (CIC) "Among the more sophisticated anti-ship nisies entering service withthe Western navies is the McDonnell Douglas Harpoon, which has been ordered so far by a dozen or more 19nations. The Harpoon isin fice the U.S. Navy's main high= Subsonic anti-ship tactical cruise missile and has been ‘designed for launching fom all classes of U.S. Navy ships Spart from patrol gunboats. Penel-thin, it 437 m, long, with four controllable aerodynamic fins which guide is course while in ght eis fired rom a quadruple launcher, designed intially for insta lon aud th Boeing PHM, bt which now i uo ‘many ocher smal fast patrol boats. On fring, 30h lent Boost motor propels the Harpoon on abalistc trajectory unt the booster separates rom the main body, Power froma small turbojet then takes over and the mise descends to Substantially lower erusing height, determined by 2 radar altimeter, and vireslly skims the wave tops, Inthe terminal phise of the atick the Harpoon performs a rapid climb to ‘ude oF confise losin automatic cannon fre ten dives on tots quarry, a manoeuvre which enhances the eectiveness of ite warhead ‘Target dat rom the ship's electronic surveillance system is supplied to the missle via a data procesor, a small digital compute, which receives data conceming the target from the vese's own scarch and sorvellnce radar systems o in the case of targets beyond the horizon, trom ether ships or Sircraft From the information and plots proved, the come puter then programmes the missile in readiness for launch Ing. Once lnunched from is canister no forther data inputs a provided by the ship. Course correction i supplied by a ‘miniaturized. vervcal guidance system, comprising an aetade reference system anda digital computer, Its altitude as itheads cowards ts targets constantly checked bya radat alimeter and corrections are made vin clecromechanical activators altering the incidence of the fins. Guidance t the target inthe inal stage ofthe atack~the terminal phase” it is Enown-~is provided by an ative homing radat system, a sensing device which locks on tothe target until the mise fall strikes home. » ‘One of the more awesome aspects of the Harpoon, which ‘arses 2 warhead packed with penetrating blast-type high ve is its ability to overcome both electronic jamming. find atempts by the target t0 take evasive action in the ferminal phase of the attack. If ts radar senses attempts at jamming, it simply switches automatically to another fre= ‘guency and its high degree of manoeuvrability enables it to tgope with any efforts by the target to evade iton its approach. Deuils of the anti-ship missles employed by most strike cra is given in Table Electronic Future duels between fist strike eaft of 300-400 tons will almost certainly be won by the boat with dhe best electronics The weapons systems of al caftofthistypeare controlled by lectronics but some systems are more comprehensive, more fensicive and have much faster reaction times than others. "The commander of 3 fis strike craft has to have at his finger tips the latest information available not only concern= fing changes inthe local tactical situation ¢ sea, but also the situation regarding hostle aircraft Because of the sheer Volume of the information input. manual processing would {ake far too long tobe of practical use. Oly bythe introduc tion ofan electronic data processing system ist possible for him to be presented with anslmost automatic Now of dat, For this reason ire control and ation information organ~ ization systems (AIOs) have been developed for smal fast ‘raf Atone time these systems were so large that they could fonly be installed on cruisers and destroyers. But micro- ‘miniaturization and the employment of imegrated circuits hhave permitted the construction of much smaller computers. Infact today, because oftheir small ize computer and thet associated displays are often incorporated inthe same con- soles Typical of contemporary integrated command and control a