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CHAPTER 20
NAVAL WEAPONS SYSTEMS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
Identify the gunnery systems used on Navy
6. Identify the air-to-air missiles used by the
ships.
Navy.
Describe the purpose of gun fire control
equipment.
7. Identify the air-to-ground missiles used by the
Navy.
Identify the antiair warfare (AAW) missiles
used by the Navy.
8. Identify various airborne weapons used by the
Identify the cruise missiles used by the Navy.
Navy.
Identify the antisubmarine warfare (ASW)
9. Identify the Navy’s nuclear weapons capa-
weapons used by the Navy.
bility.
Before the discovery of gunpowder, naval
battles were fought with row-galley tactics. In
general, two methods were employed. A galley
could maneuver near the enemy vessel and attempt
to ram it, overturn it, board it by grappling hooks,
or shave off its oars by a close run. An alternative
procedure was to catapult flaming sulphur, pitch,
niter, or oil onto the enemy ship; row away; and
watch the fire. Although crossbows and shipborne
spring- or torsion-powered artillery did allow
some battle action before actual ship-to-ship
contact, the ram was the main weapon. Speed and
maneuverability were the best defenses.
Today, however,
weapons systems are
extremely complex. They include both the weapon
and the fire control equipment used with the
weapon.
Fire control entails problem solving: the
problem of destroying a target with the armament
of your ship or aircraft. Solutions must be found
for the three types of targets: surface, subsurface,
and air targets. The effective use of any weapons
system requires the delivery of a destructive device
to a target. The destructive device (weapon) could
be a guided missile, gun projectile, rocket,
torpedo, or depth charge.
To deliver the weapon accurately, we must
know the location, direction of travel, and the
velocity of the target. Since many air targets now
travel faster than sound, they must be engaged
at great distances. A weapon is most effective
when used as part of a ship’s or aircraft’s weapons
system against such targets.
A weapons system includes the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Units that detect, locate, and identify the
target
Units that direct or aim a delivery unit (for
example, gun or guided-missile fire control
radar)
Units that deliver or initiate the delivery of
the weapon to the target (for example,
missile battery, gun battery)
Units termed weapons that destroy the
target when in contact with it or near it
While this serves as a brief overview of
a weapons system, let’s look a little deeper
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