Dominant Logistics
Future Combat Vessels
It has often been said that our current Navy is stuck in a Cold War mindset when it comes to the design of future combat vessels. More accurately, we can say that this mindset actually dates all the way back to World War I and even earlier. Current designs for future vessels are frighteningly similar to the ships that have parted the ocean waves from the day the propeller was first bolted up to a driven shaft. While the onboard systems have changed, the ships remain largely the same.
Because of this, our Navy ships are incredibly vulnerable to a wide variety of means of attack. None of our current ships have significant armor or other means of physical protection. Virtually all of our ships feature a single, long center keel and hull which is extremely vulnerable to mines and torpedoes. They are all propelled by propellers of one form or another (as opposed to waterjets) and virtually all of these still rely on physical drives instead of electric or hybrid propulsion. This commonality makes our ships extremely vulnerable as virtually every ship in our Navy can be taken out by the same types of attacks. We have no vessels that can survive significant mine or torpedo damage and no ships that can survive significant missile damage.
If we are to retain our ability to dominate the seas, we need to develop and field a variety of hull forms and technologies that will be able to operate against differing threats. We also need the greater speed, range, and capacity that is inherent to many non-standard ship designs.
SWATH Aircraft and Cargo Carriers
The first type of ship we should be working on is the Semi-Submersible, or SWATH, Ship. These are sometimes referred to as S3 ships as well. These ships feature a large, box-shaped structure above water with support pylons extending to two torpedo-shaped pods under the water. The pods provide the buoyancy while the above-water structure can be optimized to the role of the ship. The use of pylons makes for substantial reductions in drag for greater fuel economy and speed.
This hull type has a number of advantages, particularly for large ships. Because of the divisions between the upper and lower sections of the ship, it is more difficult for missiles and torpedoes to cause significant damage to these vessels. The lower sections also receive protection from the surrounding water against many types of explosions. There's also less noise, heat, wake, and radar signatures for weapons to target.
While SWATHs have never been built of the size envisioned, this design would be excellent for future aircraft carriers as well as for high-speed cargo vessels. We could easily increase the aircraft capacity of the supercarrier to a more useful number of aircraft, perhaps two to three times what current carriers hold. A vessel of this size configured to carry cargo should be more than sufficient to carry the proposed Armored Combat Regiment or an entire Light or Mechanized Division. The ship would be far too large for most ports but ramps can be included to allow for amphibious on and off loading of vehicles or cargo.
A new type of engine can power this vessel offering some significant advantages over current powerplants. We still want the range and power advantages of nuclear power but we should replace the steam turbines with quasiturbines for tremendous reductions in maintenance and operations costs. Nuclear power uses steam to drive turbines but the temperature of the steam is relatively low and this causes fouling problems with the turbine. The quasiturbine is more resistant to fouling, uses fewer parts, and can have electrical generation hardware integrated into the engine for reductions in size and weight as well. The quasiturbine could also be physically coupled to propellers or waterjets. While quasiturbines can be steam driven, they can also run from fuel combustion as well and can run on virtually any fuel, just like traditional turbines. What this means is that the same engine can be utilized to power all of our large Navy vessels and submarines - we only need to vary the quantity of engines used to the application. This should streamline our support and training needs considerably.
"Streetfighter" Wave Piercing Catamarans
Wave Piercing Catamarans are similar in appearance to SWATH vessels but are really quite different. Where the SWATH uses two distinct sections for the ship, a WPC is a single structure. Unlike traditional hulls, the WPC has no center keel - it rides on the outside edges of the ship instead of in the center. The High Speed Vessel/Joint Venture is an example of a WPC. The WPC enjoys the reduced vulnerability to mines and torpedoes of a SWATH but it requires substantially less water in which to operate. It can operate in the deep waters of the oceans but is equally at home in shallower waters as well.
In the HSV, this design is used as a multi-role cargo vessel but it also very well suited to numerous combat roles. In it's normal configuration, this hull is ideal for using large quantities of VLS-compatible missiles for just about any combat occasion. It should also make for an excellent gun platform using eight inch guns in a turret to form something resembling a large, floating tank complete with composite and reactive armor options. Another option would be to outfit the HSV with a missile turret like those used on the early Ticonderoga cruisers to fire a multimode Standard missile with options for anti-ship, anti-air, or land attack.
Ideally, a Streetfighter should feature the primary weapon systems mentioned supplemented with three large-caliber CIWS systems, one in the bow and two on each side towards the rear. These would be of around 75mm for ammunition commonality with other proposed systems. To increase range and reduce signatures, the WPC should use a hybrid electric propulsion system. It can use smaller versions of the quasiturbine power generation unit but also have options for battery and solar power as well.
Trimaran Battlecruisers
Ideally, it would be great to see about seven of the Iowa-class battleships parting the waves but this would never be realistic nor would it necessarily be prudent. Realistically, to recreate those beasts today would probably cost nearly the $5 billion of a current supercarrier primarily due to the lack of available infrastructure for forging the armor plating. Since we will have to start over anyways, there isn't any sense in limiting ourselves to the capabilities of the 1930s.
For this type of ship, where we will be taking the vessel into harm's way, we should start with a trimaran design. This is the most effective available design for distributing weight over the greatest amount of area. This reduces vulnerability to mines and torpedoes. It also makes for a more efficient use of space above the water line and reduces vulnerability to modern anti-ship missiles. Critical systems are placed in the center section while the outer sections are used for systems and materials that are not as critical, like water and fuel storage, food and material storage, and similar materials.
With this design, we can also use a system like that incorporated in the turret of the Abrams tank where we have an armor box that holds plates of various types and sizes that can be optimized to the ship's role and still be easily replaced if damaged. The outer hull would be based around boxes extending from below the waterline to the deck of the ship and would be approximately 12 feet wide and about 6 to 8 feet deep. The inner wall of the box would be a heavy, high-grade steel while the sides would be made up of something akin to heavy steel I-beams. This forms a holder for plates of various sizes and materials. We may want to use a heavy steel plate or a thicker Kevlar plate. We could use ceramics or even depleted uranium plates. We could even incorporate a shape-charge defeating system or plates of specialized reactive armor. The access door in the deck works as a blast vent so the energy of a striking missile is vented upwards and away from the main structure of the ship. This also enables us to upgrade the armor in the future or easily repair battle damage in the future which is critical for ships that will be operating for 30+ years. With this approach, the remainder of the armor plating can be made of the same methods and materials as that used for the pressure hulls of modern submarines.
Propulsion should consist of electrically-driven waterjets powered by a nuclear reactor. For cost effectiveness, we want to use the same reactors as the supercarriers but have them driving quasiturbines instead of traditional turbines to significantly reduce operating costs. The ports for the waterjets can incorporate retractable depleted uranium blast doors that drop into place when the power is cut. This further decreases our vulnerability to mines and torpedoes. It also enables us to greatly enhance the manueverability of the ship by incorporating side jets for better turning.
Main armament should be two 16" gun turrets, one front and one rear. Each turret should have two guns designed for rapid fire like modern artillery systems (ie liquid or solid propellent instead of powder). Each turret should also incorporate two 8" guns to give the ship a smaller gun option without resorting to putting numerous turrets all over the ship and making it overly complicated. Throw in some VLS missile cells and large-caliber CIWS to round out this combat vessel.
References:
http://www.g2mil.com/8inchguns.htm
http://www.g2mil.com/battleships.htm
http://www.g2mil.com/trimaran.htm
http://www.g2mil.com/podded-drive.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/hsv.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/art/enchanter/s3.html
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/cvx.htm
http://quasiturbine.promci.qc.ca/QTIndex.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/streetfighter.htm