Armed Merchantmen V.

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Conclusion!

Naval special operations courtesy of the armed merchantman.

That armed merchantman an ideal base of operation during the deployment of naval special operations units both during a time of crisis or overt hostilities.

Naval special operations personnel of the frogman/under-water-demolitions/combat swimmer/naval commando variety.

Naval commandos having at their disposal during mission an entire range of submersible delivery vehicles [SDV].

Armed merchantman vessels but special operations units and gear associated with same carried surreptitiously and also deployed in a covert manner normally undetectable!!

See at this particular Internet web site "Naval Spetsnaz in Hybrid Warfare" that full range of SDV as has been in use by Russian Naval Spetsnaz. We can assume the Chinese also have their own versions of such SDV!

This is a Russian Triton-NN submersible boat. Has a periscope and snorkel? Is "wet" on the inside when submerged. Other varieties of this type of SDV exist.

The submersible boat in vogue but needing to be taken to the scene of the action by a "mother ship". A role for which the armed merchantman again is ideally suited.

And thank you H.I. Sutton.

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Armed Merchantmen IV.

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Naval deck guns.

Jutland 1916 deja vu?

Captain Rogge at the helm if you please!

Armed merchantmen also in the ancient and venerable manner carrying naval deck guns. NOT guns in turrets with a barbette, nonetheless a quick-and-dirty and effective means of adding firepower to the commercial vessel?

German WW2 88 mm [3.5 inch] naval deck gun with shield. Fast direct fire weapon with flat trajectory for ease of aiming. I imagine a naval deck gun mounted on a merchantman would look somewhat like this.

British four-inch [100 mm] naval deck gun. Base mounted to the deck of the ship.
 

Five-inch [127 mm] naval deck gun.

Six-inch [152 mm] naval deck gun with shield. The famous WW2 era German surface raider Atlantis as captained by Rogge had six of these guns on board. That shell alone weighs 100 pounds [45 kilograms] and gives you some significant range and hitting power.

Is it beyond belief that a return to the olden days will occur? Deck guns having at least some sort of purpose in the modern age, shore bombardment and the like.

And where to obtain such ordnance? Mothballed somewhere, vessels antiquated having no further usefulness but their deck guns still a viable option for the armed merchantman?

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Armed Merchantmen III.

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Torpedo Los!!

In particular those surface-launched torpedoes of the MU90 variety MOST APPROPRIATE FOR THE ARMED MERCHANTMAN.

"MU90 Surface Launched Lightweight Torpedo - DCNS"

"Its impressive embedded acoustic and dynamic capabilities also allow the use of the weapon in anti-surface missions and, with few adaptations, in anti-torpedo roles."

That MU90 a joint French/Italian venture with many cloned versions existing, INCLUDING A CHINESE KNOCK-OFF!!

That embedded YouTube video particularly impressive. The MU90 is the little torpedo that can!!

THE INCORPORATION OF THE MU90 ALLOW ALMOST ANY MERCHANTMAN TO BECOME A NAVAL HUNTER/KILLER VESSEL WITH SOME EXTRAORDINARY CAPABILITY!

Useful in the anti-submarine warfare [ASW] role exclusively so? NOT able to engage surface vessels. The MU90 warhead a shaped-charge ONLY!

Italian military hardware designers as having been noted by the Soviet defector Suvorov:

"the Italians have very good brains, the brains of great inventors."

Without question, unequivocally so!!

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Armed Merchantmen II.

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Shipping containers of October!

Armed merchantman already possessing the potentiality of being armed with a formidable weapons system, the Russian anti-ship missile NATO code-named "Sizzler".

This is the Klub-K. Export version.

"The Russian 3M-54 is a Russian surface ship and submarine-launched anti-ship missile . . . with the NATO codename of' 'Sizzler'."

"A Klub-K variant, which is disguised as a shipping container that can be placed on a truck, train, or merchant vessel . . . Putting the launcher system into a standard shipping container allows the missiles to be moved and stored without arousing suspicion"

Watch this very slick and well produced YouTube video of the containerized Klub-K in action!

"Klub-K Container Missile System 2013"

"The Russian 3M-54 Klub missile system"

NOT only the missiles themselves but the total package. Command, control, and communications, intelligence [C^3 I] included an integrated system all contained in the ordinary and ubiquitous shipping container.

AND WHEN PART OF A NET-CENTRIC SYSTEM ONE SMALL PACKAGE BUT PART OF A MUCH GREATER WHOLE!

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Armed Merchantmen I.

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Yet with one more blast from the past! The armed merchantman once more takes to the seas. As has not been the case ever since the time of World War Two!

"China orders civilian ships adapted for military use: report"

"China's government has passed new guidelines requiring civilian shipbuilders to ensure their vessels can be used by the military in the event of conflict, state-run media said on Thursday."

"The regulations require five categories of vessels including container ships to be modified to 'serve national defence needs', the state-run China Daily newspaper said."

Commercial sailing vessels with pelagic [deep water] capability configured in a manner so that during a time of crisis or war expeditiously able to carry naval war-making ordnance!! Adjunct and able to augment the traditional and conventional naval force.

Historically the armed merchantman has NOT BEEN an anomaly. In that era prior to "steam" merchant sailing vessels armed as protection against privateers and pirates. Whaling vessels entering into dangerous waters as inhabited by indigenous peoples known for their hostility carrying a few cannon just in case!

And during that time of  "steam" in both World Wars Germany and England deploying the armed merchantman, often referred to as "auxiliary cruisers"

"In both World Wars, both Germany and the United Kingdom used auxiliary cruisers. While the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping, the German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping."

In the modern era the armed merchantman I might very well think capable of carrying a variety of ordnance to include:

* Naval deck guns.
* Missiles.
* Sea mines.
* Torpedoes.
* UAV and UUV.

Also having a potentiality to carry and deploy naval special operations units on demand.

Most modern commercial deep-water vessels already equipped with an abundance of electronic device and apparatus to include radar, depth finder, satellite uplink/downlink, GPS, etc.

This particular topic originally was slated to be a single entry but has morphed into something much more. To be continued.

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Madman.

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Had never heard of this one before. Thanks to the isegoria.net Internet web site and the archive as regard to  Thomas Schelling.

"The Nukes of October"

"The Nukes of October looks at Richard Nixon’s secret plan to bring peace to Vietnam"

This was Giant Lance!

American B-52 bombers carrying thermonuclear weaponry and intended to intimidate the Soviet.

"Operation Giant Lance was a secret military operation by the United States that threatened a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union during the Cold War."

"Preparations were made to send a squadron of 18 B-52s of the 92d Strategic Aerospace Wing loaded with nuclear weapons to fly toward the Soviet Union. It was hoped that this would convince the Soviets that Nixon was willing to resort to nuclear war in order to win the Vietnam War."

Aircraft fully armed for Armageddon and for a period of three days skirting the periphery of Soviet air space.

"Codenamed Giant Lance, Nixon’s plan was the culmination of  . . . Nixon’s notion that faked, finger-on-the-button rage could bring the Soviets to heel."

IN LIEU OF FURTHER PREPARATIONS FOR GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR ON THE PART OF AMERICAN MILITARY FORCES OR THE CIVILIAN POPULACE THE SOVIETS WOULD HAVE SEEN THIS AS A BLUFF OR A DEMONSTRATION OF POTENTIAL BUT NOTHING MORE THAN THAT??

My own perception even with a cursory reading is the reservations of SecDef Melvin Laird were well founded and should have been heeded. Giant Lance was not necessary.

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PYD.

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From a comment to the blog. I stand corrected and gladly so.

dutchnational said...

"The YPG is the fighting arm of the PYD, not the PKK. The PKK is designated an international terrorist organisation, the PYD not so."

 "The PKK is a Turkish organisation which aims autonomy within Turkey. The PYD is a Syrian organisation which aims for autonomy within Syria. There are links of ideology but there are no straight organisational lines between the two of them"

PKK communist and Turkish. PYD an independent Kurdish entity strictly Syrian in origin.

Other prior blog entries making that connection between the PKK and YPG. This being incorrect.

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/06/tel-abyad-ain-issa.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2015/02/kobani.html

http://militaryanalysis.blogspot.com/2014/08/pkk-ypg.html

From the wiki entry we find:

"The Democratic Union Party [PYD] . . . is a . . . political party established in 2003 by Kurdish activists in northern Syria. An affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)"

An AFFILIATE, "links of ideology" but not exactly so communist and NOT designated as a terrorist organization.

NOW you know the correct story and are more the better for it! Thank you Dutch national!

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