Combat is a purposeful violent conflict to weaken or kill the - TopicsExpress



          

Combat is a purposeful violent conflict to weaken or kill the opposition. Combat is ‘Battle Ready’ for dominance which is a dyadic relationship. It is unlike violence which is the intentional use of physical force or power. Political violence is used by governments to achieve political goals as they believe that their political systems don’t respond to political demands so violence is necessary in order to achieve political objectives. Combat underwater is underwater warfare. It is warfare between; 1. Submarines and other submarines and surface ships 2. Anti-submarine warfare between airplanes and helicopters against submarines is combat underwater A submarine is a watercraft of operation underwater. As naval tradition, submarines are ‘boats’ rather than ‘ships’. Another tradition is that of piping someone aboard the ship. It is like the custom of firing cannon salutes for respect and trust. Submarines work at greater depths than are survivable human divers. It was bad luck to permit women to sail on board naval vessels. To do so would wreck the ship. Submarines military usage is; 1. Attacking enemy surface ships and submarines 2. Aircraft carrier protection 3. Blockade running 4. Ballistic missile submarine launch 5. Reconnaissance 6. Conventional land attack 7. Covert insertion of special forces Civilian uses for submarines are; 1. Marine science 2. Salvage 3. Exploration 4. Facility inspection/maintenance 5. Search-and-rescue missions 6. Undersea cable repair 7. Tourism 8. Undersea archaeology Submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical ends with a vertical structure the ‘sail ‘and sensing device ‘periscope’. There is a propeller at the rear, hydrodynamic control fins and ballast tanks. Submarines range from small autonomous one or two-person vessels to Russian Typhoon class vessels that can remain submerged for six months. Surfaced submarines are in a positively buoyant condition. To submerge hydrostatically, a ship must have negative buoyancy. Submarines’ Main Ballast Tanks and Depth Control Tanks can hold varying amounts of water and air. When submerged the water pressure on a submarines hull can reach 580 psi for steel submarines and 1,500 psi for titanium submarines. Interior pressure remains unchanged. A submerged submarine is in an unstable equilibrium and can fall or float to the surface. Modern submarines are cigar-shaped. Modern military submarine outer hull is covered with a layer of sound-absorbing rubber or anechoic plating to reduce detection. A raised tower on top of a submarine has a periscope and electronics masts for radio, radar and electronic warfare. Modern submarines have a single hull. Large submarines have an additional hull. High-strength alloy steel is the primary material for submarines with 250–400-metre dive depth. Titanium hulls are stronger and lighter and are not ferromagnetic which is important for stealth. Titanium submarines depth is limited to 1,300 meters. The deepest deep-submergence vehicle DSV ‘Trieste’ reached a depth of 11,521 meters. 20th-century submarines used batteries for running underwater and petrol or diesel engines on the surface. Diesel-electric was the standard means of propulsion. Breathing air is recycled and fresh water is distilled from seawater. A modern submarine can remain submerged till its food stores last. Nuclear power is used in all large submarines. A nuclear submarine has unlimited range at top speed. A conventional submarine operating on batteries is completely silent. The US Navy, French Navy and the British Royal Navy operate only nuclear submarines. Submarines are used as minelayers. Ballistic missiles can also be fired from a submarines torpedo tubes. Submarine-launched cruise missiles SSM-N-8 Regulus and P-5 Pyatyorka required the submarine to surface to fire its missiles. Modern submarine-launched cruise missiles are fired from the torpedo tubes of submerged submarines. BGM-109 Tomahawk and RPK-2 Viyuga are surface to surface anti-ship missiles encapsulated for submarine launch. German torpedo tube-launched short-range IDAS missile can be used against Anti Submarine Warfare ‘ASW’ helicopters, surface ships and coastal targets. Military submarines use VLF ‘Very Low Frequency’ radio or ELF ‘Extremely Low Frequency’ radio systems to communicate with distant command centers by extending a radio mast for a ‘burst transmission’ which takes only a fraction of a second thus minimizing a submarines risk of detection. To communicate with other submarines, Gertrude is used which is a sonar telephone. It can be heard by the enemy. Submarines maintain radio silence to avoid detection. The Seawolf-class is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines ‘SSN’. The Virginia-class ‘SSN-774’ is another nuclear-powered fast attack submarine. A nuclear submarine has a crew of 80 plus. Modern military submarines generate breathing oxygen by electrolysis of water. Fresh water is produced by either an evaporator or a reverse osmosis unit. Seawater is used to flush toilets ‘black water’. Water from showers and sinks is stored separately in ‘grey water’ tanks. A German Type VIIC boat U-1206 was lost with casualties because of a mistake with the toilet. Trash on submarines is disposed of using a tube called a Trash Disposal Unit ‘TDU’. A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare ‘ASW’ weapon intended to destroy a target submarine by the shock of exploding near it. Depth charges can be dropped by surface ships, patrol aircraft or helicopters. A depth charge fitted with a nuclear warhead is known as a nuclear depth bomb. The depth charge is replaced by anti-submarine homing torpedoes. The torpedo, invented by Robert Whitehead is a weapon of war. The torpedo is a self-propelled weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface. Torpedo bombers were bomber aircrafts designed to attack ships with aerial torpedoes and were retired in the 1980s. An anti-submarine missile is a standoff weapon including a rocket to rapidly deliver an explosive warhead to the vicinity of a submarine. Malafon and Ikara missile are ship-launched anti-submarine missiles. In the context of navy special operations, direct action ‘DA’ is ‘Short-duration strike conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets.’ Special reconnaissance ‘SR’ is conducted by small units of highly trained military personnel ‘frogmen ‘ who operate behind enemy lines avoiding direct combat and detection by the enemy. A frogman is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater for combat. Such personnel are also known as combat swimmer. Anti-frogman techniques are security methods developed to protect watercraft, ports and installations from potential threats by frogmen . Trained dolphins and sea lions find submerged divers. Trained dolphins killed two Russian frogmen who were putting limpet mines on a USA cargo ship in Cam Ranh bay in Vietnam. SR includes: 1. Covert direction of air and missile attacks 2. Placement of remotely monitored sensors 3. Preparations for other special forces Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain vital information about enemy forces or features of the environment for later analysis. William J. Perry said ‘Special Reconnaissance is the conduct of environmental reconnaissance, target acquisition, area assessment, post-strike assessment, emplacement and recovery of sensors, or support of Human Intelligence ‘HUMINT’ and Signals Intelligence ‘SIGINT’ operations.’ Submarine aircraft carriers ‘SAC’ are submarines equipped with fixed-wing aircraft for reconnaissance. An autonomous underwater vehicle ‘AUV’ is a robot which travels underwater. It is used for attack and supply.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 21:51:58 +0000

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