SURFACE WARSHIPS: 21st Century PT Boat

StrategyPage.com ^ | October 20, 2003

[John Jorsett]

Another task in the Coalition's nation building mission is ridding Iraq's Persian Gulf waters of pirates. Coalition forces maintain a significant security presence in Iraqi waters in support of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1483. Under 1483, coalition forces will provide law enforcement and security functions for the area until an Iraqi maritime security force can be established. During the height of the war, the Navy was on guard against pro-Saddam forces using the small dhows as bomb platforms.

Local pirates are believed to routinely prey upon both local traders and smugglers in Gulf waters. Most incidents are never reported nor do they occur near where coalition forces can be rapidly brought to bear, but sometimes the good guys get lucky.

According to the Office of Naval Intelligence's Maritime Log, pirates preying on local dhow traffic were interdicted by U. S. and Australian navy and U. S. Coast Guard crews on September 29. At 7.30 PM local time, a distress call was received from one of several dhows in the northern gulf area and a SH-60B Seahawk helicopter from the USS Fletcher was vectored to the scene. Using infrared radar, they tracked the boat with four persons until it could be intercepted.

The USS Firebolt arrived on scene with Miami-based U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 407, who performed a thorough search of the suspects and their vessel. The Australian Navy frigate HMAS Newcastle dispatched a liaison officer and a translator to assist with the questioning of the four suspects. The boarding team found goods stolen from the dhows aboard the speedboat.

The Firebolt is one of the Navy's "Cyclone class" boats designed for coastal patrol and interdiction surveillance. In the early 1990's, they were considered too bulky for commando missions and too small for the regular surface Navy. Armed only with a pair each of 25mm and .50 caliber machine guns, along with two Mk 19 grenade launchers and six "Stinger" missile, these are the 21st century version of the venerable "PT" boat. While the crew musters less than 30, there are an addition eight Special Operations personnel assigned to these boats.

Everything changed after September 11th and the Navy agreed to pay for maintenance and operations while the vessels operated under Coast Guard tactical control. Five or six boats were manned by the Coast Guard, four were based at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and two worked out of Naval Amphibious Base Coronado.

In January 2003, the USS Chinook and USS Firebolt were assigned to maritime interception operations in the Persian Gulf. Pirates in the gulf waters can be quite brazen, even if there's no 'hot' war. On April 23, 2002, the Military Sealift Command's USNS Walter S. Diehl was passing through the Straits of Hormuz when the six small power boats sped alongside. The Diehl does not look like a warship and probably appeared to be easy pickings. The Diehl fired flares to warn the small boats away, but the boats did not back down and a gunner opened fire with a .50-caliber machine gun. The Diehl's gunner kept firing as the ship moved ahead and the small boats then sped off.

So between terrorism and piracy, the Cyclone class patrol boats might find a second life. The Coast Guard and Navy wants to keep at least five and, if funding is available, all 13 on the books. Considering that they only cost $23 million apiece and their relatively new status, it would make sense to keep them involved in the War on Terror.

As the global threat of piracy grows, naval forces may also have to rely on heavier weapons than those usually found on littoral or coast guard type vessels. At the end of September, United Defense Industries announced that they had been awarded a $79 million contract to supply eight 57mm Bofors-pattern guns for the Coast Guard's new National Defense Cutters, which are expected to be launched by 2006. Demand for these weapons could reach close to 100, if it's decided to install them on other Coast Guard and Navy ships. - Adam Geibel

USS Firebolt homepage, online at: http://www.novanavyleague.org/uss_firebolt.htm

USS Firebolt specifications, online at: http://navysite.de/pboats/pc10.htm.

[hchutch]

Well, the initial mission they were designed for was a flat-out failure. They were too big for SEAL insertion.

Now, they're serving as corvettes. Very lightly armed corvettes. They probably need a little more firepower. What could we fit on there if it came to that?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

And you can still buy a plywood mine sweeper from Bay Ship Building in Wisconsin.

[hattend]

I Like this better:

[rmlew]

Anyone know what happened to our old Hercules PTM's?
They had a 20mm gun and 4 to 8 harpoons.

Given the fact that some enemy boats carry RPG's, I like the idea of anti-tank weapons.
Javelins and TOWs would be nice.
Mavericks would prove a puch capable of damaging corvettes or frigates. I don't want to equal pirates.

Personally, I would preffer to use some of our Frigates. These carry Seahawks, which can use Hellfires and Penguin missles.

[rmlew]

If you want a missle boat, with killing power, I would go with the Israeli Sa'ar 5. They carry VLS anti-aircraft missles (Barak), up to 8 anti-ship missles ( 8 Harpoons, 8 Gabriels), 1 helicoptor (Dauphin), Mk 46 torpedos, and either a Phalanx or 76mm autocannon. The US has the plans. They were made by Northrop. http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/saar5/index.html

There are some newer patrol craft. The Norwegian Skjold and Swedish Visby are stealthy designs.
The Visby is the basis of one of the desings for the American Littoral Combat Ship.

[rmlew]

PHM Pegasus? http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/phm-1.htm
I guess that answer the question from my next post.

[GATOR NAVY]

These look like a 3/4 size destroyer.

More like about 1/3 in length and 1/20 in displacement. They're small.

Propulsion system:4 Paxman diesels

Propellers: four

Length: 170 feet (51.8 meters)

Beam: 25 feet (7.6 meters)

Draft: 7.5 feet (2.3 meters)

Displacement: approx. 331 tons

Speed: 35 knots

Aircraft: none

Armament: 2 25mm Mk-38 machine guns; 2 .50 cal machine guns; 2 Mk-19 automatic grenade launchers; 6 stinger missiles

[Eric in the Ozarks]

170 feet is pretty small stuff when it comes to a blue water navy. I'm surprised they'd go with diesels when jet turbines are so much quicker to light off. Hope their bite is bigger !

[StriperSniper]

Doesn't look much larger than my old sportfisher.

You must've been able to troll a mean spread! ;-)

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Must've used a 200 pound cannonball to keep the lure down.

[StriperSniper]

Made in Bayonne, New Jersey. Until last year, I hung out at the marina club bar and fished out of there. It was sold to a developer this past fall and closed. They are moving the launching crane, which was in continuous use until the closing of the marina, to a park about two miles North as a memorial. Now they are going to build 200+ townhouses there. : (

"The Mosquito Fleet" - PT Boats

[x1stcav]

Well, I have been known to exagerate.

The old Far Wester was certainly as fast but didn't carry nearly the main armament.

It did, however, terrorize the salmon population off the Golden Gate 15-odd years ago.

[StriperSniper]

Well, I have been known to exagerate.

So you really are a fisherman. ;-)

off the Golden Gate

Ahh...we have no salmon here in the NY Bight, but plenty of bass and bluefish these days. I would love to one day go explore those waters, they sort of remind me of my area. When the whole Laci Peterson thing broke, I studied some charts of the bay there and saw dozens of spots that I'm sure would be great to fish. And being used to dealing with vicious currents, deep water, and large ships would make me feel right at home.

[x1stcav]

And being used to dealing with vicious currents, deep water, and large ships would make me feel right at home.

You certainly would be right at home off Potato Patch Shoal. Everyone, sooner or later, makes the mistake of trying to cut across this area heading home back through the Gate. Did it one time, encountered 12' swells, and got that out of my system.

Why is it that all good fishing grounds seem to bave vicious currents, deep water, and large ships?

[StriperSniper]

Why is it that all good fishing grounds seem to have vicious currents, deep water, and large ships?

Keeps the presure off them from the wussies. ;-)

[GATOR NAVY]

I imagine it's a maintenance thing. When you think of the original mission of these boats (spec ops type stuff) you want a simple engineering plant you can fix yourself on scene if something happens. Diesel fits that better than gas turbines. Fuel economy probably was a factor too.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I have some familiarity with marine fuels. It might be that acceptable diesel is available anywhere while JP 5 or JP 8 is not.

[GATOR NAVY]

Navy gas turbines run on DFM, don't need special turbine fuel.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

DFM is new to me. The Destroyers I took care of on Great Lakes cruises always requested (through DFSA in Alexandria, Va.,) a JP (naptha) fuel.

[GATOR NAVY]

I tried doing a quick Google on the composistion of DFM but couldn't find anything really useful. It's been the standard Navy fuel for all plants at least since the early eighties when I came in.

A good portion of the cost in reactivating the Iowa class BBs was converting the entire fuel system to use DFM vice the black oil they were built to use.