Conway Maritime Press - Warship 44

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U-boats withdrew to other areas. Thus, coastal blimps were not available when they were most needed. And, of course, the large airships which could have provided air cover to convoys in the mid Atlantic gap had ceased to exist by World War II. It is instructive to compare the record of the airplane as a sub-killer to that of the airship. For the airplane proceeded from a role in World War I similar to the airship's, as a deterrent to submarine attack, to that of an active and tremendously effective U-boat killer. British aircraft made 40 attacks on U-boats in World War II before, in January 1940, a RAF Sunderland participated in a sinking, and it was two more months before an aircraft sank a sub alone, with bombs. As Alfred Price wrote in Airuaft Versus Submarine:'...in the summer of 1939 Coastal Command of the RAF was equipped with anti-submarine bombs of doubtful quality, no proper antisubmarine bomb sight, and most of its aircraft fitted with unsatisfactory bomb release gear.' American planes, and blimps laboured under similar difflculties dlring Paukenschlag. However, when airplanes began to kill subs they became deadly effective, sinking hundreds in all parts of the world. The airplane had experienced a quantum leap in performance: in range, reliability, weaponry, and speed. Unlike the BE2C of World War I, attacking at @ mph with 100-pound bombs, the Liberators and Sunderlands of World War II could dive upon a surfaced U-boat with very little warning straddling them with depth charges as they began to dive. The point is that the airplane suddenly emerged as a potent killer of surfaced submarines, with its speed as a potent and powerful weapon. However, until tbe appearance of the acoustic homing torpedo, sonobuoys, and MAD (tested initially on blimps) late in the war, it had practically no attack capacity against submerged submarines, which is, of course, the whole objective of today's Orion P-3s, Viking S-3s, and all modern ASW. Conversely, the blimp was hopeless against surfaced subs without a standoff weapon, as the loss of K-74 to the U-134's automatic gunfire showed in July 1943. (Such a weapon existed by the end ofthe war in the form of the Bat radiocontrolled glide bomb, the ancestor of the Harpoons carried by today's P-3s.) But the development of the Snorkl.e and the Type XXI U-boat brought ASW back to square one. The U-boat was defeated when radarequipped escorts denied it its ability to attack on the surface at night, and modern patrol planes robbed it of the ability to move on the surface by day. But the submarine which could operate continuously submerged posed an entirelSi new challenge for postwar ASW, and gave the blimp a new lease of life. For the first time in peace, ASW was taken seriously and the US Navy was willing to experiment with any ASW weapon or vehicle that looked promising, from the anti-submarine cruiser Norfolh to SSKs, hydrofoils, and drone helicopters. Suddenly, the airplane lost its tremendous advantage as a sub-killer over the blimp. Both were reduced to using the same weapons and sensors against the same target, the submerged sub, (and the same target the British blimps of World WarI weredealingwith). The difference was, again, simply thatof speed versus endurance. The P2V or S2F could patrol greater areas at a greater rate of speed: ZSGs and ZPG-2s could provide continuous escort for days. In addition, they had the potential forusing dipping or towed sonar along with sonobuoys and MAD. They refuelled and resupplied from carrier decks or by winch as the K-ships of World War II had done. In addition, the Navy developed a new role for blimps during the 1950s, AEW, in response to the threat of Bears. They supplemented the Constellation Warning Stars and Texas Towers, extending our anti-bomber radar defenses beyond the DEW line down our coasts. These ships displayed remarkable all-weather capability, performing continuous pafuols for days during heavy storm conditions. The final development of this type, the ZPG 3W, carried the non-rigid airship to its ultimate development, being larger than many rigids, using the envelope as a radome for the largest airborne antennae ever carried. However, the replacement of the bomber threat by the ICBM rendered these ships superfluous. On the other hand; the Battle Surveillance Airship recently proposed would have essentially the same configuration with a different role: AEW for naval forces. Today, the anti-submarine blimp has disappeared, along with the fleets of cheap escorts and patrol planes, the CVEs of World War II and the CVSs of the 1950s. Yet, today's patrol planes and surface escorts face a greater threat than ever from the nuclear sub, requiring the most advanced sensors and computers. The numbers of ASW ships and planes we can field has dwindled with their growing cost, while the Russian sub- Tanr,n 1 NoN-RrcrD PRESSURE ArRSHrps British Sea Scout-Zero SSZ-1 British Coastal C-2 British North Sea NS-1 USN K14 USN ZPG-2 USN ZPG-3W Built 1916 1916 r9r7 1943 1955 1958 Volume Length (cubic feet) (feet) 70,000 r43 170,000 195 360,000 262 425,000 25i.7 1,011,00 343 1,516,300 403 Engines (number and horse power) lx75 2x150 2x260 2x 425 2x800 2 x 1,525 Speed (mph) 48.4 47 57.6 77 80 90 Remarks Crew: three. Bombs: 130 pounds. Gross Lift: 4500 irounds. Deadweight: 3156 pourlos. Gross lift: 5 tons. Deadweight: 3.4 tons. Max endurance: 101 hours, 50 minutes. Range: 4000 miles. Crew: 10. Gross lift: 10.85 tons. Deadweight: 7 tons. Crew 10-12. First non-rigid to cross Atlantic. Non-stop double Atlantic crossing remains world's record for unrefueled airbome endurance. Largest non-rigid built. Crew: 21. Carried internal 40-foot radar antenna. 202
1984..This Skyship 600 has operated with MEL MAREC II Sea Searcher radar mounted within the envelope; Aerospatiale Atal high resolution camera pod, and infra-red sensors. It was capable of detecting ships at 5O miles from an altitude of 2OOO feet. It has demonstrated the ability to pick up survivors by winch and deploy a Zodiae Futura five-meter boat for boarding and inspection purposes (a feat beyond the capacity of rnost helicopters or fixed wing planes). A larger twin-deck version powered by a CODOG diesel.or-gas turbine system and the Fertanti-Seaspray radar was proposed for the recent Offshore Patrol Vessel design competition. An even more advanced version with a 35- foot Westinghouse phased array radar was proposed for the USN's Battle Surveillance Airship design study competition. (Note Zodiac boat at left of photo.) Airehip Ind.ustriee marine force is not only far more capable, but more numerous than the German one. How can we begin to provide significant protection to cargo shipping in a contemporary or future conflict? If there is a role for the ASW airship today it is as a result of economic limitations on our naval forces, because it can redress our shortage of surface escorts. The ASW airship could provide continuous coverage for convoys or individual high-value ships more cheaply than surface warships or fixed wing craft. Surface warships will be scarce and in demand for carrier defense and surface warfare. One airship could remain on station withits convoy, for periods which would require a succession of P-3s, and could operate at distances beyond their reach, or in areas where we have no bases. Likewise, the conception of the AEW airship has been revived due to the same scarcity of carrier decks which has initiated the concept of the Surface Action Group (SAG). Such a ship could provide the SAG with much needed early warning against long-range bombers and cruise missile attacks. Likethe SAG, it would be intended to operate beyond, or at least at the limits of. the reach of enemy tactical air, either in mid ocean, or in regions where this threat is limited. Such a craft wouldhavebeen of tremendous value to the British at the Falklands. Their V,zSTOL carriers lacked an AEW aircraft which would have detected the Argentine Super Etendards which sank the Sheffield, and Atlantic Conueyor vuith Exocets. An AEW airship might have been vulnerable but so was the Atlantic Conueyor and the P2Y that provided targeting for the Etendards, as well as Canberra and Sir Galahad. Indeed, such a ctaft might well have led to the interception of many successful Argentine air attacks. Has the naval airship been a success or failure? Perhaps the definitive answer lies in the future. Taslo German L-10 German L-70 Zeppelin Type'x' British R-29 USS Akron ZPrS-4 USB ZRCV 2 RIGIDAIRSHIPS Built -Volume Length (cubic feet) (feet) 1915 1918 1918 1931 t,t26,700 536 2,196,900 694 990,600 539 6,850,000 785 Engines (numbers and horse power) 4x210 7 x245 4x250 8x560 9,550,000 897 8x750 Speed 61mph ^ 8lmph 55.3mph - Remarks Participated at Jutland. Gross lift: 81,500 pounds. Deadweight: 46,500 pounds. 4ighq.-t performance WWI airship. Various zeppelins achieved 118 houis endurance. 4040-mile range. 23,000-foot altitude. Gross lift: 159,400 pounds. Deadweight: 62,300 pounqs. Crew: 17. 8.6 tons disposable lifr. 75.6 KnotsCarried 5 planes. Crew:91. Max. range: 7268 miles at 40 knots. Gross lift: 403.000 pounds. Deadweight: 242,356 DOUII(!S. ?5 knots To."r., nine BT-1 scout bombers. Range: 8,750 miles at 50 knots. Gross lift 592.000 pounds. Deadweight 295,000 pounos. 203
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Page 3 and 4: The Rise of the Submarine evenly ye
Page 5 and 6: I J- aviation history, and a minorf
Page 7 and 8: gear of contemporaxy surface escort
Page 9 and 10: Asovn: A USN K-class blimp escortin
Page 11: zPg-3w GENERAT "$i'd 6,{tj!E ","ge
Page 15 and 16: Grampta (SS-207).23lrllay 1941 at G
Page 17 and 18: Growler (SS-215) 21 February 1942 a
Page 19 and 20: ". .'" ,,, Harder (SS-25?). 19 Febr
Page 21 and 22: ot Diadetn. CPL worth the loss of t
Page 23 and 24: The freeboard of tbe Diadem class w
Page 25 and 26: sx: '..; ::t!::l \* ,',4n T}oe Edga
Page 27 and 28: Hambledon, a Type I with the 2- pou
Page 29 and 30: i iculars on 1 December 1938 at an
Page 31 and 32: Asovn:. Talybonf, another Type 3, s
Page 33 and 34: TONE Modifications and War Service
Page 35 and 36: n; t'it-, ',',. 1".,-r-',,- . -., l
Page 37 and 38: for Yokusuka; arrived on 22nd; assi
Page 39 and 40: e - o_ t+' o i 6\_ v o- n- Y/ (-K /
Page 41 and 42: Aircraft handling equipment KEY TO
Page 43 and 44: type (160 x 65 x 7.5 x 10.5mm) spac
Page 45 and 46: 21in Mk x the bow, French 550mm 24Y
Page 48 and 49: Top: Main electric motors/generator
Page 50 and 51: ,0 ,5 ,10 meters ,ZO C 1985, Przemy
Page 52 and 53: GpNnnal ARRANGEMENT - Knys I Compar
Page 54 and 55: Westan after thd explosion of a 5oo
Page 56 and 57: ,Albuera showing the supporting arr
Page 58 and 59: An unrecorded tiial against an MMS.
Page 60 and 61: New Works on the Period Before 1900
Page 62 and 63:
of insight into the nineteenth cent
Page 64 and 65:
An example of Sepping's iron tiller
Page 66 and 67:
Box Numbers:- Available for private
Page 68:
THE UARTERLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE
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Conway Maritime Press - Warship 44

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