Next Generation Destroyer thread (after 055, 052D)

[lucretius]

I keep trying to make sense of what combat between ships would look like with everyone launching salvos at the other in an all out war. It always looks like an all-toppings pizza shitshow in my head. Is there a real chance of surviving in such scenarios? How reliable are ship defenses against modern offensive weaponry such as hypersonic bms, drones, cruise missiles, torpedoes etc.? Are these systems fully automated like hitting a button and letting the computer take over prioritizing and neutralizing targets on its own, or does someone have to prioritize things looking at a screen full of dots? Like how does all of that work? How do you even make sure a battle group works in harmony without one ship confusing the other? and finally, with all of that taken into account, would it be better to have smaller ships in larger numbers, or larger ships in smaller numbers?

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Obviously the real world is far less predictable, but should give you an idea

 

[bebops]

Instead of creating a next gen cruiser sized ship, they should go for swarm unmanned compact destroyers armed with hypersonic missiles. They provide lethal impact and are expendable

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Instead of creating a next gen cruiser sized ship, they should go for swarm unmanned compact destroyers armed with hypersonic missiles. They provide lethal impact and are expendable

That's not called "unmanned compact destroyers". That's called optionally-manned/unmanned missile boats/ships.

A destroyer is much more complex, much more capable and way less expendable than that.

 

[snake65]

And hundred fifty years ago it was "dump the battleships, build torpedo boats".

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

Replying here to avoid derailing the original thread.

A key feature of next generation combat platforms. To look ugly.

That being said, plan has been pumping out absolutely gorgeous ships one after another.

I'd say that kindly hold your horses on that one first. Depending on how things go, this may or may not hold true for newer/future (surface combatant) warships of the PLAN.

Then again, it's still in the eye of the beholder.

 

[latenlazy]

Instead of creating a next gen cruiser sized ship, they should go for swarm unmanned compact destroyers armed with hypersonic missiles. They provide lethal impact and are expendable

Half the point of these larger ships is that they're critical sensing and networking platforms for the networked capabilities of the whole fleet. Unmanned ships and hypersonic missiles are useless without that. Real life is more complicated than science fiction.

 

[SunlitZelkova]

I keep trying to make sense of what combat between ships would look like with everyone launching salvos at the other in an all out war. It always looks like an all-toppings pizza shitshow in my head. Is there a real chance of surviving in such scenarios? How reliable are ship defenses against modern offensive weaponry such as hypersonic bms, drones, cruise missiles, torpedoes etc.? Are these systems fully automated like hitting a button and letting the computer take over prioritizing and neutralizing targets on its own, or does someone have to prioritize things looking at a screen full of dots? Like how does all of that work? How do you even make sure a battle group works in harmony without one ship confusing the other? and finally, with all of that taken into account, would it be better to have smaller ships in larger numbers, or larger ships in smaller numbers?

While it does sound like a mess to the human mind, AI would be a great tool in not only making sense of clutter but doing it at immense speed. I think such a role would be far more valuable than trying to make a fully autonomous weapon that can select its own targets.

I would guess the most important improvement in the Next Gen DDG would be data processing, given how complex a modern naval battle would be.

This brings to mind a quote or anecdote out there about the F-15. Pilots said that beyond flight performance, the ease at which the pilot was given data and able to handle the information load of missile combat was the biggest improvement over the F-4.

 

[by78]

An academic paper which likely deals with simulating underwater detonations on and around the underside of a DDG's model. It certainly differs to the simulation model mentioned just before, and somewhat resembles the "052D-compact/lite" DDG CGI model seen some time ago (3rd picture).

The stated dimensions of the DDG is as follows:
(Overall) length: 169 meters
(Waterline) length: 164 meters
Beam: 19 meters
Hull depth: 13 meters
Draught: 6 meters
Block coefficient: 0.5

Do note that this may or may not be related to the 052D/DG-successor DDGs that are currently (very likely to be) in WIP, as this model may very well be taken from the archives for simulation purposes.

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That paper is from over a decade ago, on what is probably a candidate design or design iteration for the 055 program. Not sure why you shared these images here, since the original Weibo poster had explicitly warned his readers not to get excited because this likely is a "discarded" design and not a live future project. There is no need to create gossip and drive engagement in lieu of credible information.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

That paper is from over a decade ago, on what is probably a candidate design or design iteration for the 055 program. Not sure why you shared these images here, since the original Weibo poster had explicitly warned his readers not to get excited because this likely is a "discarded" design and not a live future project.

I'm not done yet. There's more about it later.

There is no need to create gossip and drive engagement in lieu of credible information.

Actually, I think that's the wrong way to look at what I did.

 

[latenlazy]

I'm not done yet. I'll share more about it later.



Actually, that's the wrong way to look at what I did.

Eh if you have a reason for taking these papers seriously (and I’m not saying you shouldn’t) you should just lay out your thinking and be clear from the get go.