Above: USS ENGLAND (CG-22) shows off her fine lines while steaming as plane guard for an aircraft carrier.
When I was in the Naval Reserve, one of the best drill weekends was acting as Tactical Action Officer on the shipboard simulator. The simulated ship was USS ENGLAND (CG-22). The real ship was Leahy-class guided missile cruiser (about the size of a World War 2 light cruiser) and was a double-ender: that is, she had a Mk 10 Terrier (40 bird) missile battery battery aft and a Mk 10 Mod 7 (60 bird) missile battery forward. I advised the Captain on how to deal with the threats.
Above: A three-quarter stern view of the USS ENGLAND (CG-22) acting as a plane guard with the carrier just ahead. The twin arms of the forward and aft missile launchers are clearly shown. The double yokes supporting the round search light-like objects are the main missile fire control radars. Note the "macks" -- a combination of radar mast and stack that characterized the Leahy-class CG's.
The reservists were up against the shipboard simulator team made up of some capable senior petty officer tacticians. As it turned out for the presumed victims on the ENGLAND, I was a ringer for their team.
First, we had a briefing on threat platforms and targeting systems. Then we manned-up and ran through three scenarios. The ROE [rules of engagement] were very simple: do not provoke any hostile action, but if they paint you with a fire control radar, you can kill the platform.
Scenario 1: Steaming independently off the coast of a small country in the throes of a civil war, we were told that the bad guys were using Soviet equipment and tactics. The ENGLAND was being shadowed by a spy trawler. This intelligence trawler was soon understood to be feeding targeting infomation to two Russian OSA II missile boats. ESM [electronic support measures] showed no air threats; just the trawler and the two OSA's. The OSA's formed up on an intercept course with both search radars going. I advised the commanding officer [CO] that they were using the trawler's inputs and the search radar inputs for gross targeting setups for their SS-N-2 STYX batteries (four on each boat) and they would probably turn their fire control radar on just before launch. The STYX was an air-breathing curise missile that carried a 1,000 pound high-explosive warhead.
Above: A good overhead shot of a Soviet OSA II-class missile boat. The hangers for the forward pair of SS-N-2 missiles is just behind the bridge and the aft missile hangars are on either side of the fire control radome for the after gun.
Below: A Chinese-built copy of the Soviet SS-N-2 STYX missile on a transport trailer. This is how the missile would be loaded into the hangar. The missile uses an air-breathing turbojet engine for propulsion and uses a solid propellant rocket motor (below the rear tail fins) to launch the missile and get it to flight speed. The folded fings erect as the missile leaves its hangar. A radar-homing missile, the STYX packs a 1,000 pound high-explosive warhead.
The OSA's launched first and then switched on their fire control [FC] radars. By this time we had birds loaded on both rails, fore and aft and were ready. Reload missiles had their booster wings installed and guidance fins erected and were ready and waiting in the missile houses. As soon as ESM got a launch indication, we went birds free, and when the FC radars came on we fired a two salvos of four birds. The empty rails were reloaded immediately for follow-up shots. Two of the birds were speed-gated to kill the in-bound missiles and the other two went for the two boats. Two kills.
Scenario 2. Steaming independently as before. One spy trawler is feeding information to a Russian Tupolev Tu-95 BEAR G maritime bomber and two OSA boats. In this case, the "go" signal was a video downlink from the Tu-95 to the OSA's. This was the fire control update prior to missile launch. We fired two birds (one speed-gated in case he fired a cruise missile -- and he did). We fired two salvos of four birds at the OSA's under the same conditions. We killed three in-bound Vampires (the Navy term for anti-ship cruise missiles), the Tu-95, and the two OSA's
.
Above: A Terrier missile leaves the rail of the after twin launcher on USS ENGLAND (CG-22) on a live fire exercise. The fire and smoke from the solid propellant booster motor makes a very dramatic shot.
Below: A Russian Tupolev Tu-95 BEAR G [NATO code name] was a huge, four-engined turboprop bomber with counter-rotating propellers. The nose spike is an air-to-air refuelling probe. Two anti-ship cruise missiles were carried under the wings and were air -launched.
Scenario 3. Steaming independently as before. One Tupolev Tu-95 BEAR G. two Tupolev Tu-16 BADGER G maritime bombers with cruise missiles, and three OSA II's. Birds are free [ready to fire]. ESM is showing inter-aircraft radio chatter that becomes more intense prior to launch. One BADGER G switches on FC radar for airborne cruise missile attack, and BEAR G sends video downlink to OSA's. We fired two salvos of four at the Tu-16's; one launched (a kill) and we splashed both BADGER's. One OSA launched two SS-N-2 missiles. We fired two salvos of four at the in-bound Vampires (kills) and at the launch platform and BEAR G (2 hits, hard kill); other two OSA's broke-off the attack and returned to base.
Above: The Tupolev Tu-16 BADGER G [NATO code name] was an early 1950's vintage Soviet bomber that carried two air-launched anit-ship missiles under the wings. It was the tactical equivalent of the Boeing B-47 "Stratojet" medium bomber of the early Cold War era.
The tactical guys could not believe we'd scored 4.0 on all three scenarios. The CO was pleased as punch and his "crew" was glad they were still afloat.
This was the first time that CG-22 had SURVIVED past the first scenario.
The CG-22 boss told me if he was ever going to be doing this for real, he wanted me in CIC. It was a hoot.
To recap, our virtual CG (cruiser) was:
1. Running close to an announced hostile enemy coast.
2. Knew it was a very high value target and we were on our own if attacked.
3. Had clear ROE: do not provoke, but if painted by FC systems return fire.
4. Knew and effectively used the capabilities of our primary weapon system to kill the in-bound threat (cruise missiles) and the platform (a/c or boat).
5. Survived all the threat scenarios without a scratch (first time it had ever happened).
Compare this to the Iranian missile hit on the Israeli Sa'ar V corvette on 14 July 2006:
1. Were close to enemy coastline where combat was taking place.
2. Threat level was high and ship was a high value target.
3. ROE unclear, but ship had its primary defense systems OFF and was on its own.
4. Excuse offered was that they wanted to avoid friendly fire casualties; in reality, they were not alert to any threats.
5. They did not effectively use the weapon systems at their disposal; that is, they were turned OFF.
6. They got a missile hit in their topside and four sailors killed.
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