Integration of a large calibre gun on a ship

Abstract

A method for integrating a large-calibre gun on a ship, including connecting a turret having an armament of a lad gun with a calibre >127 mm in a modular configuration to an adaptor plate and a shock-absorbing mounting, and installing the turret on the ship so that an existing steel structure of the ship withstands increased recoil forces from the armament.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The invention relates to a method for integration of a large-caliber gun on a ship, as claimed in the features of the precharacterizing clauses of claims 1 and 2, and to a ship gun as claimed in the features of the precharacterizing clause of claim 6. PRIOR ART [0002] According to the prior art, it is known for ships currently to fire up to ranges of 15 to 18 km with munition calibers of 57, 76, 100 up to a maximum of 127 mm. A number of nations have started to develop guided missiles with the capability to attack land targets. The effectiveness of the guns used is considered to differ depending on the caliber, the rate of fire and the type of ammunition used. However, in general it can be stated that the effect on the target increases with the caliber. Large-caliber guns of the types used by Army artillery are currently not used for this purpose because the ship structure will not withstand the recoil forces of large-caliber ammunition in the long term. Of th...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] The object of the invention is to satisfy the existing military requirements for provision of the capability for naval fire support (NFS) for the use of military ships in the coastal area, with fire support for amphibious operations being of particular importance in this context, for which purpose the projectile range should be considerably increased so that it is also possible to attack inland targets with a high hit accuracy. The aim is to achieve this object for newly built ships and during ship conversions without any major modifications to the steel structure and with as little financial cost and time penalty as possible.

[0010] The invention is based on the knowledge that the use of land guns on ships, which has not been possible until now, satisfies the new naval requirement by the use of existing technology, which even exceeds expectations, rather than by expensive new development. The use of the land guns with a caliber of >127 mm on a ship advantageously makes it possible to use the proven technology of large-caliber land guns for newly built ships. In a further advantageous manner, the turret of a land gun can be connected to an adaptor plate and a shock-absorbing mounting and can be installed on the ship in such a way that the existing steel structure of the ship withstands the increased recoil forces. It is particularly simple for this installation to be in a modular form, so that no significant modifications need be made to the ship, and the installation can be carried out in a short time. Land guns with a caliber of >127 mm can be used without modification, with the recoil forces to be transmitted to the gun deck being absorbed in a particularly advantageous manner by a shock-absorbing mounting so that the advantageous adaptation (which can be produced in a technologically simple manner) and refinement of the adaptor plate and additional shock damping for the gun deck allows the ship technology standard to be linked to the land technology standard, with this new naval requirement being covered by existing land guns, preferably from the armored 155 mm howitzer, rather than by expensive new development.

[0011] The modular (for example) use of the turret and of the weapon system from the armored 155 mm howitzer as a ship gun makes it possible in a particularly advantageous manner to achieve a long range and high effectiveness on the target with little scatter. The gun according to the invention can also advantageously carry intelligent submunitions, for example cluster munitions or smoke munitions. In the coastal area, the use of a turret with a weapon system from the armored 155 mm howitzer as a ship gun allows fire support for land operations from a safe position with an advantageous range of >40 km. In a further advantageous manner, the modular installation of the armored howitzer on the ship can be sealed such that it is NBC-proof by the use of a radial damper, thus preventing any danger to the operator.

[0012] When the armored 155 mm howitzer is used as a ship gun, the recoil forces must be reduced. A shock-absorbing, elastic mounting results in the introduction of the force being extended over time, thus resulting in technically acceptable residual accelerations for the ship deck. Despite the use of this elastic mounting, an attitude reference arranged above the elastic mounting on the gun guarantees correct target aiming. This attitude alignment is made possible by arranging an inertial platform with GPS and satellite navigation on the turret, which is used to determine the three-dimensional position of the weapon barrel and the geographical position on the earth, thus avoiding the disadvantages of the ship-related influences on previous ship guns. For the reason mentioned above, the invention now allows shots to be fired from a moving ship at a moving target.

[0013] The long range allows the ship to be further away from the land, thus making it considerably more difficult to find the position of the ship. In contrast, land targets can easily be located from the ship by means of helicopters and drones. The invention also advantageously allows the use of projectiles with submunitions, as a result of which, when bomblets are used, it is in any case possible to attack targets without requiring 100% exact target coordinates, which represents a particular advantage for attacks from ships at sea. In a further advantageous manner, the invention allows the combat range for seaborne targets at sea to be doubled. The proven, intelligent sensor system of the armored howitzer allows the turret to always be newly aimed even though the ship is continuing to move. The high aiming accuracy results in a considerable reduction in the number of shots to be fired. The use of the turret and the weapon system from the armored 155 mm howitzer results in ammunition compatibility between the various land and seaborne armed forces units. In future, the invention will also allow naval ships to attack targets well in land, with the use of intelligent (sub-) munitions also being possible.

Problems solved by technology

Large-caliber guns of the types used by Army artillery are currently not used for this purpose because the ship structure will not withstand the recoil forces of large-caliber ammunition in the long term.

The ship ammunition that is used at the moment is specially manufactured and is not compatible with land ammunition.

Other ammunition, for example armor-piercing ammunition etc, cannot be used.

In some circumstances, there are resupply difficulties during operations abroad.

A further disadvantage of the currently used ship ammunition is the short range, as a result of which land targets cannot be attacked without considerable risk to the ship.

A further disadvantage of the comparatively small caliber of ship guns is that the guns are susceptible to weather influences, for example wind, so that small ammunition is subject to comparatively wide scatter.

A further disadvantage of the known ship projectiles mentioned above is that they cannot carry intelligent submunitions, for example cluster munitions or smoke.

Furthermore, they are hard-mounted on the ship, that is to say they are rigidly connected to the ship, which means that the recoil forces resulting from possible use of large-caliber ammunition would be introduced directly into the ship structure and would lead to its destruction.

Reinforcement of the steel in the ship structure would lead to a heavy weight and the obvious disadvantages associated with this, as well as leading to considerable additional costs.

This results in the problem that the recoil forces from the gun / carriage are introduced directly into the ship structure.

When conventional ship guns are used, the rolling of the ship about its longitudinal axis leads to considerable problems in the determination of the coordinates, so that the aiming accuracy also suffers, with undesirable scatter occurring.

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