Fleet Operations

= SR2020 Warfare Guide - Fleet Operations = Submitted by Balthagor on Fri, 01/04/2013 - 20:15 Defensive naval tactics like fleet operations are important in RL where groups of warships traditionally have battled fiercely and in large numbers in the open ocean. In SR2020 the only hostile fleets that you are likely to encounter in open waters are enemy amphibious attack groups headed for your coast or that of one of your allies. You are much more likely to encounter one lone enemy Naval Unit (NU) aimlessly wandering the ocean looking for trouble to get into.

Single enemy combat ships are more of a nuisance than a threat. The biggest risk is that they will attack and damage your transport ships as they pass nearby. Many of them will be out of fuel but can still attack with their ammunition supplies and perhaps missiles. In any case send some anti-ship aircraft and sink them with anti-ship missiles.

You are unlikely to encounter enemy submarines anywhere in the SR2020 game except along enemy coasts, near their home ports. Mostly enemy submarines and other surface ships sit tied to the dock at their sea-piers like big dumb ducks, until you attempt to invade their home waters. Then the subs will come out after your naval forces, along with their surface ship compatriots.

Fleet Screening
Traditionally naval combat groups such as task forces steam long distances in a defensive formation with the important "capital" ships and vulnerable tankers protected in the center, surrounded with smaller fast, armed escort ships acting as "screens" to fend off attacking ships and submarines before they can reach the aircraft carrier or other important "flag-ship".

Screens consist of submarines, destroyers and frigates that can detect and sink enemy submarines and other attacking vessels or aircraft. If it is a carrier group then the air overhead will be guarded by a Combat Air Patrol of Fighters or Interceptor naval aircraft.

Pickets
Pickets are outlying patrol ships that serve as "early warning" sentries that detect and perhaps engage approaching enemy submarines and surface ships.

A radar picket is a radar-equipped ship, submarine, aircraft, or vehicle used to increase the radar detection range around a force to protect it from surprise attack. Often several detached radar units encircle a force to provide increased cover in all directions.

Typical NUs that are used for picket duty are patrol boats, corvettes, frigates and destroyers.

Combat Air Patrol
Aircraft carrier groups always set a Combat Air Patrol (CAP) to prevent the fleet from being attacked by hostile aircraft or "boggies". The CAP is usually Interceptor aircraft armed with air-to-air AA weapons. The Interceptor is especially designed to shoot down attacking enemy aircraft.

Although aircraft make excellent spotters, it is usually the powerful long-range radar of the combat ships that first detect and track incoming boggies.

In the game however, AI regions do not use their air units to full capacity. Aircraft carriers that carry naval Fighter and Interceptor ACUs have very little to fear from enemy aircraft when patrolling the high seas. So long as you have properly configured the ROEs for these naval ACUs, they will automatically spring to the defense of their carriers. Most ACCs and combat naval units have excellent AA.

The real enemy air threat comes when your task forces attack enemy shores and packs of enemy aircraft come out to defend.

Frigates
Frigates are used as escort vessels for merchant convoys and for picket ships in naval task groups. Faster frigates can keep ahead of the larger combat ships in a naval task group formation but slower frigates are selected for convoy duty.

The frigate is best used as a missile platform against enemy ships. It may also be used to perform patrol, anti-air and ASW tasks.

Submarines
"Fleet submarines" are attack-class boats that possess the speed to act as pickets for fast carrier and other naval task groups.

The job of the picket sub is to silently and stealthily patrol the waters that surround the surface group for enemy submarines that could present a threat to the capital ships in the group.

ASW
Defensive Anti-Submarine-Warfare (ASW) tactics are employed by the escort vessels of a surface task group in order to protect the larger "Capital" ships from sub-surface attack.

The prime tool in locating and defeating enemy subs is sonar with which all corvettes, frigates, destroyers and selected ASW patrol boats are equipped. ASW planes and helicopters and sonar buoys can also be utilized once a sub-threat has been localized.

Active sonar and magnetic anomaly detectors (MAD) are both common submarine detection technologies. The high noise level generated by large surface groups reduces the effectiveness of passive (listening) sonar.

Once an enemy sub is located it can be attacked with depth charges and homing torpedoes launched from ships or dropped from helos.