The Next Dreadnought Revolution

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION

BY DAVID MURRIN 15TH MARCH 2021

WWW.DAVIDMURRIN.CO.UK PART 1: CURRENT DESIGN TRENDS AND LIMITATIONS

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION

In a time when battleships usually took several years to build, the construction and launch in 1906 of HMS Dreadnought in less than 12 months was a demonstration of British military intention and industrial might. But most critically, her all big gun design and steam turbines made every ship built before that point obsolete. The geostrategic consequences were enormous as it gave Germany a window to attempt to challenge for control of the world’s oceans and accelerated the British-German naval arms’ race to astronomical levels. Today we are witnessing a new and fourth great industrial arms’ race, catalysed by China’s hegemonic ambitions as it seeks to outbuild America and its allies to create a blue-water navy that can dominate the world’s oceans. In this similar environment, perhaps it is time to consider the emergence of a new class of Dreadnought destroyers, which I have named Dominators, that can control large areas of ocean both below and above it.

1.1 DEDICATED MISSION DESTROYERS AND FRIGATES

This ship design concept of dedicated mission escorts is favoured by all European navies and the Royal Navy is an excellent specific example of using this concept in its escort fleet. There are two sectors: the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) designs, such as the Type 23 and 26; and the anti-air warfare (AAW) destroyers, such as the Type 45. Notably, the tonnage of all these ships has been steadily increasing. The Type 26 frigate comes in at 6,900 tonnes, the Type 31 frigate at 5,700 tonnes, and the Type 45 destroyer at 8,500 tonnes. Bearing in mind the World War II cruiser HMS Belfast, with her armour, came in at 10,500 tonnes, these new classes of frigates and destroyers have been steadily getting bigger. Meanwhile, due to the high cost of these ships, the Royal Navy is still building frigates that it classifies as general-purpose. These include variants of Type 23 deployed without a towed array sonar and the new Type 31 frigates. The latter in reality are just too lightly armed to be effective in high-intensity combat. The Royal Navy has followed this design option to boost numbers as these designs are relatively cheap and in the forlorn hope that it will boost exports. But the reality is that these ships have no place in a high-intensity combat zone as they are death traps for their crews, much as the old Type 21s were in the Falklands conflict.

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION HISTORY DECODED TO INFORM THE FUTURE PART 1: CURRENT DESIGN TRENDS AND LIMITATIONS BY ANALYSING PAST PATTERNS WE CAN PREDICT FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND TRENDS WWW.DAVIDMURRIN.CO.UK However, with the expectation of general-purpose frigates like the Type 31, which are the jack of all trades and masters of none, Royal Navy frigates are either specifically designed to be ASW or AAW. The Type 26 will be a purpose-built ASW platform that follows on from the once world-class Type 23 Duke-class, which are said to be so quiet that they are effectively holes in the water to enemy sonar systems. In contrast, the Type 45 is a world- class AAW destroyer with a sub-sea signature as noisy as a merchant ship (as the noise reduction technology was excluded to save costs). For these ships to survive in a high-intensity warfighting environment, they will have to operate at a minimum in pairs or be vulnerable to attack in a domain for which they are not optimised. Lose one of the pair and the loss of the other is all but inevitable. This essentially means that the two mutually dependant ships equating to some 15,400 combined tonnes are highly co-dependent. The pair cost £2 billion, compared with the £1.3-billion price tag for a US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which has greater combat power if less specific capability in the ASW and AAW roles. Notably, the two ships need twice the crew of a single ship.

However, even when they operate together, these two Royal Navy ships – the Type 23/26 Type 45 combination – cannot make long-range surface-to-surface strikes, either against warships and land targets, and also have no counter-mine capability, which constrains their overall combat effectiveness. The Royal Navy would argue that they have been constrained by budget costs, and in turn, this has reduced procurement numbers. The perfect example is the Type 45, which was supposed to be a 12-ship class but due to cost-cutting only six were built, resulting in increased unit costs as the R&D costs were spread over so few ships. Their price tag was £1 billion each. However, imagine the potential of a true all-purpose warship that could amalgamate the full Anti Ballistic Missile Warfare (ABMW), Anti Submarine Warfare(ASW), Anti Air Warfare(AAW), Anti Submarine Warfare (SSW) and mine warfare (MW) capabilities of specialist frigates and destroyers into a single ship design. Such a new Dominator- class destroyer could operate, fight and survive independently, whilst controlling much larger areas of oceans than current ships. This could create a new concept in sea control. Notably, this could also reverse the trend that the Royal Navy has long been guilty of, which is under-arming their warships in the hope that in times of war they could increase their armament density. A concept that does not stack up in modern warfare.

One remedial way of compensating for this missile shortfall is the addition to current Royal Navy ships of the BAE Systems’ adaptive deck launcher (ADL), which has four Mk 41 cells positioned on a ship’s deck in much the same way as does any other canister system, such as Harpoon. The ADL can launch all current Royal Navy and US Navy missiles via its Mk 41 cells. This means that Quad packed (four per cell) into two ADL’s each with four Mk 41 cells. The T45 could carry 32 Sea Ceptors, without the need to reduce the complement of Aster missiles. Most importantly the ADL, unlike the current vertical launch system (VLS), can be replenished at sea, potentially increasing sustained firepower in calm conditions! In addition, these bolt-on ADLs could be located on supply and amphibious ships, but then placed under the control of the escort ships, to increase the weapons-carrying load of fleets in a concept call distributed lethality.

The US Arleigh Burke-class in many ways represents a progression to just such a Dominator-class concept. With a true multi-mission capability that extends across all the maritime domains of warfare – anti-ballistic missile (ABM), ASW, AAW, anti-surface warfare (ASW) and mine warfare (MW) capabilities – these highly capable warships, with perhaps the exception of the noise quietening of the Type 23s and 26s, begin to meet the potential a new Dominator-class. However, its limitations are the 90 MKR41 missile silos that house the SM2, SM3s and SM6s for air and ballistic missile defence, combined with land and sea attack Tomahawk missiles (TLAMS) and the RUM-139 VL-ASROC missiles to attack submarine at extended ranges, meaning that these ships are vulnerable to saturation missile attacks from both sea-skimming and hypersonics from space. Additionally, the stealth qualities of these ships fall far short of that of the 15,600-tonne Zumwalt-classes. Following the American lead, the Japanese navy has been building larger designs of destroyers based on the Aegis design, the latest of which is the Maya-class coming in at 10,500 tonnes. These ships have six more Mk41 launch cells than the US equivalents and a more stealthy radar profile. Interestingly the Type 26 City Class, that for the Royal Navy comes in at 6,900 tonnes, is being adapted by the Canadian navy into highly capable multi-mission ships that are essentially destroyers. The Canadian surface combatant comes in at 7,800 tonnes and the Australian navy’s comes into the Hunter-class at 8,800 tonnes. These two larger variants will benefit from the acoustic stealth of the design, making them dangerous sub-hunters indeed, the Canadian even more so with two helicopter-towed arrayed sonars being deployed away from the ship.

But these super Type 26s will also benefit from far more capable sensor packages especially on the Canadian ships, with their SP7 AESA ABM radar, Which when combined with it Mk 41 launch cells, with SM3s embarked will give it a full ABM capability. The same Mk 41 cells will give both ships the same strike capabilities as the US Arleigh Burkes whilst operating a superior three-layer air defence system with SM2s for long-range area defence, Sea Ceptors for short-range area defence and evolved sea sparrow (ESSM) for point or self-defence. Contrary to the royal navy and many other European navies, the Canadians have changed their minds from ordering a mix of three high-end and 12 general-purpose ships to 15 full-spec and identical super frigates which are in reality multi- mission destroyers. This is a key mind shift that should be followed by the Royal Navy and indeed all other navies who face the prospect of modern high-intensity warfare at sea.

Interestingly, despite the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) not having to face the equivalent mass saturation attacks from area denial weapons like the DF-21/26 and 41, it seems to be moving towards larger multi-mission destroyers/cruisers. The current Type 055 destroyer is in effect a 13,000-tonne cruiser armed with 112 VLS tubes. Freed from the threat of saturation attacks, these tubes will be able to carry a higher payload of offensive weapons, some including onboard DF21/26s in the larger VLS cells. In essence, it is a stealthy version of an Arleigh Burke- class designed ship. Notably, the 055s have a block of VLS cells in front of the hangers in the midships and behind the funnels, a position that in future design could allow for enlargement if the hulls are elongated or the funnels removed if alternative propulsion systems were used.

When new naval powers rise, they always seek to find the weakness in the hegemonic powers’ navy and the design of its ships. Today the PLAN has done just that with America’s and its allies’ warships. An Arleigh Burke-class or Ticonderoga cruiser is equipped with the Lockheed Martin AN/SPY-1D(V) S-band radar featuring four passive electronic system arrays as the primary system for threat detection and the Aegis’ combat system, searching and tracking targets at a range of 189+ nautical miles (350+km). The accepted tactical practice is to fire two missiles at a single target, meaning that even if the 96 cells of an Arleigh Burke destroyer or the 122 cells of a Ticonderoga cruiser contained only SM2, SM3 or SM6 air-to-air missiles it could only intercept half that number, i.e. 48 or 61, before it needed to go to port and rearm. However, both ships’ real limitation is that because the SM2, SM3 and SM6 missiles have to be directed onto the target by three SPG-62 continuous-wave illuminators controlled by a Raytheon Mark 99 fire-control system, only a maximum of 27 missiles can be in the air at any one time. This means that if the PLAN fire 40 missiles per destroyer/cruiser, the carrier escort will be overwhelmed. With not more than four escorts per group, an average of 120 DF21s or 26s fired at once will all but guarantee the destruction of a carrier. The SPY 7 radar, which will be installed in new US combat ships, is designed to correct this weakness, similar to the UK’s Principal Anti Air Missile System(PAAMs), which is not limited by a fire control radar and has a 1:1 kill ratio. However, it has only 48 missiles so although the saturation threshold is almost double per escort than US ships, the reality is that DF26s launched in waves of 120 to 200 missiles will be far cheaper than the carrier groups they are sent to destroy. This weakness will continue unless each warship can be designed to carry more missiles in their cells to make them more able to survive.

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION

The cost of modern warships such as the Type 26, Type 45 and Arleigh Burke-class has increased per unit cost, resulting in a reduction in the number of units within the fleets. The only counter to the effect of this reduction and the limitation encapsulated by the idea that one ship can only be in one place at a time is to extend the area of control for each ship to a much larger sphere of influence than currently, whilst simultaneously being able to repel large saturation attacks to ensure that each ship is essentially a task force unto itself, creating a series of overlapping zones of control across an ocean in the concept of distributed lethality. This could be achieved by operating a fleet of four surface and sub-surface drones at ranges of 80–250km from the Dominator cruisers, as well as extending surface-to-surface and surface-to- air missile engagement ranges. Below are the key characteristics of this proposed new class, along with its key capabilities.

2.1 INCREASE HULL SIZE TO 15,000 TONNES BY ENLARGING A TYPE 45 HULL BY 40%

With the cost of a multi-mission destroyer such as the Arleigh Burke-class currently around £1.3 billion, with its full weapons and sensors suits, such ships need to be able to survive mass saturation missile attacks. But will current multi-mission destroyers that do not carry enough vertical launch cells survive the potential mass PLAN missile attacks? To correct this deficit, the current 9,000-tonne destroyer hulls would have to be enlarged by some 40%, a relatively small component of their total cost compared to their sensors and combat systems. These 15,000-tonne ships would be of a high stealth design similar to the Zumwalt-class, or of a 40%-enlarged Type 45 design, that would be between 650 and 700 feet long to maximise hull length and high maximum speeds in transit. The ability of these designs to semi-plane or even to use deployable hydrofoils should be considered. Such speeds would increase operational flexibility to quickly move to new operational areas. Whilst titanium is up to 10 times the cost of steel, it is 45% lighter and as such when the overall cost of these vessels is considered versus their capability this material should be considered in the construction process if it is believed there could be a significant speed gain. It is noted here, however, that there are major challenges in the argon environment needed to weld titanium.

In an era where warships will need more systems power than ever, and new railguns and lasers, there is a serious argument to be made that the Dominator-class should be powered by small and efficient nuclear reactors. These would allow the ship to be driven faster and for longer than any conventional warship without needing to be refuelled, reducing dependence on resupply at sea and the risk of compromising stealthy operations from visible supply ships. The new reactor designs, such as the modular nuclear reactors, show great potential and could also be used on ships of the 7,000 to 9,500-tonne range.

The ability to maintain acoustic stealth would be vital, and as per the design considerations for submarines and the Type 26s, which should be integrated into the Dominators design, noise reduction, although expensive, is achieved by a combination of engineering solutions which include hull shaping, internal pipework design and securing equipment throughout the ship on shock and vibration-resistant mountings. But by far the greatest challenge is to ensure the engines and gear train can propel the ship quietly. The Royal Navy and British industry have built their current lead from a position of experience with the Type 23 frigates that set a new benchmark for warship stealth when they were introduced in the early 1990s.

Additionally, as submarines now whenever possible are using pump-jet engines, as they prevent propeller tip cavitation at high speed, which in the past made ships vulnerable to long-range detection, pumps jets should be used instead of propellers to power all future surface ships and especially the new Dominator-class. This would allow them to travel at speed with a low acoustic signature.

2.3 ENHANCED AUTOMATION

These large ships should be as automated as possible and follow the trend of the Zumwalt-class with a crew of 147 with 28 aircrews and no doubt possibly reduced further. This would combine with the 40% increase in hull volume and allow longer periods between the need for replenishment at sea. Notably, the use of V22s for food resupply is also a possibility.

2.4 DRONES, NEW SENSORS

These ships would be designed to control the ocean within an 800km radius. To do so would require drone/ helicopter sensor platforms such as modified V22 Ospreys equipped with Seawater-type radars to look over the horizon, combined with longer-range missiles to then attack designated targets. Modified V22s could also deploy submarine-hunting technology and torpedoes. Below the greatly enlarged flight deck, a multi-mission dock has been added for four hyper-stealthy 50ft trimaran wave-piercing surface drone ships (whose pontoons fold up in dry dock to conserve space), extending the ability to operate a surface and sub-surface screen of drones operating as an outer layer of defence that could be docked and rotated from the ship via a large aft multi-mission bay. This would add considerable combat power. These drones would operate out to 80–250km from the destroyer and act as missile launch platforms with their mix of Mk41, Sea Viper and Sea Ceptor launch cells that push engagement of incoming missiles out to ranges of 800km. Also, four 50ft submarine drones could also be carried for sub-sea defence and mine-hunting warfare.

2.5 MANY MORE WEAPONS LONG RANGE WEAPONS

Having detected an enemy ship, Western forces then need to engage them at ranges of 650–800km well in excess of the current 100-km harpoon engagement ranges. This could be achieved by adapting US TLAM cruise missiles to hit warships at the ultra-long-range and introducing new hypersonic attack missiles and stealth missiles such as the Lockheed Martin long-range anti-ship missile (LRASM) AGM-158C with its 650km plus range. Or the Anglo-French Perseus or CVS401 Perseus (named after the Greek hero Perseus), which is a stealth hypersonic cruise missile designed for the Royal Navy or and French navy, with a 500-km plus range and variable attack configurations.

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION HISTORY DECODED TO INFORM THE FUTURE PART 2: ENTER THE NEW TYPE 55 DOMINATOR-CLASS CRUISERS BY ANALYSING PAST PATTERNS WE CAN PREDICT FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND TRENDS Meanwhile, the air defence system needs to be both multi-layered and able to launch significantly more missiles to counter saturation wave tactics. In the case of SM3s and SM6s, standard US Navy tactical practice is that two missiles are fired at each target. This means that even if the 96 Mk 41 cells of an Arleigh Burke-class were fully loaded with SM3s and SM6s only 48 incoming missiles could be intercepted. In comparison, the Royal Navy’s Type 45s have 48 A 50 Sylver cells for MBDA Aster 15 and Aster 30 SAMs. The Aster is fired on a one-shot one-kill basis and features a unique combination of aerodynamic control and direct thrust vector control called ‘PIF- PAF’ through which the missile is capable of high-speed terminal manoeuvres at speeds of Mach 4.5 (compared to Mach 3.5 for the SM6). Together these features are claimed to give Aster an unmatched kill (Pk) capability of almost 95% against non-hypersonic missiles. However, the reality is that 50 Sylver cells would not be enough to destroy high-density multi-wave attacks of 200–300 missiles that the PLAN could deploy. Thus, there needs to be five to six times the launch capability allocated to AA missiles. So, 300 A50 Sylver cells, or 600 Mk1 41 cells per ship if they cannot be reloaded at sea. Of the 300 Sylver cells, if 50 were quad packed with four Sea Ceptors, there would be 250 Aster 30s and 200 Sea Ceptors to oblate a saturation attack. In addition, a further 100 Mk 41 cells would be needed to house surface attack and sub-surface attack missiles that would ensure control of the 800- km zone around each ship. However, if those cells could then be reloaded within a minute of launch, the number of vertical launch cells could be halved.

2.6 LONG-RANGE AND MEDIUM-RANGE AIR DEFENCE LAYERS

With an increase in launch cells combined with the Spy-7 radar (an enhanced version of the SPY-2 and that PAAMs systems currently used on Type 45, ships would be able to engage multiple targets at the 300-km outer ring of defence (extended if drone ships acted as launch platforms) using Aster 30s, Aster Block 1NT missiles and SM-6s. The next ring of defence would be provided at the 65–80-km range by SM3s and Sea Ceptors.

In addition, the Dominator could also be equipped with the first BAE Systems railguns which will replace the 4.5-inch deck gun. Whilst railguns have been in development for years and are one of the holy grails in weapon development, their roll-out has been delayed due to the challenges of finding a metal that could conduct the projectiles down the barrel without melting. Once this is solved, the combination of railgun projectiles that then split into 20 MAD-FIRES submunitions, that could allow engagement of 40 rounds per minute out to a range of 300km at 10 times the speed of sound with an accuracy that it could hit an incoming hypersonic glide warhead and thus become a useful additional long-range area-defence capability for the fleet. Simultaneously, railguns could be potent long-range shore bombardment weapons or powerful ship killers out to 350km.

2.7 POINT DEFENCE SYSTEMS

Point defence should be provided by ESSM short-range missiles and/or lasers when they come online and assuming the weather is not too bad. Additionally, lasers are supported by more capable and longer-range versions of the last-ditch 30mm CWIS sea wiz system. The best candidate will be the Bofors 57mm with a range of 17km at a rate of 220 rounds per minute. This 57mm gun can fire BAES ordnance for rapid kill of attack craft (ORKA) projectile, which is a one-shot, one kill round fitted with an imaging semi-active seeker. It can be guided to its target through laser designation or autonomously by downloading an image of the target before firing. Meanwhile, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a Multi-Azimuth Defence Fast Intercept Round Engagement System (MAD-FIRES), which is a rocket-propelled projectile. Fired from the Bofors 57mm gun, it will combine the speed, rapid-fire and availability of the rounds of a gun weapon system with the precision and accuracy of guided missiles. Both ORKA and MAD-FIRES use enhanced ammunition rounds able to alter their flight path in real time to stay on target, together with a capacity to continuously target, track and engage multiple fast-approaching targets simultaneously and re-engage any targets that survive the initial engagement. In the 8 second it takes a Mach-5 hypersonic missile to travel 17km the 57mm could fire 30 rounds on target. With such a high-density point defence system, even if the outer and medium layers of defence had failed the inner last-ditch later had a very high probability of stopping a 50–100-round hypersonic missile salvo.

By effectively combining two hulls of Type 45 and 26 into the tonnage of the single ship, its concentration of firepower would make a Dominator-class cruiser, like the HMS Dreadnought before her, invalidate all and any ships constructed up until that moment. At the same time, it would save the costs of overlapping combat systems and reduce crew numbers and thus running costs but would increase the costs of procurement of missiles by a factor of 10. Something that the Royal Navy will have to do anyway, if it is going to become serious about fighting a high-intensity war at sea, and winning it.

2.9 TYPE 55 DOMINATOR-CLASS CRUISER VIEWED HISTORICALLY FROM 2050

The lead ship in her class, HMS Dominator was like her HMS Dreadnought predecessor, a product of an emergency building programme triggered by the annexation of Taiwan. Laid down late in 2021, she took just three years to design and launch. Entering service in early 2025 along with four of her sister ships, protecting HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Dominator was the first of a 15-ship class of Royal Navy nuclear-powered warships, using the same reactor developed for the new Dreadnought-class SSBNs linked to two pumpjet drives. This gave her the ability to sail at her maximum speed of some 38 plus knots indefinitely and stealthily, allowing increased tactical and strategic flexibility when positioning herself in battle. With nuclear power she was independent of resupply for four months, barring fresh food deliveries from a V22 resupply drop.

The class had used innovative 3D techniques to accelerate the design process and had been based on a significantly modified Type 45 destroyer, which also integrated the sonic stealth capabilities of the Type 26 into an almost fully automated ship. With a crew of only 100 with an air support crew of 55 plus a marine troop attachment of 30 marines, the Dominators could be operated either independently or ideally at a radius of 160km from the carrier as truly multi-role ships. Displacing 16,600 tonnes, her hull had been scaled up by 40% from a Type 45 and was thus lengthened from 200 to 700ft, whilst her beam had been expanded by 28ft to 98ft. The superstructure forward of the hangar space had not been lengthened, but the extra 40% width had increased her internal volume. The majority of the extra length was used to add a second forward railgun position and to double the hanger length by some 60ft whilst the other 120ft had been used to lengthen the flight deck to about 240ft by 98ft in width, a landing area that was comparable to that of the USS San Antonio assault ships and which provided the ability for high-intensity air operations.

Her superstructure, including the bridge complex, had been redesigned without the need for a funnel and had been moulded into one stealthy body, much like the US Zumwalt-class destroyers, with only the two radar towers perturbing. These were 40% higher than on the Type 45, considerably enhancing detection ranges for sea- skimming missiles. Her radar stealth signature was similar to the USS Zumwalt-class, but her thermal signature was considerably superior, due to the zero-thermal signature of her nuclear reactor compared to the smoke emissions from traditional funnels. The hull’s increased size had allowed the forward missile battery to be enlarged from 50 to 100 Sylver launch cells, whilst the area where the funnel had been removed allowed for an additional central missile arsenal that comprised a further 200 A 50 Sylver cells. Totalling Sylver 300 cells, of which 250 carried ABM Aster 30 Block INT ABM and 50 cell carried 200 Sea Ceptors in quad packs. Meanwhile, 100 Mk 41/57 cells were all added amidships and used to house surface-to-surface missiles for land and sea attacks missions as well as the new super-long-range ASROC anti-submarine missiles. All these silos had been modified to be automatically reloaded from below using an amazon type all-weather loading system first pioneered in the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Thus, these ships could be capable of firing some 1,000 missiles in ripples of 500, without resupply. These ships represented a 20 times increase in the firepower over previous super destroyers like the Arleigh Burke-class, but with considerable capital and running-cost reductions.

HMS Dominator could engage multiple hypersonic airborne targets at the 300-km outer ring of defence (extended if drone ships acted as launch platforms) using Aster 30s and the new Aster Block 1NT missiles. The next ring of defence was provided out to 65–80km by Sea Ceptors. Whilst point defence was provided by five Bofors 57mm gun stations per side, each with a range of 17km and a rate of fire of 220 rounds per minute (each gun could fire 30 rounds in the time it took a hypersonic missile flying at Mach-5 over 17km). These guns fired Multi-Azimuth THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION HISTORY DECODED TO INFORM THE FUTURE PART 2: ENTER THE NEW TYPE 55 DOMINATOR-CLASS CRUISERS BY ANALYSING PAST PATTERNS WE CAN PREDICT FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND TRENDS Defence Fast Intercept Round Engagement System (MAD-FIRES) which was a rocket-propelled projectile with the precision and accuracy of guided missiles able to alter their flight path in real time to stay on target. Together with a capacity to continuously target, track and engage multiple fast-approaching targets simultaneously and re-engage any targets that survive the initial engagement. Additionally, there were three short-range 25MW lasers per side that when the weather was clear allowed for rapid multi-target engagement. With such a high-density point defence system, even if the outer and medium layers of defence had failed, the inner last-ditch later had a very high probability of stopping a 50–100-round hypersonic salvo.

To detect her enemies, HMS Dominator deployed a state-of-the-art sensor suit, with an upgraded ABM version of the radar system first deployed on the Type 45 destroyers known as the S1850 SMART-L-EWC ABM Radar, able to see out to more than 1,600km in the ABM mode and out to 800km in the air defence mode and 160km in the counter stealth mode. With the greatly enlarged flight deck, HMS Dominator was able to accept Chinook helicopters to land and take off for resupply, whilst operating four Merlins with tow arrays for enhanced ASW capabilities. And two new modified V22 Ospreys were equipped with long-range radar systems in addition to a full sub-hunting suit, in addition to a multi-role weapons load of torpedoes and AAW and surface to surface missiles. Six shorter-range smaller helicopter drones were also part of the air package.

Below the flight deck, a 120-ft multi-mission dock with a rear drop ramp had been added allowing for four hyper- stealthy 50-ft superfast trimaran wave-piercing surface drone ships carrying 24 Sylver cells and a towed array sonar. These drone ships would operate out to 250km from the Dominator and provide missile launch platforms that pushed engagement ranges out a further 25km. Last, the Dominators had been built to Type 26 ASW low acoustic stealth standards which enabled them to hunt submarines while remaining almost invisible to their sensors and simultaneously allowing the detection of incoming torpedo attacks which could then be intercepted by anti- torpedoes launched automatically from underwater torpedo tubes. Dominator also incorporated the intrinsic sub- hunting capability of Type 26 with its own towed array sonar which was greatly enhanced by the sub-sea combat systems that interacted with all the information for the sensors of its other platforms.

In addition, HMS Dominator had been equipped with the first BAE Systems railguns, two of which replaced the Type 45s 4.5-inch deck gun. Railguns had been in development for years and had been the holy grail of weapon development, but their roll-out had been delayed due to the challenges of finding a metal that could conduct the projectiles down the barrel without melting. Only when new quantum computers applied to material design were harnessed could the problem be solved. The result was a weapon that could fire 40 rounds per minute out to a range of 35km at 10 times the speed of sound that in the anti-air modes would then split into 20 MAD-FIRES 57-mm sub-munitions. This allowed engagement of incoming hypersonic glide warheads that supplemented the outer engagement zone, and enhanced area-defence capability for the fleet. This weapon could also be used for shore bombardments or for devastating anti-ship engagements out to 350km.

As such, the Type 55 Dominators the most powerful and deadly multi-role surface combatants ever to put to sea. It was a ship that could operate alone and yet control large areas of the air and subsea domain of out to 800km. Never before has one ship been able to operate independently with such relative combat capabilities. Three such ships could protect a carrier battle group and when interlocked into a formation of 12 other ships in two rings around a central ship the Dominators could control the whole of the northern Atlantic in a radius of 2,000km from a central point in a clear demonstration of distributed lethality that would dominate oceanic combat zones. As such the Dominator-class cruiser was as revolutionary as the Dreadnought had been in its time in 1906. But most importantly it was a clear message the new Global Britain was prepared to defend itself and its allies and protect the nation’s vital maritime supply lines, much as cruisers had once done for the British Empire.

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION

All three of the US, Japan and China navies are already committed to the evolution of the multi-mission destroyer, so are well on the road to creating a Dominator-class warship by iteration. Whilst the PLAN’s Type 055 class is the closest warship afloat to the Dominator, the need to defend against long-range saturation missile attacks that currently only the PLAN could launch means that in all probability it will be the US Navy or Japanese navy that evolves such a class of warships.

3.1 BEEFING UP THE ROYAL NAVY’S LIMITED COMBAT CAPABILITY

The admirals of the Royal Navy, unlike the US and Japanese navies, have been conditioned by almost 30 years of cost-cutting and political failure to see the rationale behind effective national defence. As a result, they have adopted a stealthy acquisition strategy that has been effective in building a basic Royal Navy capability. The bottom of the UK defence awareness cycle came with Boris Johnson’s November 2020 reversal of the UK government peace dividend policy, with an increased awareness of the threats presented by Russia and China to Britain’s national security. It was a very similar, very gradual increase in awareness that came to the astute in 1934 and 1935 with the rise of Nazi power. Only in March 1936, after Hitler’s reoccupation of the Rhineland, did Britain’s government wake up and begin a rearmaments programme. Similarly, as described in my short story, Red Lightning, the annexation of Taiwan by China would have a similar galvanising effect on Britain and other Western powers, the first manifestation of which would be an emergency shipbuilding programme as the UK looked to the Royal Navy to keep the PLAN well away from UK shores by seeking to fight a containing action in the waters around China.

In the event of such an emergency programme, what would the Royal Navy do? The first stage of beefing up the Royal Navy combat capability would be to increase the close-in gun and missile armaments aboard each warship and supply ship, with bolt-on missile launch cells. This would increase specific and distributed lethality across the fleet. Simultaneously, the current building of Type 26s, Type 31s and Astute-class submarines would inevitably be accelerated. This would be done in parallel with the extension of the life of ships such as the Type 23 frigate and the Trafalgar-class submarines, which are due to be retired as new Type 26s, Type 31s and Astutes come into service in the next decade. Critically, orders would have to be placed for many more missiles as currently the Royal Navy’s supply of missiles would not last through 48 hours of high-intensity combat.

THE NEXT DREADNOUGHT REVOLUTION HISTORY DECODED TO INFORM THE FUTURE PART 3: WILL THEY EVER BE BUILT? BY ANALYSING PAST PATTERNS WE CAN PREDICT FORTHCOMING EVENTS AND TRENDS WWW.DAVIDMURRIN.CO.UK Lastly, there would be an acceleration of the UK’s warship-building programme applied to new designs that could help tip the balance of power in the UK’s favour. Without a doubt, the small ships’ building capacity would be taken up with the building of small sub-33m surface and subsurface drone ships. However, the limited large shipbuilding capability would need to be employed in such a way as to maximise shipbuilding capability versus the strategic impact on the oceans by building the most capable warships. This is where the Dominator-class would come into the picture, using large-scale building capacity, such as that used to build the two UK carriers in Scotland.

3.2 WHAT WOULD BE THE CONSTRICTIONS FOR A UK EMERGENCY WARSHIP-BUILDING PROGRAMME?

Britain has seen two such emergency shipbuilding programmes. The first started in 1906 with the launch of HMS Dreadnought, which continued for the next 12 years until the end of World War I. The second started in mid-1936 as World War II approached and endured until 1945. Today our shipbuilding capabilities are the lowest for centuries and the complexities of building and fully integrating the systems aboard a modern warship are immense, as are the many complex supply chains that would need to be expanded to build a fleet of Dominator-class cruisers. The use of new 3D design techniques to reduce design times and refine operating flaws would be critical to shorten build times to effective deployments. The challenges are undoubtedly immense. However, as was demonstrated in some aspects of the UK pandemic response concerning respirators and vaccines, the motivation of immanent national threat, when creativity is allowed to lead the process, can achieve remarkable results. The Dominator- class cruisers would be the child of necessity to defend both Britain’s island home from missile attack and project power globally to contain China’s aggressive ambitions. Unless of course we choose to sleep and go quietly into the night.

RED LIGHTNING

Since the end of the Cold War the majority of the populations of the West have lived with the assumption that World War III (WWIII) would and could never take place. However, what if an aggressive and expansive hegemonic challenger believed that the combination of the West’s collapse in collective moral fiber and resolve, coupled with the use of powerful and decisive new weapons deployed en masse, could make WWIII winnable? This is the story of how the past ten years and next five years comprise the road to war in 2025 and the moment that China mounts surprise attacks on the free world. Red Lightning then precisely details how the PLAN wins WW3 in only a few days and ends the rule of democracy globally.

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