A simple way to pack more missile tubes into modern hulls

Duckk wrote:Tubes are just one part of the equation. Where is the cofferdamming for containing damage? What about the magazines and the ammunition handling?

At work, I printed something off to remind me about “simple” solutions.

Annachie wrote:Bah, silly Duckk.

RMN Alpha Strike has no need of cofferdamming, or follow up capability.


Actually, accepting that it would be single launch, fragile, and no doubt pointless, it's an interesting question.

Loren Pechtel wrote:What happens when you put in an extra set of tubes between each existing pair?

Weird Harold wrote:

Loren Pechtel wrote:What happens when you put in an extra set of tubes between each existing pair?

A Roland-class DD has launch tubes close together so it can fit six(?) in each hammerhead. In Order to do that it was necessary to group them in threes around a single set of support systems -- reload rails, fusion drive start-up plasma, etc. The configuration make the tubes of the Roland-class very susceptible to battle damage; what would disable one missile tube on more conventional layouts would take out three tubes at once on a Roland.

I suspect a similar set-up could be applied to conventional broadside tubes but the increased vulnerability to battle damage would argue against it.

Storm From the Shadows, Chapter 41 wrote:There were really two reasons for the Rolands' huge size compared to other destroyers. One was the fact that they were the only destroyers in the galaxy equipped to fire the Mark 16 dual-drive missile. Squeezing in that capability—and giving them twelve tubes—had required a substantial modification to the Mod 9-c launcher mounted in the Saganami-C class. The Rolands' Mod 9-e was essentially the tube from the 9-c, but stripped of the support equipment normally associated with a standalone missile tube. Instead, a sextet of the new launchers were shoehorned together, combining the necessary supports for all six tubes in the cluster. Roland mounted one cluster each in her fore and aft hammerheads, the traditional locations for a ship's chase energy weapons. Given the Manticoran ability to fire off-bore, all twelve tubes could be brought to bear on any target, but it did make the class's weapons more vulnerable. A single hit could take out half of her total missile armament, which was scarcely something Chatterjee liked to think about. But destroyers had never been intended to take the kind of hammering wallers could take, anyway, and he was willing to accept Roland's vulnerabilities in return for her overwhelming advantage in missile combat.

Vince wrote:

Weird Harold wrote:A Roland-class DD has launch tubes close together so it can fit six(?) in each hammerhead.

Six in each hammerhead, with six launch tubes sharing one set of support equipment for each cluster of launch tubes. And a single hit could take out an entire cluster of 6 tubes:

Storm From the Shadows, Chapter 41 wrote:There were really two reasons for the Rolands' huge size compared to other destroyers. One was the fact that they were the only destroyers in the galaxy equipped to fire the Mark 16 dual-drive missile. Squeezing in that capability—and giving them twelve tubes—had required a substantial modification to the Mod 9-c launcher mounted in the Saganami-C class. ...

Italics are the author's, boldface is my emphasis.