The well-armed East Indiaman Madagascar (William Foster / UK National Maritime Museum) (lifted from linked post at THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE
"Given the current size of the fleet and the potential need for high endurance escorts for the Navy’s replenishment force, a force of 21st century cargo ships outfitted with frigate-level armament to escort themselves makes good financial and operational sense." Steve Wills writing in A FIGHTING MERCHANT SHIP FOR THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY In THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE.
Steve Will has written a thought provoking article in the MARITIME EXECUTIVE proposing the arming of some of the Navy's Military Sealift Command ships. This could be more easily done than one might think at first thought. Modern Infantry have shoulder mounted anti armour and anti aircraft weapons that could easily fit in a single shipping container. These could do serious damage to smaller naval attackers or very small flights of attacking naval aircraft. There is some smaller antisubmarine weaponry around; and even such a light load out as we suggest here could make a transport traveling alone quite formidable against many Third World naval attackers. But Will goes beyond that and suggests transports armed to near the level of naval frigates. He provides details right down to the amount of square footage left for cargo space after the installation of such armament .The remaining cargo space is impressive. Transports capable of self defense would free war ships from escort duty and make them available for the fight. There are legal and cultural hurdles to over come and Will addresses these in detail. This is corking good read found at: https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/a-fighting-merchant-ship-for-the-21st-century?platform=hootsuite We recommend the MARITIME EXECUTIVE to our visitors as part of any maritime professional's weekly if not daily professional reading. We always maintain a link to the publication in our NEWS SERVICE
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