Smaller Ships or Bigger Ships

In this month’s (September 2002) Naval Institute Proceedings, Commander Stephen Kelley makes the argument that smaller ships essentially will have no place in tomorrow’s Navy. Weapons and radar systems are larger and heavier, and therefore the ships that carry them will have to be larger and heavier as well. He’s right about that, of course.

Playing his own Devil’s Advocate, he cites the drawbacks of this strategy. Larger ships make easier targets. Larger ships cost more. He’s right about this too. The problem with this idea, though, is that there are some things that large ships, because of their size, inherently can not do.

Commander Kelley’s single strategy of large ships is in direct opposition to the “Streetfighter” vision of Vice Admiral (Retired) Arthur Cebrowski, formerly of the Naval War College. Vice Admiral Cebrowski’s vision of Streetfighter doesn’t work by itself either, though. The admiral’s idea of dozens, if not hundreds of smaller ships with the firepower of the fleet distributed relatively equally among them creates logistical problems the likes of which destroyed Napoleon’s army in the Russian winter. In this era of international tension and mistrust, counting on forward bases to supply our fleet is folly, even more so for the swarms of small ships that Streetfighter will require.

However, that doesn’t mean that smaller ships shouldn’t have a place in the Navy.

The answer, I believe, lies in the simple questions “What is the mission?” and “What is the best way to accomplish it?”

Ships the size of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates (4100 tons displacement) and smaller have a role in the Navy now, and should continue to play that role in the foreseeable future. Frigates and corvettes (if we had any) are vital to drug interdiction in the Caribbean and blockade duty in the Arabian Gulf. I’ve been on a Spruance-class destroyer and a Perry-class frigate in both locations, performing both missions, and the frigate handled every mission as well or better than the destroyer. The frigate, because it was originally laid down as an anti-submarine platform, has the speed and maneuverability to chase down most traffickers, and track those they can’t catch and pass them on to other units. This brings us to the other strength of small ships: location, location, location. They can get where larger ships can’t. I said at least once before in this column, try to get a Spru-Can up in the Northern Interdiction Area of the Arabian Gulf. It can’t be done, but a frigate, drawing 7 to 8 feet less water, can get there and operate efficiently. from a navigational point of view, a corvette could get even closer to shore safely.

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