DAZZLE PLUS – ON THE VIRTUES OF AN INTEGRATED DEFENSE

This is how I would do it…

MUCH BETTER AS PART OF AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM

While I am not against this idea by any means with modern anti-ship missile guidance systems this technique would be far more effective if combined with anti tracking (sonar and radar) countermeasures which made it seem to sonar and radar as if the ship were either farther ahead of or farther behind it’s actual position than it truly was.

That is to say that few hostiles, if anyone (aside perhaps from Somali pirates), sights or fixes a ship’s position (or a tank’s position for that matter) relying solely upon visual evidence.

Therefore to make the system far more effective as a defense you would need to tie the moving visual pattern to anti or counter sonar and radar pulses or to an omni-directional pulse which either scattered or confused incoming tracking systems so as to make the ship appear displaced from it’s actual physical position. Because most tracking systems are now sound and echo-reflection based rather than visual in nature. However if you could developed integrated confused/confusing visual systems, counter-sonar and radar systems, and stealth design techniques then I could see this being part of a very effective integrated ship (and other machine) defense protocol.

But alone I don’t see the actual advantage, other than as a psychological one. I think though that such an integrated system would, of course, be far, far more effective (especially a moving location/position displacement system) for our submarine fleet unless you had a flotilla of small ships that could overlap their integrated systems and in some way combine their power and effectiveness.

Of course the ultimate defense would be to combine a visual and radar/sonar Displacement System with Adaptive Camouflage and a Stealthy Design or Build coupled with an effective and efficient attack suppression system such as an Aegis Platform. That would make a ship appear to be displaced from it’s real position while being extremely hard to see and track and capable of intercepting attacks prior to a successful enemy strike.

I can also see such a system working well with a squadron of aircraft, or a group of tanks or armored fighting vehicles. If they could combine or overlap their displacement fields then they could not only confuse tracking systems but give their defensive response systems (such as the Aegis with ships) more time to effectively counter missile and other attacks.

Of course it would not be long before effective computer algorithms and compensational computer models were designed to help overcome such displacement systems.

But if done in an efficient and powerful enough way then integrated positional displacement systems would still be some defense and maybe just enough of an advantage to warrant the expense and employment.

World War I Camouflage Trick Might Be Reworked For the 21st Century

Ships were painted with zebra stripes in hopes of evading and deceiving the enemy during World War I. It was not entirely clear how effective the “dazzle”

WARHISTORYONLINE.COM

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT…

Plate from Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers by J. Fenimore Cooper, 1846.

John Paul Jones By James Fenimore Cooper

 

Few names connected with the American marine have so much claim to celebrity as that of the subject of this sketch. His services were of a character so bold and romantic, the means he employed were seemingly so inadequate to the ends he had in view, and his success, on one occasion in particular, was so very brilliant as to have given rise, on the part of his political and personal enemies, to much unmerited and bitter calumny, while his admirers and friends have been induced to lean a little too strongly to the side of eulogy and undiscriminating praise. As the matter of the life and character of this distinguished officer has been frequently the subject of comment in biographies, of more or less merit, within the last few years, and a great mass of evidence has been produced to remove the veil which was so long drawn before his early years, this is perhaps the time when an attempt may best be made to arrive at a just appreciation of the deeds of the officer, and the qualities of the man. In assuming this task, we shall avail ourselves of such of the best authenticated facts that offer, reasoning for ourselves on their results and principles.

There are no longer any doubts thrown over the birth and early life of Paul Jones. His grandfather was a regular gardener, in the neighborhood of Leith, of the name of Paul. His father, John Paul, was apprenticed to the same trade, and at the expiration of his indentures he entered into the service of Mr. Craik, of Arbigland,¹ in which situation he passed the remainder of his days. We have the assertion of Jones himself, that there never existed any connection between the Earl of Selkirk and his father, as has been long and generally asserted; and we may add, the present head of that noble family has assured the writer of this article that the Pauls were never in the service of his grandfather…

 

THE BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN PAUL JONES by James Fenimore Cooper

THE WARSHIP NAMED WORSHIP

Earlier today a friend and I were having a discussion on Facebook about an archeological site in Mexico. He brought up the Aztec Schools of War and Worship and then made a little linguistic play between the terms Warship and Worship. I simply could not let those lines go by, I had to find a way to make use of them. So I went for a walk with my Great Dane in the woods and ruminated on the terms Warship and Worship. The more I thought on it the more I saw the obvious connections. Upon returning home I found this poem had germinated in my sub-conscious.

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The Warship named Worship that sails through the world
Her keel made of scriptures, her mast made of Words
Her bow sleek and slimming, by salt bitten deep
Her rudder all workman, her sides high and steep
She churches the oceans, she runs in the storm
She anchors at havens, her sails are adorned
With wonders and marvels that God wove in there
She glides through the waters, she cuts through the air
Preachers and Priest-men and Monks has she hauled
Cargos of Sinners and Martyrs et al,
Yet blood paints her deck rails, sweat stains her bow
Her heretics aft, she drifts when allowed
This Warship named Worship that sails through the world
She lists to her port side, her flags are all furled

This Warship named Worship a frigate she seems
When honor is High-Held and Virtues esteemed
The crows-nest is scouting and looking for God
The glasses are scanning for heavens to trod
The stars chart the night-seas, the Son shoots the day
The compass is true-north the sextant will say
When she’s finely running, goodly and sharp
Her lines are all pretty, there’s nary a mark
But scow does she labor when she’s gone astray
Her canvass all tearing, her life-boats away
Her knots are all twisted, her ties are all frail
Her guns are all rusted, she lumbers and smells
Her mid-seams are swelling, her starboard is vexed
She drinks in the bilge-scum, and drowns in the hex

This Warship named Worship was made for the War
Gainst evil and ill things, to even the score
When Wrong and Malignant and Vice take to sail
To patrol all the coastlines and blockade up Hell
Her Mission is active, her orders are sealed
She runs still at eight bells, her dog-watch at wheel
Supplying the stranded, the marooned, and the wrecked
A watch for horizons, all hands are on deck
She’s tight in her timbers, she’s tried in the storm
Repentance at ready, she’s full of reform
This Warship named Worship, when she’s sailing true
The oceans are endless, the skies are all blue
If only this ship-shape could last for all time
She’d never lose sailors, none would resign

Yet this Warship named Worship is old in the lists
She’s scheduled for dry-dock, no new men enlist
I’ve watched her from landfall to see how she fares
Are her sailors all sea-blind, or just unaware?
You can’t take to sea boys if your ship isn’t fit
You can’t take the beating, you can’t take the hit
The oceans are filled with the pirates of war
How can you meet them, so torn and so worn?
You need now a refit, to trim all your marks
God as your Captain, to Him you should hark
The shipwrights should labor, the workmen should work
Your Saints and your draftsmen should straighten your quirks
Your Women and Children should all be aboard
Everyone serving, Good Crew of the Lord
For if you want Worship to sail round the Earth
She’ll have to be remade, and given new birth (berth).