Page 46 - NAVAL FORCES 03/2017

Expeditionary Warfare

When a navy RIB is fitted with a Henriksen
hook, it is ready for immediate recovery.
Features
(All photos via author)

Peter Donaldson
Launch and Recovery Systems

Expeditionary warfare in an era cha- sea face in these operations. Last year, NATO’s booms or other equipment needed to handle
racterised by formidable anti-access/ Seaway Mobility Specialist Team (SMST) painter lines. It should also be possible to re-
area denial systems by rival powers published a new set of ship design guidelines move an inoperable vehicle away from the area
for L&R. Rather than focusing on manned
and replace it.
is driving western planners toward or unmanned, surface or subsurface vehicles,
greater reliance on unmanned sys- the SMST addressed several key areas of ship Over the Side
tems to increase stand-off for manned design, including motion, deck wetness, the
vessels. This focuses attention on the L&R system’s proximity to water, operator The two fundamental options for L&R are
launch and recovery (L&R) of small visibility, communications with the bridge, over the sides or the stern. Anything launched
boats and submersibles, so more ves- space for appliances and people, and the abil- and recovered over the sides is normally
sel designs now incorporate mission ity to move objects away from the L&R area. handled with appliances such as davits that
simply lower or lift their loads, boom cranes
The US Coast Guard (USCG) developed the
bays, stern ramps and well-docks, in ship motion limits that are commonly used by
addition to cranes and davits. NAVAL NATO, which are 4.0° in roll, 1.25° in pitch,
FORCES takes a deep dive. lateral and vertical accelerations of 0.1g with
single significant amplitudes divided by two
yielding Root Mean Square (RMS) values.
There is no shortage of launch and recovery Today, ship motion is easy to evaluate with nu-
(L&R) expertise in industry. Shipbuilders and merical tools, the team said.
independent specialists serve navies and off- Deck wetness, a rather euphemistic term
shore operators, while unmanned maritime for the hammering with tons of water that the
vehicle manufacturers often develop their own ocean can deliver, should be kept to a maxi-
L&R systems tailored to their vehicle families. mum of 0.1 incidents per hour and measured
Companies with expertise in this area include at a specified distance below deck level, to ac-
AES, ATR Corporation, BMT, Caley, Creative count for unpredictable interactions between
Technology Applications (CTA), Global Davit ship and waves. L&R difficulties increase
GmbH, Hawboldt, H. Henriksen, HSD Asso- with the lifting device’s height off the water,
ciates, James Fisher, Kongsberg, MacArtney, with 15m as the suggested maximum.
Palfinger Marine, Rolls-Royce Brooke Ocean, Good visibility for operators is essential, as
Saab, Seatrepid, TBV, are good communications between the bridge
Tech Safe Systems, and L&R area to ensure, for example, that the
Vestdavit, and VTC Inc. ship maintains a safe speed and heading. The
However, vehicles size and layout of the L&R area should leave Vestdavit’s idea is to develop complete
now come in a growing clearances for all operations and maintenance, management systems that enable ships
to store, handle on board, service and
range of shapes and siz- said SMST, with extra space forward for recharge unmanned maritime systems.
es and there is no one-
size-fits-all L&R solu- Peter Donaldson,
tion, although there are is a regular contributor to NAVAL FORCES with 25 years of experience as a journalist
constraints that ships at and writer covering aerospace and defence technology and operations.
44 NAVAL FORCES III/2017