Hi all,
I'm currently writing a story and am looking for information to provide a greater level of detail to one of the key conflict elements early on.
In essence, I would like to write the scenario that following a successful multinational naval exercise, a British Destroyer is sunk by an American Cruiser.
The way I see this panning out is that following several joint exercises, the US Vessel initiates a surprise, unprovoked attack against the unsuspecting British ship.
Motive is unimportant at this stage, however the key areas that I keep sticking on involve details like, 'How quickly can safety rounds (that may or may not have been used on exercise?) be replaced with live rounds?', 'Can this be done by an individual, with minimal effort?' and 'How many people would need to be involved in initiating a strike of sufficient ferocity to sink a Destroyer?'
The idea being that a number of crew members are 'sleepers' who manage to orchestrate this event in order to create tension between the UK & the US.
On the flip side, the questions from the target vessel would be 'At what time would the ship/crew be most vulnerable/less quick to react?' and 'Would the Phalanx CIWS simply start spinning up as soon as inbound threats are detected or would there be a 'safety' switch to go to full auto mode?'
Finally, what kind of ranges, firepower would be required to ensure total destruction? Would sea-skimmers (Harpoons?) be sufficient or would a multi-pronged assault provide a better bet?
Regardless of answers received, thank you for the time taken to read what must seem like my inane questions!
I'm currently writing a story and am looking for information to provide a greater level of detail to one of the key conflict elements early on.
In essence, I would like to write the scenario that following a successful multinational naval exercise, a British Destroyer is sunk by an American Cruiser.
The way I see this panning out is that following several joint exercises, the US Vessel initiates a surprise, unprovoked attack against the unsuspecting British ship.
Motive is unimportant at this stage, however the key areas that I keep sticking on involve details like, 'How quickly can safety rounds (that may or may not have been used on exercise?) be replaced with live rounds?', 'Can this be done by an individual, with minimal effort?' and 'How many people would need to be involved in initiating a strike of sufficient ferocity to sink a Destroyer?'
The idea being that a number of crew members are 'sleepers' who manage to orchestrate this event in order to create tension between the UK & the US.
On the flip side, the questions from the target vessel would be 'At what time would the ship/crew be most vulnerable/less quick to react?' and 'Would the Phalanx CIWS simply start spinning up as soon as inbound threats are detected or would there be a 'safety' switch to go to full auto mode?'
Finally, what kind of ranges, firepower would be required to ensure total destruction? Would sea-skimmers (Harpoons?) be sufficient or would a multi-pronged assault provide a better bet?
Regardless of answers received, thank you for the time taken to read what must seem like my inane questions!