TF Amethyst

TFA2 18.1 – Seagull-class Patrol Boat

Yellow Tail Naval Station was located at north coast of Buriek Continent, and 280 km east of FRS Goblin. It was a small and humble naval station housing 6 units Seagull-class guided missile patrol boat (PG). Its primary mission was to neutralize a pack of three mid-size dragons that used coastline town along Guise Sea as their hunting ground every two or three decades.

 

A similar mission with the other six units Seagull-class guided missile patrol boat that was stationed at Bluefin Naval Station. The only difference was that Bluefin had to protect south coast of Amstell Continent, while Yellow Tail had to protect north coast of Buriek Continent.

In the operation to stop Kingdom of Makai’s campaign, element in Yellow Tail did not receive any role. The expected mid-size dragon pack was estimated to come by next year. Therefore, they had to prepare their resources for their intended role. Of course, it didn’t mean they would just sit and do nothing when a friendly element asked for help.

As soon as he receive emergency request from FRS Goblin, Colonel Pearson immediately gathered his officers in the briefing room. However, his unit was not a QRF unit. And so, he must found out the level of readiness of every boat before determining which ones that he would deploy.

In a calm tone, Colonel Pearson opened the briefing. “Gentlemen, FRS Goblin is facing an imminent threat and they requested for our assistance.

 

And I just got a green from Harley Quinn to deploy two boats and test its weapon system on a night combat. So, let’s decide which boats would get this opportunity."

Wasting no time Major Ledford checked the logbook in his hand before saying, “Swallow and Raven are on combat patrol,  but the remaining boats can be deploy at any moment, including Crow and Herron that had just return from their patrol this evening.

However, we have some official leaves, so none of those boats are in full crew."

“Give us the best option available,” ordered Colonel Pearson.

“Sparrow and Albatross,” Major Ledford calmly replied. “Sparrow doesn’t have Fire Scout’s crew, while Albatross doesn’t have weapon system crew, but our net-centric will allow the two to complements each other's shortcomings."

“What about Crow and Herron?"

“This evening, their crews went out for drinking and whoring in Lumark City. I already send someone to pick them back, but it will 2-3 hours before they arrive here.”

“It’s Sparrow and Albatross then. We will sail in twenty minutes,” Colonel Pearson firmly decided. “As for Crow and Herron, the two will stand by as a back-up element.”

“””“Aye Sir.”””

 

All officers in the briefing room replied almost in unison. Then, wasting no time they carried out their task.

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Guided-missile patrol boat was not a new concept on earth. It was basically a 2-9 hundreds ton-class patrol boat equipped with fixed-angle missile launcher on the rear deck. However, TF Amethyst found out that among the existing guided-missile patrol boat, none would give a satisfactory results when it was deployed to hunt a pack of mid-size dragon in the coastal waters. Therefore, TF Amethyst decided to build a new class of guided-missile patrol boat from scratch.

   

The concept was a whole different beast compared to existing guided-missile patrol boat. Fortunately, most of shipbuilding players in US of A had the capacity and capability to build it. Moreover, without budget watchdog stood in its development, TF Amethyst could adopt the best available technology and weapon system in the market. This new concept was named Seagull-class patrol boat.

Seagull-class patrol boat had a full combat load of 1400 ton and 74 meters long. Its main combat system consisted of information processor and tactical digital network centric, AESA 3D radar, fire control radar, surface search radar, navigation radar, optronic sight, tactical sonar array, and integrated command and fire control system.

To maximize its detection capabilities, Seagull-class patrol boat also carried MQ-8N Fire Scout, an unmanned reconnaissance helicopter based on Bell 406, which was also used as the base for OH-58N Kiowa Warrior.

As for weapon system, every Seagull-class patrol boat was equipped with:

1 x OTO Melara 76 mm Naval Gun

2 x Ripper Weapon Station

8-cells Mk.41 Vertical Missile Launcher

2 x triple-tube Mk.32 Torpedo Launcher

In summary, Seagull-class patrol boat was a micro-Aegis combat system minus its electronic warfare and ballistic defense capability. Of course, the whole system would require a huge amount of electric power to make sure it worked properly. Something that was actually quite difficult to be fulfilled by a 1400 tons ship. Therefore, Seagull-class patrol boat had combat radius only up to 3000 km and sea endurance in full hunting-mode for around 10 days.

The limitation in its combat radius and sea endurance was not a big hurdle for Seagull-class patrol boat main mission. Problem and challenge would only arise when the boat had to fight conventional sea warfare. It was impossible for Seagull-class patrol boat to give a decisive result when their opponent was numbered a few thousand, no matter how primitive the technology they used.

In short, the reinforcement from Yellow Tail could only lessen up FRS Goblin’s burden up to certain extent. Nothing more nothing less.

Under the night sky, PG-08 Sparrow and PG-10 Albatross sailed at cruiser speed to the west, straight to their first battlefield. Inside the bridge of PG-08 Sparrow, Colonel Pearson calmly ordered, “Launch Fire Scout from Albatross, let’s check what we are against to."

“Aye Sir.” Captain Rockie, the officer who was in charge of intelligence gathering calmly replied and carried out the order.

A few moment later, MQ-8N Fire Scout easily took off and leaving PG-10 Albatross’ flight deck. 

Once it reached an altitude of 3600 meters, all sensors on MQ-8N Fire Scout gave it maximal output in provide intelligence, reconnaissance, surveillance, aerial fire support, and precision targeting support up to radius of 240 km for both PG-08 Sparrow and PG-10 Albatross. 

Without delay Captain Rockie then reported, “Sir, we have four packs of opposition.”

“Captain, give me the detail of the nearest two.”

“First opposition, 2 carrier ships and 80 escorts, 40 km north of Sommer Island, 200 km west of our position.” After pausing for a moment Captain Rockie continued, “Second opposition, 5 carrier ships and 700 combine escorts, 50 km east of Sommer Island and 80 km south of our position. The second pack is closing in to our position at 16 knots.”

“Let’s welcome the second opposition. Set course at 18 km to their right.”

“Aye Sir.”

Without delay, PG-08 Sparrow and PG-10 Albatross changed its course. At the same time, MQ-8N Fire Scout also flew to the south to conduct visual reconnaissance on the targeted opposing ships. Even if Seagull-class patrol boat was slightly wider than most ships in its class, it had a very good agility. Therefore, it could swiftly change its course and easily flanked their target.

In less than one hour, the two patrol boats had already sailed next to Battle Group C's outer flank at a distance of 18 km. And as the whole planet had the same size as the earth, it meant they were right behind the horizon if viewed from Battle Group C's outer flank field of view.

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