The Navy Vol_64_Part2 2002 - Navy League of Australia

western entrance- with their Egyptian warships whilstassembling most of their fleet in the wider channel to the east.The Greek fleet lay at anchor in a bay of the island inside thiseastern channel. "The Greeks were in a state of acute alarm,especially those from the Peloponnese: for there they were,waiting at Salamis to fight for Athenian territory, and certain,in the event of defeat, to be caught and blockcd up in anisland, while their own country was left w ithout defence, andthe Persian Army that very night was on the march for thePeloponnese."Aeschylus, an eyewitness to the battle later wrote that thePersians were drawn up in three lines outside the entrance tothe channel. On the mainland nearby, a throne was erectedfrom where the Persian King Xerxes could watch the battle.On 20 September 480 B.C. at the break of day. the Persianfleet began its advance through the eastern channel. The linesformed up into columns with the Phoenicians leading. "TheAthenian squadron found itself facing the Phoenicians on thePersian left wing." As the Phoenicians came through thechannel, which was about 4 miles (6.4kms) wide, they facedthe Greek fleet which was in an 'L' formation. The Greekships suddenly began to back water, leading the Persian fleetfurther into the narrow ing channel. "The Greeks checked theirway and began to back astern: and they were on the point ofrunning aground w hen Ameinias of Pallene. in command of anAthenian ship, drove ahead and rammed an enemy vessel.Seeing the two ships foal of one another and loeked together,the rest of the Greek fleet hurried to Ameinias' assistance, andthe general action began. Such is the Athenian account of howthe battle started."Other ships lay in wait in the bay and now ambushed thePersians on their left flank, driving them towards the shore ofthe mainland. In the ensuring confusion, the Persian shipsbegan to crowd the narrow channel which was now only about2 miles wide. Herodotus wrote. "The Greek fleet workedtogether as a whole, while the Persians had lost formation andwere no longer fighting on any plan. None the less they (thePersians) fought well that day - far better than in the actionsA stone carving of the Persian ruler Xerxes on his throne overlooking thestraits of Salamis during the battle with the Greeks for what would bedescribed today as a battle for sea control.A modern a-plica of a Greek Trireme under oar and sail power. ATrireme would not normally exceed four knots, but for limitedperiods as in battle, the ship could exceed 10 knots.off Euboea. Every man of them did his best for fear of Xerxes,feeling that the king's eye was on him"Main Phase of the BattleThe Persian ships in the narrow channel had difficulty inturning to meet the enemy. Their speed"would have been slowand in many instances they would have been broadside to theramming Greek ships.Herodotus recorded. "The greatest destruction took placewhen the (Persian) ships which had been first engaged turnedtail, for those astern fell foul of them in their attempt to pressforward. The enemy was in hopeless confusion: such ships asoffered resistance or tried to escape were cut to pieces.... Suchof the Persian ships as escaped destruction made their wayback to Phalerum and brought up there under the protection ofthe army."By sunset the battle was over. "Amongst those killed wasthe son of Xerxes' brother, and many other well-known menfrom Persia. There were also Greek casualties, but not many:for most of the Greeks could swim. Most of the enemy, on theother hand, being unable to swim, were drowned." ThoughHerodotus names many of the Persian commanders killed inthe battle there is no mention of ship losses. "After the battlethe Greeks towed over to Salamis all the disabled vesselswhich were adrift, and then prepared for a renewal of the fight,fully expecting that Xerxes would use his remaining ships tomake another attack..." But the Persians were defeated andXerxes, realising his sea borne logistics lines were no longersafe, reluctantly ordered his fleet, and thus the army, towithdraw. The losses suffered by the Persian fleet werethought to be a third or more of its total strength (450 ships).Although not a decisive defeat it was enough though to forcethe Persians on the defensive. A year after the Battle ofSalamis. they were decisively defeated in a land battle atPlataea which brought the Persian invasion to an end.ConclusionWhat would have happened if tlic Battle of Salamis hadbeen lost? The Athenians had already made plans in the eventof such a loss. Transports and warships were ready to evacuatethe Athenian population from the island under cover ofdarkness. They were to be resettled in the Greek colonies ineither Sicily or Southern Italy. It was possible that other Greekcities faced with defeat by the Persians would have followed,for it is doubtful that the wall across the Isthmus betweennorthern and southern Greece would have stopped theinvaders. Athens and her allies would have dominated Italy,and perhaps there w ould have been no Rome - western historywould therefore have taken a different course. J,6 VOL. 64 NO. I THE NAVYRegional ASMs andLittoral Problem*By Dr Roger ThornhillThe first lest firing of the new Boeing Harpoon Block II with GPS to help it avoid inadvertently hitting land masses and civilianships. It also has a secondary land attack capability. (Boeing)Anti-Ship Missiles (ASM's) have enjoyed sensationalist media coverage over the last 30 years despite sporadic use andmixed results. However, this has not stopped some from attributing more to the ASM than reality allows. As Naviesand militaries around the world shift operations to the littoral. Dr Roger Thornhill examines the current regional ASMarsenal and the littoral problem that many are faced with.The 2(XX) Australian 'Green Paper' on defence, a publicdiscussiondocument on how Australia should conduct itsdefence, cited the proliferation of ASMs in the region tocoerce readers into a re-think on the viability of surface shipsin Australia's military strategy. While the paper was correct inarticulating that there are a large number of different types andusers of ASMs in the region, over 20 different types andversions used by approximately 12 countries, it failed tohighlight their level of sophistication and thus their influenceon a modern Navy's operations, such as those of RAN/RNZN.The level of ASM technology found in the region rangesfrom the 1950s to the 1990s. Older missiles are the mostprolific and due to their age. pose the least threat. Further,many fail to appreciate the huge reconnaissance and targetingrequirements of ASMs. The lack of this critical elementrelegates the ASM. regardless of sophistication, to a shipboarddefensive weapon restricted to horizon-to-horizonengagements only. It should also be noted that the ASM is not100ft effective nor immune to counter measures.To complicate matters, the financial burden of acquiringtraining rounds and missile war stocks by many regionalcountries have led some to argue, with a degree of merit, thatfuture use of their ASMs may consist of harassing attacksonly. This prediction is consistent with Argentine use ofExocet in the Falklands. One or two missiles fired at theperiphery of a battle group with no real identification ortargeting conducted. The Argentines had little training on theAM 39 Exocet and only five missiles. Had their training withTHE NAVYVOL. 64 NO. Ithe missile been more complete and their war stocks larger, adifferent outcome from the conflict may have eventuated.The following is a list of ASMs found in Australia's regionwith an explanation of each missile's characteristics. It ispresented in isolation from the user's reconnaissance andtargeting abilities and the counters that ships could employ todefeat them.SS-N-2 'Styx' a, b, c, d (4K30)Entering service in 1958 with the Soviet Navy the Styx' isstill used today by three regional Navies and can lay claim tothe title of 'grandfather' of modern. non-Western. ASMs. Itsmost successful use came in 1967 when three missiles hit theIsraeli destroyer EILAT sinking it off Port Said.A Russian SS-N-2 Styx ASM being loaded into the missilelaunch tube of a fast attack craft.33