School project

[tweety777]

Hello guys,

For school i need to start a company (only fictive, not real), and i thought about a company to stop piracy.
To do that i wanted to use Fletcher-class destroyers.
As the project is majorly about costs and the financing of those costs i would like to know what a Fletcher would cost today.
After a lot of searching i still hadn't found anything that might give the answer to that question, so i would like to ask you guys if you gat any idea about this.
The ships don't need to be ready for combat, or in service for any part of a navy, i've planned to rebuild them extensively to be ready for their jobs.

Greetings Josse

[patmat2350]

a) Fletchers are old, need much maintenance and a large crew.. expensive.

b) ask where the money is. Not much in protection... the ship owners won't even pay to put a few guns and qualified crew members on the vast majority of ships that are never bothered. Money will be in recovery of the few ships that get caught (just like salvage work). Owner and insurance company can either pay pirates' ransom, or 50% to you.

c) therefore, you more likely need a commando operation... very dangerous ops... using a mother ship and small fast craft. Something like a large trawler with one or two fast commando boats?

d) plan for high profits in the first couple of ops, because after that, the pirates will take the crews ashore for safer hostage keeping, and it will take a full Marine regiment with air cover to get at them.

[tweety777]

Hi Patmat,

Fortunatly this is about a fictive company, so it doesn't need to be working very well.

I'm aware of the age of the Fletchers, therefore i have thought about an extensive overhaul to make them up to date, and to reduce the needed crew.
There would be 74 crewmembers needed per ship.
The armament that will be operated are 20 .50-calibre weapons, and maybe the 127mm guns, but the torpedo's aren't neccesary, and don't use crew, and the same applies to the depth charges and air-guns.
The engine's will be replaced by Rolls Royce gasturbines to increase topspeed and efficiency.

The major reason why i want Fletchers is that they are old, so when you see them you would think it's a museum-ship, rather then a warship that will open fire when an enemy approaches.
To make sure pirates will think that it's museum-ship untill they board and get the bullets around their ears i will also place signs telling what your looking at, and also other stuff to make it look like a museum.

I have been mailing with the Dutch navy to ask what the costs would be for the overhaul, but as it is sunday i haven't got any response.
The costs don't need to be really very accurate, the company is never meant to be started at all.

Greetings Josse

[SilentHunter]

Dont use a destroyer, use a cargo ship with hidden arms, like the old raiders of WWII. the pirates pull up, and you drop the fake walls down and hammer em'

[jz78817]

ask where the money is. Not much in protection... the ship owners won't even pay to put a few guns and qualified crew members on the vast majority of ships that are never bothered.

I don't know that this is a matter of money, so much as being armed would cause problems at a lot of ports in various countries.

[fooman2008]

find the plans for and USN mark V or one of the special operations boats from Europe.
Foo

[Prins Willem]

You would want something faster with a smaller crew complement. I'm thinking an Asheville class PG or the NATO equivalent. They have shoot & scoot capability, are nimble, and would be a much better choice in the littorals (like the new LCS). Fletchers also had steam plants requiring engineers with that kind of training. PG's used diesels and gas turbines so crew manning would be simpler and leaner. Even a corvette like the Danish Navy sails would probably be a better fit.

I would guess that your assignment is to build a workable business model. The auto industry is a good example of employee costs run amok and massive overhead in infrastructure. A Fletcher would be fine if you were fighting WWII, but against a fast, mobile, and small force the age and limitations of a ship that large and unsuited to the task would quickly tell. You won't sneak up on anybody with a 2500 ton ship at 30 knots (if it were possible to get that much speed out of a 60 year old plant).

[tweety777]

Hi Prins Willem,

For propulsion i've found some very nice Rolls Royce gasturbines, which are much more powerful then the steam-plants were when they just entered service.
36.000MW vs 30.000HP, that should increase the topspeed!

As most of the armament can't be used, or is useless against pirates their just to make her look like a museum-ship, but don't need any crew to operate.
Total complement would be (after overhaul) 74, so that's not a real problem.

I've heard there is a Fletcher for sale in the States for $500.000, so that's very much cheaper then buying a new vessel, which i wont be allowed to operate, as i'm not a navy.
I'm hoping to be allowed to get licences (also fictive, asked the Dutch navy what it would be in real) to use .50-calibre guns, to shoot the pirates of their ships!!!!

The overhaul will also include some new radars to be able to trust on working, modern equipment, rather then 60 years old equipment.

Hi Silent Hunter,

My decisision has allready been made to take the Fletcher, so other suggestions are useless.

Greetings Josse