Determining the Level of Ship Protection

Abstract

ABSTRACT The types and levels of protection provided in naval ships have always been determined by the judgment of experienced naval officers in a way that is basically external to the main analysis/design loop. A major consequence has been an inability to demonstrate objectively a clear need for a particular level of protection, with the result that important protection features have been eliminated to reduce cost.This paper outlines a methodology for bringing ship protection inside the main loop and determining its characteristics as an integrated element of a ship design. The level of protection is established as a natural consequence of the ship's mission requirements, and no separately stated requirements for protection are needed.Two concepts are introduced for achieving this. The first is a life cycle measure of ship effectiveness that takes account of the ship's entire service life, including periods when operating in a degraded condition in combat or unavailable for service while being repaired or modernized. The second is the concept of “battle cost.” Battle costs are defined as the hypothetical future costs of weapons expended and ship damage and personnel casualties sustained, plus other related costs, as a ship engages in battle in the course of its service life. These devices, within the systems analysis framework, make it possible to estimate both effectiveness and cost implications of providing various levels of protection in the ship—and thus to derive better cost‐effectiveness measures for comparing ship alternatives and selecting the best.