REVISITING COORDINATED SUBMARINE TACTICS USING MODERN COMPUTATIONAL METHODS
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Authors
Kitten, Spencer A.
Subjects
submarine
Wolfpack
coordinated
attack
ASUW
Wolfpack
coordinated
attack
ASUW
Advisors
Chen, Louis
Date of Issue
2022-09
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Current doctrine has largely discarded the use of coordinated submarine tactics (known as Wolfpack tactics) due to the complexity of inter-pack and intra-pack coordination. However, recent advancements in technology may greatly increase the feasibility of secure communication between submarines operating in a Wolfpack. Agent-based modeling is used to simulate the behavior of submarines operating in a wartime environment at sea. Three secure communication availabilities are represented: no communication between submarines, communication every 10 hours, and constant secure communication. Three types of wartime environments are considered: submarines hunting transiting merchants, submarines hunting transiting warships in an environment with neutral shipping, and submarines hunting transiting warships operating as a Surface Action Group (SAG) with neutral shipping. Effectiveness is measured as “yield,” which is the average number of target kills as a function of the number of submarines in the Wolfpack. The simulation results stress that the success of Wolfpack tactics increasingly depends upon secure submarine communication and situational awareness with the growth of neutral shipping in the wartime environment.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
NPS Outstanding Theses and Dissertations
Department
Operations Research (OR)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funding
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.