Application of Lanchester Analysis to a Mining Campaign

Abstract

Lanchester-type equations are derived for a mine warfare campaign in which one opponent seeks to blockade the ports of another. The effects of mutual attrition of minelaying units, counter-minelaying forces, minesweepers, and target traffic (merchant shipping or submarines) are treated and conditions for victory or stalemate are derived. Only steady-state solutions of the equations are examined. These appear adequate to answer a broad range of questions about the campaign, including the effect of mine design and tactics on total investment levels needed to win. The particular advantage of this type of model is that it provides an easy, though crude, means of estimating the effect of even the most minor design and situational variables on the over-all course of the campaign. For this reason it is hoped that it can prove useful to the mine designer or tactician.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 15, 1969
Accession Number
AD0866692

Entities

People

  • Thomas E. Phipps Jr.

Organizations

  • Naval Ordnance Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Attrition
  • Equations
  • Fighter Aircraft
  • Figure Of Merit
  • Investments
  • Losses
  • Mathematical Models
  • Minefields
  • Minelaying
  • Minesweepers
  • Models
  • Munitions
  • Ordnance Laboratories
  • Ships
  • Steady State
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Calculus or Mathematical Analysis
  • Military History / Militaries and War Studies
  • Systems Analysis and Design