Inshore Fire Support Ship USS Carronade (IFS-1): the sky is raining rockets

TomLiu126 · April 14, 2025, 8:44pm

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USS Carronade operating offshore, south of Da Nang, Vietnam, ready to provide fire support for US Marines, 11 November 1967. While the 5-inch gun may be the first thing you notice, her real firepower comes from the rocket launchers studding her deck. (source: https://www.navsource.org/archives/10/06/100600108.jpg)

TL;DR: small ship with automatic rocket launchers that provide heavy firepower.

I inquired about the procedures we should use to get sailors out of the magazines if we should be hit by gunfire from the shore or attacked by a torpedo boat and have to abandon ship. After a pause, he responded. “Lieutenant,” he said, “I wouldn’t worry about it. Your ship is a floating ammunition dump. It carries no armor around the magazines. If you are hit with something as small as a Recoilless Rifle round, the ship will simply explode and sink.” It was a sobering day.

— “The Naval Profession and USS Carronade (IFS-1) by Stephen Duncan”, USNA 63 Stories: A Collection of Stories and Memories by Members of the United States Naval Academy Class of 1963

The USS Carronade (IFS-1) was an Inshore Fire Support Ship built by the US Navy. As an improvement on the preceding Landing Ship Medium (Rocket) classes, she was designed to provide fire support and perform shore bombardment in the littoral waters of Vietnam, a role previously performed by destroyers and cruisers ill-suited to such a task. She mounted eight Mark 105 5-inch automatic rocket launchers (improved from the old Mark 102 used on the LSM(R)s) along with a 5-inch/38-caliber gun and two twin 40 mm Bofors. Each rocket launcher could fire 48 spin-stabilised rockets per minute (the heaviest of which contained more TNT than 5-inch shells). Her fire control systems were also highly advanced; she allegedly could strike tank-sized targets, while one probably exaggerated claim said that a deluge of rockets could be “concentrated on a fencepost”. This fearsome firepower comes at a price. The Carronade is unarmored and not very survivable (although the rocket magazines are below the waterline), and her speed is no match for blue-water warships (although her variable pitch propellers make her reasonably manoeuvrable). Additionally, the range of her rockets is somewhat limited: about 10 km for the lightest ones, and less than 2 km for the heaviest.

There are already several rocket ships in War Thunder, the most famous of which probably are the RBU-6000 wielders like the SKR-7. The USS Carronade is unfortunately inferior to most of these vessels in damage output and speed. However, she does have high-velocity rockets that provide vastly superior engagement range, and her larger ammunition load (6,060 rockets) allows for prolonged engagements. Additionally, since her rockets were arguably her main armament and her fire control system was tailored for them, it would be justifiable to define them as her offensive armament. This would afford the rockets with the same fire control system as naval guns (rangefinder + lead indicator), which would drastically increase accuracy compared to other rocket ships forced to fire in the blind.

History

Throughout World War II, the US Navy often provided naval gunfire support for amphibious operations, but they found that their existing cruisers and destroyers weren’t particularly well suited for such tasks, as their draught was too deep to get close to the shoreline. The situation was even worsened by the post-war decommissioning of many gun cruisers and battleships, as the newer guided missile warships lacked sufficient gun firepower for shore bombardment. Consequently, the Navy developed a series of Landing Ship Medium (Rocket) classes. Originally designed as landing crafts, they were fitted with various kinds of automatic rocket launchers that could provide firepower close to that of cruisers, albeit at a fairly short range. However, the hull design was unchanged, which meant that they had poor speed and manoeuvrability. Therefore, the Navy decided to produce a purpose-built vessel for providing naval gunfire support.

The USS Carronade was laid down on 19 November 1952, launched on 26 May 1953, and commissioned on 25 May 1955. Compared to her predecessors, the Carronade mounted the improved Rocket Launcher Assembly Mark 105 Mod 2, which increased the fire rate from 30 rpm to 48 rpm. She also featured an improved hull design and more powerful engines, which increased speed from about 10 knots to 15 knots, and the variable pitch propeller greatly improved manoeuvrability. Her electronic fire control system was also highly advanced. Lieutenant Commander Roy McCoy, the commander of USS Carronade and IFDIV 93 during the Vietnam War, claimed that her FCS was so advanced that a deluge of rockets could be “concentrated on a fencepost.” On the other hand, she was still completely unarmored and carried a large quantity of explosive ammunition (although according to Friedman, the rocket magazines are below the waterline and the second deck above the magazines provide some ballistic protection). Stephen Duncan, a member of the United States Naval Academy Class of 1963 who served on the Carronade in the Vietnam War, asked a technical representative about the procedures of evacuating the magazines in case of enemy fire. The representative replied:

“Lieutenant, I wouldn’t worry about it. Your ship is a floating ammunition dump. It carries no armor around the magazines. If you are hit with something as small as a Recoilless Rifle round, the ship will simply explode and sink.”

The first part of her career was somewhat uneventful. She departed for her home port in San Diego on 21 July, arriving on 24 July, and then was inspected by the Secretary of the Navy C. S. Thomas on 26 July. After that, she mostly participated in training exercises, refining and demonstrating her amphibious firepower. She made a goodwill visit to Vancouver from 20 August to 1 September 1956 and served in the Far East twice in 1958 and from 1959 to 1960. She was decommissioned on 31 May 1960 and placed in reserve.

But that’s not the end of the Carronade’s story! She was reactivated in October 1965 for service in the Vietnam War. She became the flagship of Inshore Fire Support Division 93 (IFDIV 93), leading several older Landing Ship Medium (Rocket) vessels in shore bombardments supporting numerous campaigns, including the Tet Counteroffensive. Most documentation on her describes this period. Interestingly, a Popular Mechanics article on the Carronade called her the “Navy’s luxury counterpart of the Queen Mary”, describing well-designed sleeping quarters and comprehensive cooking and entertainment equipment. However, Ken Willcox, the Supply Corps Officer for Carronade, described several deficiencies in living conditions. Fresh water was strictly rationed as it was needed for the rocket launchers, so they had to take saltwater showers and use disposable plates and cutlery. While air conditioning was available, it was often turned off when power was diverted to the rocket launchers, so crew members had to sleep on the deck during hot nights. The Popular Mechanics article also claimed that the variable pitch propeller made the ship highly manoeuvrable. In contrast, Willcox said that the propulsion system was “quirky”, as speed commands often didn’t accurately translate to actual speed in the propellers. Duncan recounted an incident when the Carronade was entering Pearl Harbour and tried to slow down with reverse engines. When they didn’t respond quickly enough, the captain ordered “all back full”, to which the engines did respond, perhaps too quickly, and crashed the ship rear-first into a cruiser.

Stephan Duncan provides a very detailed account of the Carronade’s service in Vietnam within the book “USNA 63 Stories: A Collection of Stories and Memories by Members of the United States Naval Academy Class of 1963”, which interested readers may find on the Internet Archive.

Due to her long and extensive service in Vietnam, the Carronade was a highly decorated ship, with 10 battle stars and numerous awards, including:

Combat Action Ribbon
Navy Unit Commendation (2 awards)
Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation
National Defense Service Medal
Vietnam Service Medal (10 awards)
Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross Unit Citation (13 awards)
Republic of Vietnam Civil Actions Unit Citation
Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal

She was decommissioned again on 24 July 1970 and struck from the Naval Register on 1 May 1973. The Naval Register states that she was sold for scrap on 1 September 1974, but the National Museum of the U.S. Navy curiously states that this happened in 1994. The latter is probably a typo.

Specifications

Compliment: 162
Displacement: 1,500 t full load
Length: 74.7 m
Beam: 11.9 m
Draft: 3 m
Max speed: 15 kt (28 km/h)
Propulsion: 2x 1550hp diesel, 3,100 hp total; 2x variable pitch propellers
Armament:
(Author’s note: for comparison, the RBU-6000 mortar in the Soviet coastal tree has a rate of fire of 144 rpm and fires rockets with 25.5 kg TNT filler and 275 m/s max speed)

8x Rocket Launcher Assembly Mark 105 Mod 2
- Rate of fire: 48 rpm
- Ammunition load: 6,060 rockets
- Rockets:
  - General-Purpose:
    - Filler: 0.794 kg TNT
    - Range: 10 km
    - Max speed: 466 m/s
  - Common:
    - Filler: 0.762 kg Explosive D
    - Range: 10 km
    - Max speed: 488 m/s
  - H.C. (5000 yards)
    - Filler: 4.35 kg TNT
    - Range: 4.8 km
    - Max speed: 253 m/s
  - H.C. (2500 yards)
    - Filler: 5.62 kg TNT
    - Range: 2.3 km
    - Max speed: 145 m/s
  - H.C. (1250 yards)
    - Filler: 6.17 kg TNT
    - Range: 1.1 km
    - Max speed: 104 m/s
1x 5-inch/38-caliber gun
- Rate of fire: 22 rpm
- Ammunition load: 350 rounds
2x twin 40 mm Bofors
- Rate of fire: 120 rpm
- Ammunition load: 8,000 rounds