Scribd
Upload
53 views

J. J. Holmes, Exploitation of A Ship's Magnetic Field Signatures © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2006

The document summarizes the magnetic field signatures of naval vessels and their exploitation. It discusses how ships' ferromagnetic steel hulls and equipment produce magnetic fields that have been detected by mines and surveillance systems for over 80 years. Future weapons may further exploit these magnetic fields for guidance and detonation. While non-magnetic steel could reduce signatures, onboard electric systems also produce magnetic fields. Modern mines have improved capabilities like more powerful explosives and better target classification.

Uploaded by

Anish Markose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
53 views

J. J. Holmes, Exploitation of A Ship's Magnetic Field Signatures © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2006

The document summarizes the magnetic field signatures of naval vessels and their exploitation. It discusses how ships' ferromagnetic steel hulls and equipment produce magnetic fields that have been detected by mines and surveillance systems for over 80 years. Future weapons may further exploit these magnetic fields for guidance and detonation. While non-magnetic steel could reduce signatures, onboard electric systems also produce magnetic fields. Modern mines have improved capabilities like more powerful explosives and better target classification.

Uploaded by

Anish Markose
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

61

CHAPTER 5

Summary

The magnetic field signatures of naval vessels have been exploited by weapons and detection
systems for over 80 years. The primary source of a ship’s magnetic field is the ferromagnetic steel
used in the construction of its hull, internal structure, and onboard machinery and equipment.
The initial application of iron cladding over the wooden hulls of combatants, and later their
entire construction from steel, originated as a countermeasure to damage from naval artillery.
However, this countermeasure produced magnetic fields that resulted in the development of a
new weapon—the magnetic influence mine. Simultaneously, the magnetic field signatures of
submarines were exploited by underwater and airborne surveillance systems for their detection
and localization.
Future naval weapons may further exploit a ship’s magnetic field for terminal homing and
guidance, and for proximity fusing. Since the magnetic field falls off relatively fast with distance,
its detection by a weapon system’s fuse ensures that the warhead is in the near proximity of the
target when it detonates. This application will be enhanced by the miniaturization of magnetic
field sensors, which is progressing at a rapid pace.
Iron is the primary ferromagnetic alloy in naval steels. Ferromagnetic elements have
unpaired electrons in their 3d orbits, and must also be spaced in their crystalline structure at an
optimum distance for a favorable exchange of energy. Non-magnetic austenitic stainless steel
with high chromium content has an atomic spacing that is not favorable for ferromagnetism,
but still keeps its desirable properties as a protective armor. Therefore, non-magnetic steel is
an attractive replacement for high carbon magnetic alloys, and could significantly reduce the
magnetic signatures of ships.
The earth’s natural magnetic field induces a magnetization in a ship depending on its lat-
itude, longitude, and heading. The induced magnetization can be broken into three orthogonal
components that are parallel to the vessel’s vertical, longitudinal, and athwartship axis. Each of
the three induced magnetizations in turn generates their own characteristic flux distributions
around the hull. Mechanical stress on the ship’s ferromagnetic structure will cause some of the
induced magnetization to be retained as a permanent component, which does not immediately
change with the earth’s inducing field. Similarly, the permanent magnetization can be separated

J. J. Holmes, Exploitation of A Ship’s Magnetic Field Signatures


© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2006
62 EXPLOITATION OF A SHIP’S MAGNETIC FIELD SIGNATURES
into the ship’s three orthogonal directions and also produce their own characteristic signa-
tures. The total number of ferromagnetic signature components comes to 18; three signature
components for each of the three directions of induced and permanent magnetization.
In addition to ferromagnetism, other important shipboard sources of magnetic fields are
eddy currents, corrosion related fields, and stray fields. Eddy currents and their associated mag-
netic fields are generated primarily in the hull of a vessel as it rolls in the earth’s magnetic field.
Corrosion related fields originate from natural corrosion currents that flow between electro-
chemically dissimilar metals along a ship’s hull, or between cathodic protection anodes and the
materials they are designed to protect from rusting. The shipboard sources of stray fields are
electric machinery and power distribution systems that carry electric current in circuits that
form loops. These secondary magnetic field sources have both DC and AC components.
A large portion of the magnetic field signatures of surface ships and submarines can be
eliminated by constructing them from non-magnetic and non-conducting materials. Such a
naval vessel would have little or no ferromagnetic materials to distort the earth’s background
field, no eddy current fields since the ship’s structure would be non-conducting, and little
corrosion currents fields owing to the non-conducting properties of its construction materials.
However, reducing or eliminating the onboard sources of stray fields will require that high
current electric machinery and power distribution systems be designed up-front with a low
magnetic field requirement. Since it is unlikely that all shipboard sources of the magnetic field
will be completely eliminated, active compensation of the remaining components can provide
additional reduction in signature and the vessel’s resultant susceptibility to mines and detection
systems.
Bottom magnetic influence mines were developed to counter mechanical minesweeping
systems that proved to be effective in clearing moored mines during World War I. Magnetic
sensors used in influence mines deployed during World War II were based on either dip needle
principles or magnetic induction in a solenoid. Later, low power fluxgate magnetometers were
employed as target detection devices.
Modern mines have improved capabilities in several areas. Some of the important ad-
vancements are:

1. increased lethality and damage radius provided by more powerful explosives;


2. self propelled versions with larger attack ranges that increase the threat level of a mine-
field while requiring fewer mines to be deployed;
3. better classification of target types and ship classes; and
4. increased resistance to countermeasures such as mine hunting, mine sweeping, and
target ship signature reduction.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy