Gunboats to Fast Attack. Part-Two.

From the American Civil War 1861-65.

The gunboat in its own right was developed during the American civil war in the deep south, there was a serious need to control the rivers of the region on both the Confederate and Union sides. 

Many conventional ships were re-designed as low flats known as Monitors or Iron Clads and these where armoured with up to 7 cannons per vessel.

In fact any boat with any type of gun could be called a 'Gunboat? The United States despite being very successful with seagoing boats in World War-II (1940-45) had to reinvent in reverse during the Vietnam wars 1965-75. 

This saw the introduction of a selection of machine guns and small cannons of various calibres, because these where found to be more effective than the standard 40mm cannons used on sea going boats.

Gunboats to Fast Attack. Part-One.

The Smaller Navy?

One would like to think so, because big nations that have access to the seas or large lakes have Frigates, Corvettes and Minesweepers? But this is not so, the development of the Gunboat has matured into the FAC (Fast Attack Craft), these newer vessels are now usually armed with the latest missiles, radar and sonar. 

The orgins of the FAC comes from the Cold War years, when the Soviet navy required their patrol boats to work against mini-subs in shallower waters and also to intercept at speed unidentified targets. The patrol boats of World War II were good up to a point, but they were limited compared to what is available today. Many countries initially received these new FAC Soviet boats, such as Angola, Cambodia, China, Vietnam, North-Korea and Cuba and from their on they made their own adaptions to meet their own requirements.

It was the rich Persian Gulf nations in the middle-east that preferred the FAC ability to change platforms and this opened the door to both the United States and Great Britain, with a few other countries to provide the latest versions.