Why is the Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) popular on frigates and even the larger cousin Destroyers... Is it because the are cheap or is there another reason.
The HMG are limited in what they can do, they pretty much useless against modern aircraft and missiles and are no good in ship to ship. Is the only use they really have in anti pirate activities? Well let's look closer.
If we look at HMNZS Te Kaha for example, she has six manual operated 0.50 cal or more commonly known as 50 cal Browning M2, heavy machine guns, plus two that are mounted to the mini typhoon autostabliser mount which is controlled from the operations room. That is eight in total. Now if these weapons are questionable in modern warfare why have so many mounted on a small frigate? Is it because they are cheap and it makes it look like the vessel is armed? To the layman this probably true, but there is more to it than that.
The answer is because modern warfare is not the only thing a modern general purpose frigate does. From EEZ patrols to blockaides and anti pirate patrols. They are good for warning shots, in several situations, warning shots are fired by naval guns to convey a strong message and the HMG is good for firing shots across the bow of a vessel and seeing the spray of bullets would tell me to stop. Because the next lot of bullets may be aimed at the bridge which is when it gets serious as lives could be lost.
For example as stated above on anti pirate missions the HMG is good against the skiffs the pirates use, and having at least four 50 cal plus the Phalanx CWIS aimed at you is a major deterrent. Now I mentioned this above about the anti pirate but it isn't the only reason you have this kind of weapon on board a ship. During a standard patrol and even blockages the HMG comes into its own aboard a naval vessel even in modern times. Blockaides are not always stopping other naval vessels but stopping all vessels of all sizes from entering or leaving a certain area, and you don't always want to destroy or blow them out of the water... So the HMG will still have a use and if fired into a bridge area of a commercial vessel of any size could easily kill any one in the area.
The heavy machine gun while on it's own is probably not going to take out a fast moving attack aircraft and or missile (but lucky shots do happen and the idea the more lead in the sky makes it that little bit more difficult for the pilot to miss getting in the crossfire) but they may take out a drones, and even helicopters especially the mini typhoons and in HMNZS Te Kaha's case the drone would have a very a low chance survival when you add in the Phalanx CIWS system and at least 4 HMG to bear on the target.
Ships don't always visit friendly ports, and in the time of actual war, even in a friendly port you can still get sabotage attempts against the ship. Having machine guns manned during a port visit is a deterrent against a flash mob trying to access the ship and cause damage. Now it is not going to stop a diver and a limpet mine, but if you have a flash mob as a distraction then you better be on the lookout and listening for any divers and limpet mines being attached. Having an active sonar doing random pings will also deter the diver as you don't want to be anywhere near that when it is active...
I intend to write another small article like this about guns in general in modern warfare do they still have a use, and the answer is yes.
