A fast attack craft (FAC) is a small, fast, agile and offensive warship armed with anti-ship missiles, gun or torpedoes. FACs are usually operated in close proximity to land as they lack both the seakeeping and all-round defensive capabilities to survive in blue water. The size of the vessel also limits the fuel, stores and water supplies. Sizewise they are usually between 50–400 tonnes and can reach speeds of 25–50 knots.
A fast attack craft's main advantage over other warship types is its affordability. Many FAC's can be deployed at a relatively low cost, allowing a navy who is at a disadvantage to effectively defend itself against a larger adversary. A small boat, when equipped with the same weapons as its larger counterpart, can pose a serious threat to even the largest of capital ships.
Read more about Fast Attack Craft: History
Famous quotes containing the words fast, attack and/or craft:
“Youth, however, is a defect that she is fast getting away from and may perhaps be entirely rid of before I shall want her.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“It is well worth the efforts of a lifetime to have attained knowledge which justifies an attack on the root of all evil—viz. the deadly atheism which asserts that because forms of evil have always existed in society, therefore they must always exist; and that the attainment of a high ideal is a hopeless chimera.”
—Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910)
“In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)