Fast Attack Craft

Fast Attack Craft are small, agile, offensive, and usually cheap warships armed with missiles, guns, or torpedoes. Their primary purpose is to operate close to land in the “littoral zone” and they lack sufficient seakeeping qualities to operate further afield. Their cheapness is their main strength, often able to be deployed in large quantities and can be safely risked in attacks against much larger warships. Due to their powerful armament, they pose a significant threat to even the largest warships and many smaller navies deploy them to great effect in this role.

However, they have several weaknesses. Poor survivability against aerial attack but also a general vulnerability to any kind of inflicted damage, they are poor sea boats and are generally uncomfortable for their crews. They were initially developed in the late 1800s into what first became known as torpedo boats and then torpedo boat destroyers (later “destroyers”) and then the concept of the FAC was revived in the runup to World War One.

Motor Torpedo Boats and other small craft were developed and operated very successfully, however, their design trends took those boats down a different path. Instead, Fast Attack Craft would be developed alongside missile boats and their size would grow more akin to corvettes than the old MTBs. In the modern era, fast attack craft and missile boats are largely indistinguishable from each other, so effectively fall under the same category. I’ve included both types on these pages for convenience. Many nations around the world operate these capable, small vessels and will likely continue doing so for the foreseeable future.