They did not disclose the range of the test, but the admiral doing the Q&A stated they
were talking in "miles, not yards".

And those exposed wires will propagate that EMP all the way back to... the relay, which is
designed to burn out to absorb the hit, stopping the magnetic wave before it gets inside
the hull's or compartment's integrated Farraday cage. They thought of that. =)

Well storm it doesn't help when a USN ship is paper nowadays -.-

But as i was saying, you forget about the Exposed wires there's bound to be some since
everything can be cased in but even with cased in wires there are flaws within the case.
IE: On a house actually such as mine, we have wire casings on the outside to prevent
burnouts from water (50 year old house) and we still sometimes get wire burnouts on the
outside even though the person we bring in is a Master Electrician.

> EMP can be used to counter, lasers are charged by a electrical pulse disable that
> and you ruin the weapon.

Keep thinking that. No ship currently in use by the US Navy can be disabled by an EMP.
I'd burn out some relays, sure, but those are designed to go first. And each ship has
people like me whose job included replacing every vital relay in the ship in under 5 minutes.

Yeah, a fan curtain of water might stop the laser's effect, sapping enough energy away
from the focal point to prevent it from melting the target.

No, the thing that is impressive about that display is that they held the focal point
steady during heavy ocean swells, not that the weapon is ready for deployment (because it
lacks stopping power).

It'll be great for shooting at missiles some day, but that depends over how much range
they can keep the beam focused. If it takes a second or two to burn and explode the
warhead, then you better be able to hit it when it's more than a second or two out at
flight speed...

ok our laser is only set to 'stun' but we have been using them since
1982......................

http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Strategic-Weapon-Systems/Royal-Navy-laser-weapon-United-Kingdom.html

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What would be countermeasures to the use of lasers?
----

Water.

Just put up a wall of water and the laser becomes useless.

EMP can be used to counter, lasers are charged by a electrical pulse disable that and you
ruin the weapon.

Not really sure if lasers would much of an offensive purpose, they seem like they'd be a
good countermeasure against missiles shells and aircraft when utilized on a large
platform.

What would be countermeasures to the use of lasers?
Mirrors don't work as one might think, they will melt very very quickly.
Perhaps the use of alloys with high conductivity and cryogenic systems could work.
Or a magnetically controlled liquid used as ablative armor, a substance moving rapidly
over a surface could possibly dampen the power of a laser. If the resulting damage
produced vapor, it could possibly further dissipate the laser.

And everyone can put it on fire for not paying 98 Mil $