Saturday, July 23, 2016

Boom! ~mic drop~


16 comments:

Jesse in DC said...

Yeah, we used to have puny straight deck carriers like that.... In WW2. When the aircraft had propellers...

Is that all you can afford to build Russia?

Jesse in DC said...

Er.... Make that England...

Andrew said...

Their new class of carrier is a bit larger, but still an escort carrier size compared to our CVNs.

The Russians have sold off most of their crap carriers to India and China, and the one they still have is a major harbor queen, only patrolling with an escort of tug vessels.

In the world of aircraft carriers, there is the USA, then a big gulf, then the Brits, French and Italians, then Japan, then pretty much everyone else. There are so many inter-related systems and procedures that make real carrier operations, even on a straight deck helicopter carrier, almost impossible to fathom (much like my sentence structure.)

And, of course, the US contractors have managed to totally fark up the USS Gerald R. Ford, making our newest carrier almost unable to do anything (see that interrelated thingy again. Can't launch, can't land.)

Anonymous said...

Compensating for anything ? Yeah, having to carry your responsibility and protect your Limey asses during times of war.

Sedition said...

Nope, just reminding you snaggle-tooth redcoat fucks who the big dog is.

pigpen51 said...

Not sure, but I think the U.S. has about 20 carriers, China one and Russia one. It is a different battlefield on the high seas than it was during WWII, but at least we seem to be doing it right. And yes, I so far have been shall we say, perplexed by the Gerald R. Ford. But it is an engineering marvel. It will make a great museum.

Timbotoo said...

Carriers are so WWII! They will be taken down in the next big one by swarms of relatively cheap drones.

Anonymous said...

americans luv building big targets

Wildflower

Volfram said...

"It's OK, I'm a garbage man. I'm used to carrying trash." -heard in chat on League of Legends.

rickn8or said...

And, of course, the US contractors have managed to totally fark up the USS Gerald R. Ford, making our newest carrier almost unable to do anything (see that interrelated thingy again. Can't launch, can't land.)

But other than that, it's a helluva boat.

And Pigpen52, no we only have ten in commission, which isn't nearly enough to meet the commitments we have when you consider the Nimitz and the Ike are due for some serious maintenance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aircraft_carriers_of_the_United_States_Navy

Roy said...

Yep, very WWII. But then again, so are submarines and destroyers. (... and strategic bombers and even cruise missiles.) WWII was the last time the world actually saw any *major* naval warfare. The Falkland Islands war came close. The Brits learned a lesson back then that lack of a sea-going air superiority capability was a liability when going up against a modern land-based air force. That is why they abandoned the "Harrier jets only" naval air doctrine and went back to fully capable carriers. (You guys do realize that it was the Brits who invented the aircraft carrier, don't you.(...also the steam catapult.))

Everyone prepares to fight the last war. There are drawbacks to that, but no one knows exactly how the "next" war will be fought. Technology changes daily. The only thing you can do is learn the lessons the last war taught you and try and predict what the next war will bring and prepare accordingly.

In an all out nuclear exchange between major powers, the carrier is vulnerable. But then, what isn't? A carrier battle group is a handy thing to have when you need to project air power into some far corner of the world. And any state that manages to sink or seriously damage one of our CVN's would then be fully at war with us. Deterrence has value.

So, the Brits have smaller carriers. Good for them. That's probably about what they can afford right now and they are our friends and allies so every little bit helps.


Anonymous said...

There are two kinds of ships: submarines, and targets...

rickn8or said...

Anonymous, there are two kinds of periscope images, some good

http://news.navy.gov.au/images/cache/746x497/crop/images%7Ccms-image-000002278.jpg

some bad:

https://navynews.co.uk/assets/upload/files/20130308ax-2.jpg


and some you just don't wanna see:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/2/1160/1119037305_fde9527deb_b.jpg

rickn8or said...

Also, there are people that can count above two, and some that can't...

Granny said...

Aside from blowing the hell out of everything, a Carrier can perform as a fully functional humanitarian hospital in parts of the world that experience disasters such as Earthquakes, Tsunamis and other non-military meltdowns.
Literally moving a city into the area.

Anonymous said...

The US Navy moved to an angle deck for safety reasons and others.
Plus we moved the elevators to the edge so we could house more planes and have larger flight deck and hanger deck for moving those planes and storing them.
Heltau