rdx-fx wrote:
I get the impression that, to Dilbert, "international airspace" translates to "Palestinian airspace"
On topic, though, it takes a giant set of balls to pop up in the middle of a US carrier group.
But, thanks for the bloodless reminder that the modern carrier is in the same position as the battleship of 1939;
Great force projection against a technologically inferior opponent - completely vulnerable and ineffective against modern opponents.
One tactical nuke,
a decent opponent with superior airpower from nearby land bases,
a stealthy attack sub,
a few simultaneous cruise missiles,
etc.
But I may be biased in favor of Army/Air Force/SOCOM force projection capabilities.
Why sit in an overgrown bathtub toy, when you can occupy a land base?
Or project force in hours via the USAF, instead of weeks via the Navy?
Really, the only good reason why one of the US carrier groups is a viable warfighting unit, is the simple fact that one carrier group has more naval, effective infantry, and air power than most individual countries have in total.
The navy is obsolete and should be scrapped. What is the historic purpose of any navy? To protect commercial shipping and to keep the shipping lanes open. We have next to zero commercial shipping.
As of 2006, the United States merchant fleet had 465 privately-owned ships of 1,000 or more gross register tons. Two hundred ninety-one (291) were dry cargo ships, 97 were tankers, and 77 were passenger ships. Of those American-flagged ships, 51 were foreign owned. Seven hundred American-owned ships are flagged in other nations.[20][21]
2005 statistics from the United States Maritime Administration focused on the larger segment of the fleet: ships of 10,000 metric tons deadweight (DWT) and over. 245 privately owned American-flagged ships are of this size, and 153 of those meet the Jones Act criteria.[22]
The World War II era was the peak for the U.S. fleet. During the post-war year of 1950, for example, U.S. carriers represented about 43 percent of the world's shipping trade. By 1995, the American market share had plunged to 4 percent, according to a 1997 report by the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO).[23] The report states, "the number of U.S.-flag vessels has dropped precipitously—from more than 2,000 in the 1940s and 850 in 1970 to about 320 in 1996."
A diminishing U.S. fleet contrasted with the burgeoning of international sea trade. For example, worldwide demand for natural gas led to the growth of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker fleet, which reached 370 vessels as of 2007. In 2007 the United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) set uniform LNG training standards at U.S. maritime training facilities.[24] While short-term imports are declining,[25] longer term projections signal an eightfold increase in U.S. imported LNG by 2025, the worldwide LNG fleet does not include a single U.S. flagged vessel. Moreover, only five U.S. deepwater LNG ports were operational in 2007, although permits have been issued for four additional ports, according to MARAD.[26]
The US pool of qualified mariners declined with the fleet.[27] In 2004 MARAD described the gap between sealift crewing needs and available unlicensed personnel as "reaching critical proportions, and the long term outlook for sufficient personnel is also of serious concern."[28]
Future seagoing jobs for U.S. mariners may not be on U.S.-flagged ships. American-trained mariners are being sought after by international companies to operate foreign-flagged vessels, according to Julie A. Nelson, deputy maritime administrator of the U.S. Department of Commerce.[29] For example, Shell International and Shipping Company Ltd. began recruiting U.S. seafarers to crew its growing fleet of tankers in 2008.[30] In 2007 Overseas Shipholding Group and the Maritime Administration agreed to allow American maritime academy cadets to train aboard OSG's international flag vessels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta … ant_MarineThey are indeed just floating bathtubs that would not last more than a day in any real war. Fire a few hundred Exocet missiles at a carrier group and a handful are bound to get through. Or, as you said, one little nuke.
