Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why America needs aircraft carriers..
Breaking Defense ^

Posted on 10/02/2013 3:00:10 PM PDT by ken5050

A long, in-depth, and superb article on the importance of naval carrier aviation, going back to the mistakes made in the Ford and Carter administrations, and why today the Navy needs 15 carriers. A must read. Link below...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: aircraftcarriers; navair; usnavy
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last
Here's the money quote: "We're an 11 carrier Navy in a 15 carrier world."

"Why America Needs Aircraft Carriers"

1 posted on 10/02/2013 3:00:10 PM PDT by ken5050
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ken5050
cause it's the only REAL means of power projection???
2 posted on 10/02/2013 3:05:04 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050
Can carriers even survive a serious enemy?

They are good for projecting power against tinpot dictators, but I'll bet the Chinese would take care of them quickly if we ever got into a shooting match against them.

3 posted on 10/02/2013 3:06:00 PM PDT by ClaytonP
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

Because they are freaking cool.

Does anyone know if there will be an Enterprise D?

I know it was impossible to salvage the current one when she was decommissioned due to the integration of the nuclear engines to the ship structure.

And OUR Carriers don’t have that clinton-ramp...


4 posted on 10/02/2013 3:09:09 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (Fight Tapinophobia in all its forms! Do not submit to arduus privilege.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClaytonP

The Chinese have deployed brilliant mines. They get up and move periodically. They’re designed to stay dormant for decades. Once activated they can deny access to huge areas. The Navy really has little mine defense, but these things are generations beyond even the existing mines that we already can’t effectively counter. If we build more carriers they will build more mines. In a real shooting war our carriers would be as impotent as the Argentine Navy was against one British submarine.

The reason we need carriers is that to become an admiral you must first command a carrier.


5 posted on 10/02/2013 3:10:51 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

I need one! I could open a shopping mall on one!!!


6 posted on 10/02/2013 3:11:22 PM PDT by tallyhoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClaytonP

I can remember being surprised when Argentina used an exocet to destroy a British warship.

I am sure we have all kinds of defenses but it seems it would be easier to manufacture a bunch of anti carrier missiles than to make a carrier.

I remember when they brought back the battleships for a short time. I read a report which said there was not a weapon on earth which could sink them with a single hit of course not counting nuclear weapons. That is probably no longer true with the deep penetrating bombs.


7 posted on 10/02/2013 3:11:45 PM PDT by yarddog (Romans 8: verses 38 and 39. "For I am persuaded".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

The Chinese Navy has the CJ-1 “Long-Arrow” 2-Ton Torpedo which is capable of Mach 2.5 airspeed.


8 posted on 10/02/2013 3:12:27 PM PDT by research99
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

I love aircraft carriers. There’s nothing like being on one.


9 posted on 10/02/2013 3:13:10 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freedumb2003
Because they are freaking cool.

************************

You bet. They are awesome.

10 posted on 10/02/2013 3:14:35 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

No argument here. But good luck getting funding from Obama and the Democrats.


11 posted on 10/02/2013 3:14:55 PM PDT by writer33 (Mark Levin Is The Constitutional Engine Of Conservatism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

The US Military is increasingly being used as a tool of the New World Order and are only interested in US Military power when it can be used to further that agenda.

The interests of the United States, per se, are secondary.


12 posted on 10/02/2013 3:15:11 PM PDT by laplata (Liberals don't get it .... their minds are diseased.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050
Here's the money quote: "We're an 11 carrier Navy in a 15 carrier world."

The problem is, we're not even an 11 carrier Navy.

There are currently 10 "commissioned" carriers in the USN. Enterprise was just deactivated (being a nuke she can't be decommissioned until she's defueled, but is now at Newport News for that prior to scrapping) while her replacement, the Gerald Ford, is still several years away from being in operational service.

Then consider that of the 10 remaining carriers, one is always in a multi-year comprehensive refueling overhaul (RCOH). Right now that's Abraham Lincoln. So the number drops to 9.

But WAIT, there's MORE. The last carrier to complete RCOH, Theodore Roosevelt, isn't anywhere near being fully operational again. IIRC she was recently handed back over to the Navy for sea trials and just had her flight-deck re-certified. But she's not back in the deployment rotation yet.

So that means, functionally, the US really has 8 carriers (not 11) that are part of the normal workup-deploy-maintenance rotation. Note, given that's the normal 3-phase rotation cycle, I'm not decrementing the count by the two carriers - Ike and Stennis - that are currently laid up in drydock for between-deployment maintenance.
13 posted on 10/02/2013 3:21:30 PM PDT by tanknetter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050
We're an 11 carrier Navy in a 15 carrier world.

I hate to say it, but after I read that, the first thing that came to my mind was the famous quote from Frederick the Great.

"He who defends everything defends nothing."

14 posted on 10/02/2013 3:23:13 PM PDT by Leaning Right (Why am I holding this lantern? I am looking for the next Reagan.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

I think we are in the same position as Britain economically and militarily after being exhausted in WWI. At that time, I’m sure that the admiralty believed that they needed more warships too.
The US is a spent force economically and the military will soon follow.


15 posted on 10/02/2013 3:23:55 PM PDT by grumpygresh (Democrats delenda est. New US economy: Fascism on top, Socialism on the bottom.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Gen.Blather

Nobody deploys a carrier unless they are sure that the sub threat is at least under control. Remember a carrier strike can be from over 500 miles away. As for missiles, unless they’re nukes on or two missile may knock a carrier OOC for awhile but not sink it.


16 posted on 10/02/2013 3:25:28 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: central_va

“Nobody deploys a carrier unless they are sure that the sub threat is at least under control.”

My understanding of these mines is that they are like gigantic “intelligent” torpedoes. They have a very long lifespan. They’re probably activated by long wave radio. We don’t know where they are and probably don’t know how to detect them. I read that they have sonic images of all of our present ships. (Don’t know if they can be updated, but how many new ships do we expect?) They probably will be undetectable until they begin their terminal run at the carrier.


17 posted on 10/02/2013 3:34:22 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: rlmorel
CVN ping...
18 posted on 10/02/2013 3:36:49 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: ken5050

Carriers are what allow us to get into wars too quickly to let our better judgment catch up.


19 posted on 10/02/2013 3:39:10 PM PDT by thoughtomator 2.0
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClaytonP

Aircraft carriers = giant floating targets


20 posted on 10/02/2013 3:39:58 PM PDT by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-74 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson