I wouldn’t dismiss them out of hand. My first Naval Reserve Unit was one that ran NAVTAG to train US Navy Officers. My first introduction to the system by the expert doing the training was a simulation where I had 2 American destroyers and the expert had 2 Soviet cruisers and 2 Soviet destroyers.
He steamed SE towards my ships, since he made the scenario and was just going to charge over and blow me out of the water. I picked up a bunch of contacts at the outer edge of radar and immediate sent one ship SW and one NE, with the result that his 4 ships went inbetween where my ships HAD BEEN, apparently puzzling him.
When my 2 ships were outside each other’s missile ranges and his were in the intersection, I fired, basically eliminating the 2 cruisers and eliciting a “f**k” from the other side of the room. I was queuing up a 2nd strike when he ended the simulation... “for lunch”. (Next month the CO recommended me for the OSAM program-—officer reserve program)
Its dangerous to dismiss enemies out of hand.
I played around with the computer version of the Harpoon naval warfare simulation game quite a bit some years ago. What knowledge of the platforms and capabilities I *think* I learned makes me vary wary about us sending carriers into restricted waters like the Persian Gulf. Blue water, please.
Further comments from someone like you would be most welcome.
It’s also dangerous to ascribe more capabilities to the enemy than they have; I realize that’s our standard response, and the media sensationalizes it, but the fact is most of these Third Turd countries are gonna get their asses kicked. For the record, I’ve been through the SOH numerous times on multiple platforms.