[Parley Baer]

Lookout Hugo. Bwahahahaha.

[RexBeach]

Another fleet? Well, by God, I love the Navy, but where are the ships coming to come from?

Where would it be based?

[americanophile]

Why? Are they’re Nazi U-boats down there again?

[Vroomfondel]

ping

[magslinger]

SONOBUOY PING!

Click on pic for past Navair pings.

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.

[sasportas]

I remember a movie, “The Enemy Beneath” if memory serves me right, starring Robert Mitcham, about destroyers and Nazi U-boats in the South Atlantic. I think it must be the only movie ever made about WW2 Naval warfare in that part of the world.

[joe fonebone]

perhaps this signals a time when a reserve carrier is needed to patrol the area’s of the 4th fleet....perhaps the JFK?

[lexington minuteman 1775]

HEY HUGO...GET A LOAD OF THIS!

[tanknetter]

A big deck CVN isn't needed for this kind of patrol work. Much better idea would be to rotate an LHA/LHD or two through the assignment. Harriers and helos, plus the ability to operate all sorts of watercraft from the well deck, should suffice.

Missing element would be organic AEW&C. Given the proximity to CONUS, using land-based E-2s, E-3s or the P-3 AEWs would be a viable option, although the LAMPS radar on the SH-60s might be enough. If a ship-based AEW&C is needed, the USN could adopt the solution used by the RN, Italian and Spanish Navies and put a bagged radar onto some helos.

Then again (and mostly joking here), the USN could always just buy that cute baby Harrier carrier that the Thais had Spain build for them. It was based on the USN's "sea control ship" concept from the 1970s ... ;-)

[Jim Noble]

Davis emphasized that no new vessels — and no additional budget — would come with the creation of a 4th Fleet.

What a relief!

I was worried for a minute that we might actually DO something to re-establish our naval forces.

But a cushy job and three stars for a time server?

Even Obama would have no trouble with that.

[Non-Sequitur]

What do we need a 4th Fleet for now except to provide another Vice-Admiral’s billet?