Posted on 08/12/2011 10:29:30 PM PDT by robertvance
On August 14th, 1912, the United States launched its first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley. This 11,500 ton ship served during both World Wars until its luck ran out near Java in 1942 and had to be abandoned and sunk in order to avoid capture by the Japanese.
Almost one hundred years later, China has just launched its first aircraft carrier and the U.S. State department is demanding to know why.
"We would welcome any kind of explanation that China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment," said Victoria Nuland, a State department spokeswoman.
Let me give you the explanation, Victoria. China is the world’s largest country and has recently become the second largest economy behind the United States. China is also the undisputed powerhouse in Asia. Is that a good enough explanation for you?
(Excerpt) Read more at teachabroadchina.com ...
Chinas carrier is a very nice target..
Yes
1. It is going to cost them a ton of money that they could use for something much more dangerous
2. They don’t know how to support and maintain these ships
3. They don’t know how to defend them
4. They don’t have the training to run them
5. They don’t know how to use them
Current status: Only a political statement they they can use to intimidate their neighbors and encourage an Asia Arms race. A race they will loose if they waste money on Carriers.
Didn’t we think the same thing about Japanese naval power prior to World War II?
Good point, I think China is basically trying to do what the Japanese couldn’t, create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.
No. The fact that they have an aged carrier is not the problem, the problem is that they’re getting ready to assert themselves as the world’s supreme power AND they have been selling our military the basis of our own technology such as the tens of thousands of defective chips capable of remote access/termination recently in the news.
The fact is that with the Apologist on tour, other nations smell blood in the water. While I believe in sovereign rights, I think it’s foolish to think for a second that the U.S. is safe from foreign action. There are at least a dozen countries who are chomping at the bit to tear us down, and unless we worry about protecting ourselves and not the rest of the world, we’re in big trouble. Our current leadership seems interested in neither.
I know a professor who is an expert on China and the military. He says that the US building an Air Craft Carrier is just about as complex as sending a man to the moon.
He said last Spring that the US is the only nation that has figured it out.
Now that China has one, you wonder if they stole our secrets.
These things are equipped with missiles that could take down our ships.
China also has submarine bases that have under water ports. Looks like they are preparing for war against us.
History is full of “They couldn’t/wouldn’t possibly...” statements, proven wrong. You reference a good example. It is noteworthy that had the good men at Pearl Harbor not been caught asleep, the outcome may have been very different. But the point you made is remarkably valid none the less.
I don’t know, I wasn’t here...oh wait...let me ask my uncle that was here...oh he is dead
Well...if I am not mistaken, the Japanese Aircraft Carriers were new technology and we didn’t have good Intel on where they were.
These aircraft carriers are old technology that you can smell 500 miles away..and pick them up live via satillite.
So it is a little hard to swallow.
Now, if they had a aircraft carrier that submerged that the Chinese were fielding. That would be a fair comparison....otherwise, nope .... invalid.
I have a toaster made in China. The toast...well, if they make their aircraft carriers to the same quality levels as my toaster, we ain’t got anything to worry about!
Your teacher isn't very knowledgeable on aircraft carriers.
France, India, Britain, .... no it isn't easy but just having an aircraft carrier isn't that big a deal.
No what is a big deal with the US Carriers ... their ability to operate out at sea for years without hitting port and without requiring lay-up.
They just lack the experience to understand that just yet.
“Looks like they are preparing for war against us.”
Yes, yes it does. Also, of note, is the fact that superior technology does not always insure victory. We have lost good men in the middle east to rudimentary weaponry (However, I must add that if a nation were so inclined, they could have bombed them into oblivion, but irradication is seldom the aim of wars).
Also, often the U.S. can overcomplicate things that don’t need to be. I remember once hearing a story about how the space pen came about (I’m not certain if it is true). The lecturer (at a science forum), said that when the U.S. and the Soviets were in the space race the U.S. wanted to solve a problem of writing in space, with the problems of zero g’s for the ink, writing upside down, etc. He said we put a few million dollars into the project and came up with the pressurized cartridges for the space pens, with the ink that is viscous enough for the application (to not spurt out, I assume). He noted that the Soviets, facing the same dilemma, simply used a pencil.
We have to look for ways to protect ourselves in simple ways, and not merely the complex.
“No what is a big deal with the US Carriers ... their ability to operate out at sea for years without hitting port and without requiring lay-up.”
OK. That is what my expert friend must have meant.
He said something about our ability to protect them from nuclear radiation when a nuke explodes next to them by some kind of sea water washing system.
Well, you have to worry about the dollar becoming worthless.
Because back in WWII, the thing that really sparked the Japanese was the feeling the only way to get was to take.
Currently the world is operating under a monetary acquisition system, you can have anything as long as you have the money. If all of a sudden your money is worthless, the danger is countries will revert back to the former model.
In that case, yes China would try to use her military might to acquire that which she desires.
That is pretty old, but that system doesn’t protect against a nuke near the carrier. It only prevents the radiative contamination from sticking to the decks.
Navy scum like me still had to go out and scrub it off and over the side of the ship.
No, the carriers only defense was to remain far out to sea hidden. Once a carrier is located, it is very easy to kill.
The carrier’s days were over as soon as countries like China started to launch their own real time satellites. No more hiding unless you are willing to shoot down or take over their satellites ... and the Dems are pretty much preventing us from going there.
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