It had better be as advertised if things get hot. Kipling's "Odds are on the cheaper man" apply here. In the last war the Argies paired up Neptunes with Super Etendards armed with Exocet anti-ship missiles. The Neptune vectored the aircraft in, with the Etendards skimming below radar and occasionally popping up like a periscope for a bearing. The radar guys on the target, HMS Sheffield, wrote off the on again off again blips as just noise.
When the aircraft got within range, the let fly the Exocets and hit the unsuspecting ship which, because of her aluminum hull and deck, burned like a torch for six days before finally sinking. The Brits also lost HMS Ardent, HMS Antelope, MV Atlantic Conveyor and HMS Coventry. HMS Argonaut and HMS Brilliant were badly damaged. These ships were frigates and destroyers and one transport. A pretty good score for Third Worlders.
At the time there was a great hue and cry about our large carrier and battle group concept. The proponents pointed out that the Brits, who went small, suffered from being unable to project enough air power and couldn't protect these ships.
Let's hope this crap doesn't flare up again and more men die uselessly.
We (US Navy) learned a lot from this conflict...
Damage control, from what I recall, was a specialty rating in the British Navy...Whereas the US Navy was trying to get “everyone” up to speed on the concept...
This battle increased the pace, and every new recruit began a regimen of classroom study (film and lessons learned from the Fauklands War) and practical damage control simulators that included flooding, fire, rescue, de-watering drills etc etc etc...
Refresher training for those of us out in the fleet was a regular part of our training, no one was above it...
I believe everyone benefitted from it, as apparent in the damage done and saving of the ships USS Stark, USS Roberts, Iwo Jima, etc etc etc...
BTW, I lost two close friends on the Stark...That was not a banner day for us...But that is another story for another day...