They'll just replace the planes with new ones. Same thing with the flight deck if needed. Why shouldn't they? We're paying for them.
“They’ll just replace the planes with new ones. Same thing with the flight deck if needed. Why shouldn’t they? We’re paying for them.”
Yes,,, but the Forrestal accident and similar ones required more than just a new compliment of airframes and a few replacement sailors being brought aboard. Loss of a damaged carrier for weeks, or months, in peacetime is indeed a money issue. But if they are engaged in some sort of action in the Spratley islands,,,or off the coast of Africa. That one small accident might as well have been an enemy attack.
A flattop out of service,,,is a flattop out of service just the same. And the national objective cannot be achieved when they need it.
Carriers demand excellence.