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To: SampleMan

Those platforms can be reconditioned.


58 posted on 07/15/2013 4:41:01 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: central_va
Those platforms can be reconditioned.

You might think so, and I'm not saying its impossible, but the reality is 'not really'.

Of those ships shown, the Kitty Hawk might have 5 more years max on it. I got a few traps on the Shi##y Kitty (as everyone called it then), over 20 years ago, before they decommed it.

Metal fatique is a very serious issue. From the keels to the engines, they are worn out, like a piece of wire that's has been bent too many times. You can't fix that, you can only commit to a never ending series of very complicated and expensive repairs. Imagine renovating a house that has termite eaten wall studs, floor joists, and roof beams. The interior is great, but you have to remove it all to get to the frame. How do you replace the structure without tearing apart everthing? In the end, you would have been better off building new.

Its not the years, its the miles. The BB-61 class ships were mothballed when they were almost new. They really did have a lot of life left, so taking them out of the ready reserve wasn't such an obstacle.

Bringing those CVs back to life would require nearly as much time as building a new one and within 10 years you would be upside down on the cost as well. It would only get worse from there.

The Japanese built brand new aircraft carriers of approximately the same tonnage as the Kitty Hawk 70 years ago. Should they desire to build them again, they will. Now, just as we have passed the plans for AEGIS to the Japanese, we could also pass the plans for a CVN, which they could readily build from the keel up.

60 posted on 07/15/2013 5:38:28 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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