“I’ve never heard President Trump tout the re-emergence of the naval shipyards.”
Campaign promise:
“As soon as I take office I will ask Congress to fully eliminate the defense sequester and will submit a new budget to rebuild our military. It is so depleted. We will rebuild our military.”
So he has to see the end of any of Obama’s messes to get it done.
“Do we still need and use ocean going war machines”
Naval dominance is a vital part of military strategy because ships can patrol international waters, extending the United States’ reach far beyond the country’s physical borders. The Navy also allows key elements of the United States’ arsenal, such as nuclear weapons and aircraft groups, to be located off of U.S. soil, preventing the military from being crippled by a few major attacks to the U.S. mainland. Additionally, we are already using Navy fired weapons around the world.
For instance, the U.S. Navy launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles early Friday in Syria at a military airfield in response to a chemical-weapons attack on civilians, U.S. military officials said, relying on a mainstay weapon when the Pentagon wants to attack from a safe distance. The Tomahawk has been a critical part of U.S. warfare since the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and commonly carries a 1,000-pound warhead. It was used by the Pentagon when the military launched Tomahawks from the Red Sea at three coastal radar sites in Yemen. Before that, the United States used them in September 2014 as the country expanded its air war against militants from Iraq into Syria. The Pentagon said at the time that it launched 47 Tomahawks from two ships — the USS Philippine Sea in the Persian Gulf and the USS Arleigh Burke in the Red Sea — and hit sites used by what it called the Khorasan Group, an Islamist cell said to be linked to al-Qaeda. And these are not all of the strikes that have been accomplished by ship board attack capacity.
Military Sealift Command is a special part of the Navy, because it conducts seaborne transportation of supplies for every branch of the U.S. military. Dry goods and fuel are carried on massive cargo ships and tankers throughout the world, wherever the United States military needs them. The old riding shotgun thing.
Are they needed? You bet.
rwood
Thank you.