[semaj]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe we and possibly the British are the only nation that has the know-how when it comes to high seas refueling on the go. Anyone have the real poop on this?

[ao98]

You are mistaken. We used to have great capability and expertise to refuel at sea. Since 1990 the we have lost most of are oilers. Thats why the USS Cole had to go into port to refuel.

I served aboard the USS Caloosahatchee from 1979 to 1983 I've done hundreds of unreps. We never lost a man, but about 1980 we tried to run over the USS America, we had lost steering. We ended up lightly hitting each other.

About 1975 a destoyer lost steering and turned in front of us, we almost cut in in half and decommisioned it. This stuff happens, but when budgets are cut, it's more likely to happen.