Posted on 05/16/2006 2:41:32 PM PDT by LSUfan
Wonderful idea!
Carolyn
As a what? Dockside barracks? She's 40 years old and worn out. She never had a SLEP upgrade. Manning her with airwing would take about 5000 men and women. In order to staff the air wing the UK would have to triple the size of their Fleet Air Arm. The NATO countries have no need for a carrier this size and would be nuts to fall for this.
If we don't want or need her then decommission her and park her next to the America.
Our so-called representatives seem to major in stupid lately.
Carolyn
They can't use a catapault. Cats are steam powered and the British carriers are gas turbine driven.
Why would NATO want to do that?
Never been on one, but since we are the only nation that can build them, then there must be something secret in the recipe.
There is, cost. As a couple of billion dollars a pop we're the only country willing to foot the bill.
That has nothing to do with the aircraft itself, but the ship it's lauching from. SU-27s and 30s take off from normal runways all the time without the "aid" of a ski ramp. It has to do with the size and length of the carrier. Neither Russia (Soviet Union) nor India has a full length carrier like we do.
They learned their lesson, two. They've got helicopters converted to AWACS platforms now. Not as capable or as advanced as E-2C but adequate to their purposes. The French wound up buying E-2s for the de Gaulle.
I'm glad you base your foreign defense positions on insight gleaned from a one hour weekly network drama. Never thought I would see that on FR.
The French leased the Belleau Wood, a light carrier built on a light cruiser hull, and about half the size of the more capable Bonhomme Richard. The Bonhomme Richard wound up serving in the U.S. navy until the 1971.
Why would they want it?
By Grayson Kamm
First Coast News
MAYPORT, FL -- Her future may be in question, but her destination is not. The U.S.S. John F. Kennedy got underway Tuesday morning for a week at sea, despite recent calls in Congress to retire the ship.
The future of the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy has been shaky to say the least. Right now, lawmakers in Washington are discussing what's next for the 37-year-old aircraft carrier, the third-oldest in America's twelve-carrier fleet.
A plan being pushed by Sen. John Warner (R-VA) calls for down-sizing the Navy's fleet, which would shut down Big John for good.
Despite all of that, the Kennedy went back out to sea Tuesday.
She headed out of Naval Station Mayport at around 10 a.m., steaming toward a spot off the coast where she'll spend the next week or so.
A spokesman says her crew will be running "proficiency operations," which means basic seamanship training, firefighting drills, and other exercises designed to keep sailors sharp.
On board the J.F.K. are about 2,300 sailors, but no jet pilots. A few months ago, the Navy ruled that only helicopters can use the Kennedy's old flight deck. That's because of long-overdue maintenance that the Navy has not done on the ship.
Even with those known issues, the ship's spokesman, Lt. Walter Matthews, says the Kennedy is still safe to operate, and her crew will learn a lot from this cruise.
As for the future of the ship, Sen. Warner's bill to shrink the fleet and decommission the Kennedy is currently stalled in the Senate.
We may know more about the effort to shut the ship down by the time her crew comes home from this cruise.
First Coast News
Ah come on lighten up. Sorry you did not catch my humor.
I don't disagree with you, but the other thing to think of what mods would be necessary to make the Su-27 and -30 durable enough to endure the rigors of cat launches? Are those mods feasible? Even a "full-size" carrier doesn't compare to a runway.
Incorrect. Although smaller in displacement both the Kuznetsov and the Gorshkov, sold to India and to be recommissioned as the R Vikramaditya, are nearly as long as a Nimitz class boat.
I'm surprised their Navy doesn't operate any maritime patrol aircraft over the Baltic and North Sea.
"Last week the ship's arresting cable gear was decertified, meaning it can no longer land fixed-wing planes, only helicopters. Two of its four catapults also have been shut down. "
perhaps this is a budget shuffle issue. It frees up a carrier for real work and keeps this carrier out of retirement.
I'm not sure what goes into a catapult launch modifcation. The SU-27K is the carrier version of the SU-27. It has been modified with arresting hook, reinforced landing gear, etc. Not sure what else would need to be done.
I did!
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