Posted on 05/11/2003 6:24:45 AM PDT by VaBthang4
We only had seven carriers, when Pearl was attacked. CV's 2 through 8. (CV-1 Langley had been converted to a Seaplane tender).
Three of these were in the Pacific, and none of them were damaged at Pearl.
But over the course of 1942, we moved three of the Atlantic Carriers into the Pacific, because the Japanese kept sinking or disabling the carriers we had. Only Ranger was left in the Atlantic, despite the desparation of the submarine warfare there.
Out of the six carriers we moved to the Pacific, four had been sunk by October. And the other two were out of service due to battle damage for extended periods.
Saratoga was in the dock at Bremerton from January to May, and at Pearl from August to November.
Enterprise was in the dock at Pearl for much of September and October, was severely damaged on October 26th, but continued to operate until November 16th, because she was the only carrier in the Pacific still floating.
It wasn't that only six carrier hulls were sunk, but that damned-near all of our carriers were sunk, in the year following Pearl.
The USS Scoop Jackson may be okay.
I realize that carriers are the in thing these days, but recall the old saying, " We have the targets and they have the bullets." In this case the bullets are tactical nuclear weapons in the 100 to 500 kiloton range. God forbid that one should ever strike a carrier.
I was a kid living in a FL coastal town during the early days of WWII. We had to black out our windows and car headlights because German subs were operating just a few miles offshore. Ships running along the coast were silhouetted aganst the glow of town lights before the blackouts and were easy targets. Of course we were never actually in danger of being invaded, but the blackouts and reports of ships torpedoed right offshore gave us the impression that the war wasn't that far away.
I spent lots of time planning how I would use my grandfather's single shot .22 rifle to repel invaders if and when they hit our beaches. I think the Germans and Japanese got word of my plans and that's why they never tried to invade.
We researched them and then dropped the idea many, many years ago. Those things move really fast, but you can't make them very smart or adaptive for technical reasons. On a surprise shot you might be able to score a hit with these things with quite a bit of efficacy, but if your target knows you are there these become much more dubious. The US opted instead for very smart and adaptive versions of standard torpedos. It may take the torpedo quite a bit longer to reach the target, but it will hardly ever miss. As you may have noticed, a key calculus of US military technology is to prefer weapon systems that never miss over weapon systems that deliver tons of firepower but aren't that smart. It allows us to kill more with less ordnance in less time net, and we decided that in submarine warfare it was more important to be as smart and lethal as possible with speed coming in second.
I would note that we do have a naval stealth technology that makes solid objects invisible to active sonar, and the super-cavitating torpedos may be a "second-best" technology to counter some of problems you would have if your torpedos can't "see" the sub they are supposed to hit. If your target doesn't reflect acoustics, the only way you can kill it is with a straight intersection shot from a passive sonar target solution, which the super-cavitating torpedos would be a better choice for.
I'm not really worried about them being aimed at our subs. I'm more concerned with one of those lucky shots taking out an aircraft carrier. A scary thought for me is a torpedo like that being hidden on an innocent looking fishing vessel. I also find Silkworm missiles worrying for this same reason.
I'm sure the Navy is staying abreast of this problem but taking out one of our carriers surely is a desired goal for our enemies. I can imagine Russia developing a weapon like that and selling it to the highest bidder...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.