Now we're talking. An anchor chain, although hard to tension for weight, could take 2000 to 3000 traps as opposed to those shitty cables that take 1000, The PowerPoint would be epic.
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USN Showdown between Super Hornet and F-35
- Thread starter ChuckMK23
- Start date
The Brits actually used the container ship Atlantic Conveyer to transport 14 Harriers and some helos down south during the Falklands War, with the Harriers landing on her while at anchorage at Ascension Island.
Most were wrapped for the voyage but one Harrier was kept on armed alert as they got closer to the war zone.
She was still with the task force east of the islands unloading her the helos she transported down when she was struck by the a pair of Exocets launched by Super Étendard's on 25 May 1982. Twelve of her crew, to include her WWII veteran Captain, were lost along with 10 helos causing the British Army and Marines to march across much of East Falkland to recapture it instead of utilizing the helos lost.
Not a realistic combat platform but an interesting use of what little the Brits had to move assets so far from home.
The whole navy can get FUCKED
Highly recommend reading Harrier 809 for anyone interested in this particular segment of naval/aviation history.
(and Into the Black, by the same author, if you’re interested in the space shuttle.)
That's so mean. Now I have HURT FEELINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Max the Mad Russian
Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
Just ordered on Amazon, thanks. Also recommend Sea Harrier Over the Falklands: A Maverick at War by Sharkey Ward.
Max the Mad Russian
Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
This RN officer, then Lt-Cdr Nigel "Sharkey" Ward was then CO of 801 Naval Air Squadron, flown Sea Harriers (SHARs). Previously a Phantom driver of 892 NAS, he put in the book an interesting comparison between F-4K (gunless just like USN birds) and SHAR with two underbelly gunpods in a dogfight, and nearly dismissed USN Top Gun school from being the best world Phantom phlying phighting course, stating that it was Royal Navy Phantom WTIs who could really beat everyone in the air.
I like the conex box missile sponge idea. Maybe before we kick it off with China, we can repurpose some of our conex boxes laying around the desert into armor belts for our little crappy ships.
That describes just about every A-Team episode, specifically the segment from just after the bottom of the hour commercial break until the next break at about the 40-45 minute mark... metalwork, welding (lots of welding), and music. What are Hannibal and the boys building this time??
Sharkey's book is great and he seems to have been a good CO during the war but he makes it quite clear in the book that he is the best and screw almost everyone else. A great example is talking about how great the Sea Harriers did flying against some F-15's before the war when in reality Sharkey and the rest of his squadronmates would have been toast long before they even saw an F-15.
I put his claims in the same category as the one that Top Gun/TOPGUN was founded by/because of some Brit exchange pilots.
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"Historical Precedent", not "Nostalgia" was the point. In the initial stages of WW2, we suffered losses, heavy losses - but we continued to fight with what we had. That leaves 2 questions:
1) Would we come to Taiwan's aid? Well, here is the direct video without spin from President Biden.
The comparison of Taiwan to Crimea was an odd one, perhaps South Korea would be a better example. If we do not defend Taiwan, what will the Pacific nations currently aligned with the US do? A wildcard factor is TMSC. Far and away the biggest maker of cutting edge semi-conductors which underpin the modern economy, it importance and marketshare could be considered greater than Saudi Aramaco's oil production in the 1970's.
2) If both sides took substantial damage, along the lines of what transpired in 1942, what would we have left in comparison to China?
One measure would be the number of carrier borne fixed wing aircraft that could still be deployed. If the British Navy is the world's 3rd strongest surface fleet with 72 F-35B's from the 2 Queen Elizabeths and Japan is 4th with 2 Izumos (40 F-35B's), where do you place the estimated 150-200 F-35B's from the 10 US amphibs? The US gator navy can deploy 50% more 5th generation aircraft than the 3rd and 4th biggest navies combined. When added to the surviving US carrier fleet - and then combined with the previously mentioned British and Japanese carriers - that would still be a formidable fleet.
Good question. Newport News build nuke carriers. I assume they would be at full capacity. Pascagoula builds big amphibs. Would you take years to design a smaller carrier that yard could build? Or would you prioritize immediately modifying the big deck amphibs you already have to support fixed wing aircraft and UAV's? In the past, fleets began to convert / modify whatever ships they had to fill the mission required. We are actually doing that now to convert a tanker design into ESB's. (The USS Lewis B Puller, based on the hull of an Alaska class tanker, is below)
Late edit: UAV catapults for the Queen Elizabeth?
Royal Navy seeking information on cats and traps to launch drones
Royal Navy seeking information on cats and traps to launch drones
The Royal Navy is seeking information on potential electromagnetic catapult and arrestor wire systems that could be used to launch and recover ‘air vehicles’ from ‘a suitable ship’ by as soon as 2023.
www.naval-technology.com
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Max the Mad Russian
Hands off Ukraine! Feet too
The point is that any substantial damage to a carrier fleets nowadays will evidently be done by combined missile attacks or submarines activity but not by the similar carrier fleets; and any substantial damage to embarked airwings will supposedly be a results of overland SEAD-centered missions that failed and not a losses raised in attacks of carrier/amphib/surface fleets or units. Total disbalance in threats, quite equal to the same old situation the USN CVEs faced in 1944 when the fleet carriers failed to sweep the Jap airfields out effectively. The obvious answer is USN still needs big decks of Nimitz/Ford class and, simultaneously, the moderate TacAir platforms we're discussing. The bad news is about more money, as usually, but no one of clever minds promised taxpayers that their life will be wonderful.
Thought this was an interesting article about competition in Europe for aircraft sales. F-35, F/A-18, F-16, Saab, etc.
breakingdefense.com
Politics, diplomacy complicate decisions by Finland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland when it comes to the F-35 versus other American and international competitors.
F-35 faces stiff competition as European nations decide on future fighters - Breaking Defense
Politics, diplomacy complicate decisions by Finland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland when it comes to the F-35 versus other American and international competitors.
Politics, diplomacy complicate decisions by Finland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland when it comes to the F-35 versus other American and international competitors.