A Few Thoughts on Sea Power

[Pensioner]

My money is on India. Be good to have a Test cricket playing nation as top dog again.

Well said that man, cricket=civilisation.

[Clinton Huxley]

USS Nimitz of limited value against a Taleban chappie deploying an IED

[Gawdzilla Sama]

USS Nimitz of limited value against a Taleban chappie deploying an IED

The cure for hoot-and-mouth disease is cattle would apply here.

[Clinton Huxley]

Hovercraft are the future

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hovercraft are the future

In the mid 1980s LCACs were deployed to the Marine base at Camp Pendleton. To house the craft the Navy laid down a foundation and built a hangar for them. Unfortunately, the work wasn't observable from the highway, Interstate 5, until they had the framework up and put the cladding on. This last stage took, about a week. Now, given that this is Southern California you can see what's coming. The legend is that the hangar "appeared over night to hide a UFO that landed there."

LCAC

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Littoral combat air-cushion vehicle.

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

[normal]

Hovercraft are the future

Mine is full of eels

[Pensioner]

Hovercraft are the future

Another Brit invention that the Yanks stole from us,cunts.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Hovercraft are the future

Another Brit invention that the Yanks stole from us cunts.

Extraneous comma removed.

[Pensioner]

Hovercraft are the future

Another Brit invention that the Yanks stole from us cunts.

Extraneous comma removed.

Educated twat.

[Ian]

Yeah. It'll be China next.

No way. Don't get me wrong - China in 2010 is still a growing power and they're building up a decent Navy. But they won't be in a position to genuinely challenge US sea power for generations at least. By which time, I think modern concepts of sea power may very well be obsolete. And well before then, IMO, China will face some severe problems as it reaches the structural limits of its current growth rate.

The days of the aircraft carrier's dominance will come to a close as anti-ship missiles increase their capabilities (speed, range, intelligence, survivability, etc.). Hypersonic cruise missiles and other aircraft using scramjet engines are small, can be based on land or in smaller, stealthier ships, and are very difficult to detect, track and intercept. And eight or nine nations are researching them now.

Beyond (and out of) that comes the weaponization of space. The logic of space-based warfare deserves its own thread, but IMO it is completely inevitable.

Anyway, it is correct to say that a large Navy is of little use against the likes of the Taliban. But it would be foolhardy to think that modern navies like the US will have no other challenges or uses in the future. Navies are maintained for other reasons, and to deter some of those "other reasons" from emerging at all.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ian, is the Chinese Navy anywhere close to moving out of the "frigate navy" phase into something more ambitious?

[devogue]

“When any one asks me how I can best describe my experiences of nearly forty years at sea I merely say uneventful. Of course, there have been Winter gales and storms and fog and the like, but in all my experience I have never been in an accident of any sort worth speaking about. I have seen but one vessel in distress in all my years at sea, a brig, the crew of which was taken off in a small boat in charge of my third officer. I never saw a wreck and have never been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort.

"I will say that I cannot imagine any condition which could cause a ship to founder. I cannot conceive of any vital disaster happening to this vessel. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that."

Captain EJ Smith (interviewed in 1907 about his latest command, the RMS Adriatic). Five years later on his final command, the Titanic, things would become rather eventful.

"....I still don't like this ship, I just have a queer feeling about it."

Last letter posted from Ireland by Henry Wilde, Chief Officer of the Titanic, three days before the disaster.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"I am glad to hear you are all still gay and hope you remain that way." USN captain to his family, 1814.

[Ian]

Ian, is the Chinese Navy anywhere close to moving out of the "frigate navy" phase into something more ambitious?

Short answer: Yes. Though it depends on how one defines "anywhere close".

Which isn't to say that the US Pacific Fleet is in danger of being matched. China's interested in deploying carriers and they've built a capable shipyard for constructing indigenous ones. And they're developing some very good missiles. But I doubt they're going to be a true, sustainable blue-water power in the forseeable future. They want to be able to impress and intimidate east Asia, and to stand up to the US response if and when the sh*t ever hits the fan regarding Taiwan. They may also be interested in developing capabilities against India, considering an awful lot of China's oil imports could currently be cut off by India at will.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Ian, is the Chinese Navy anywhere close to moving out of the "frigate navy" phase into something more ambitious?

Short answer: Yes. Though it depends on how one defines "anywhere close".

Which isn't to say that the US Pacific Fleet is in danger of being matched. China's interested in deploying carriers and they've built a capable shipyard for constructing indigenous ones. And they're developing some very good missiles. But I doubt they're going to be a true, sustainable blue-water power in the forseeable future. They want to be able to impress and intimidate east Asia, and to stand up to the US response if and when the sh*t ever hits the fan regarding Taiwan. They may also be interested in developing capabilities against India, considering an awful lot of China's oil imports could currently be cut off by India at will.

How long until they have an effective carrier force, would you say?