Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: mthrockmor on February 10, 2019, 07:50:01 PM
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A Navy could take an 1,800 foot Super Tanker, repurpose it into a fat super-carrier. I posted on this a while back and it was noted the stress and pounding required to land 30 ton jets on the deck. Agreed, though a super tanker easily handles the stresses of holding a couple hundred thousand tons of crude oil.
It could be done...
Boo
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I spent over two years on CVN69 USS Dwight D Eisenhower. When ever a plane landed on the ship you you could feel it no matter where you were on/in the ship. Launching was another story, add it at least three times more stress. The pounding of the cats was enough to wake you from your sleep, and our sleeping berths where in the aft most parts of the ship.
Would an oil tanker be able to stand the stresses? Sure but the refit would cost a fortune and you would be "settling" due to the limitations of the tankers design. A rebuild would come close to a new carrier. Why not spend your money for what you want in stead of what you can get away with.
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It would be one big target, that's for sure. At least our current carriers are decently maneuverable.
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Definitely with VTOL F-35s.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/18/asia/japan-aircraft-carriers-intl/index.html
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Carriers are obsolescent any way except for bombing second tier opponents. :old:
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Carriers are obsolescent any way except for bombing second tier opponents. :old:
Well, that's our game at the moment.
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Check out the video of the littoral combat ship we sold someone getting hit by a single attack missile, to see what happens to "fighting ships" that weren't designed to get shot at from the beginning. It's pretty bad. I don't think we should be sending any of our military members into harms way without equipment designed for the job. That LCS was supposedly in "safe" waters but of course the bad guys got ahold of an attack missile and popped it.
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Check out the video of the littoral combat ship we sold someone getting hit by a single attack missile, to see what happens to "fighting ships" that weren't designed to get shot at from the beginning. It's pretty bad. I don't think we should be sending any of our military members into harms way without equipment designed for the job. That LCS was supposedly in "safe" waters but of course the bad guys got ahold of an attack missile and popped it.
you're not confusing that UAE ex-commercial cat with an LCS are you?
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Check out the video of the littoral combat ship we sold someone getting hit by a single attack missile, to see what happens to "fighting ships" that weren't designed to get shot at from the beginning. It's pretty bad. I don't think we should be sending any of our military members into harms way without equipment designed for the job. That LCS was supposedly in "safe" waters but of course the bad guys got ahold of an attack missile and popped it.
Agreed Vulcan, I think that was the ship Eagl was thinking. Regardless, Eagl's point stands, and the LCS ship is in no way up to taking the damage that past frigates could. Plus the LCS has an extremely small crew, which would make damage parties way smaller, and hurt damage control efforts immeasurably.
They sure don't build em like they used to - USS Thach (OHP Frigate) was sank in a recent sinkex, it took first 3 Harpoons, then 2 Hellfires, then a Maverick missile. Then another Harpoon. Then another pair of Hellfires. Then USN Hornets dropped a 2000lb bomb on it. Then a USAF B52 dropped a 500lb LGB on it. Then a bunch of gunfire. To finish it off, a MK48 torpedo.
The ship then stayed afloat for another 12 hours after all that.
Based on this, and the damage that the Stark and SB Roberts both took (Exocet and a Mine), and stayed afloat after damage control...I hope the next Frigate currently being considered by the USN is built to the standard of the OHP class Frigates, at least.
Regarding the USN diversifying from just large deck CVN CATOBAR carriers - I agree. Putting all the eggs in these baskets these days is questionable IMO. Buying and building a bunch more USS America type carriers, even putting catobar systems on them, isn't a bad option. Make them able to launch not just Stovl F35Bs but also the C model as well as Superhornets and the new stealth drone tanker. Having a bunch of these smaller decks with say 40 combined helo/aircraft aboard could have some advantages in the Pac theater. The only negative IMO is that they aren't nuclear powered, but that could be fixed/changed.
IMO the USN would benefit from a medium size fleet of AIP/DE submarines too, but that's another thread.
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Well, that's our game at the moment.
True.
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Good info. I'm not thinking that the USN should do it, actually why China isn't. I strikes me as nothing but a status symbol to modify, maintain and now build their own Soviet junk. Seems like putting a hangar deck and flight deck on a supertanker...
I seem to remember in the tanker wars of the 1980s a couple tankers being hit by Exocet missiles, and it pretty much do almost no damage. I know the Brits have operated Harriers off container ships.
Just a thought exercise.
Boo
PS I'll look for the video.
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Agreed Vulcan, I think that was the ship Eagl was thinking. Regardless, Eagl's point stands, and the LCS ship is in no way up to taking the damage that past frigates could. Plus the LCS has an extremely small crew, which would make damage parties way smaller, and hurt damage control efforts immeasurably.
The cat didn't sink either.
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Aircraft carriers are cool and all, but remember when B-52s from Louisiana and B-2s from Missouri flew sorties to bomb Iraq, and returned back to their home bases without landing? Now that's fighting in style. I think one B-2 mission lasted 33 hours.
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I think one B-2 mission lasted 33 hours.
And I think you're missing your own point there.
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The cat didn't sink either.
I know that, and I'm not sure the same hit the HSV-2/Cat took would have sunk an LCS either, but it very likely would have rendered it combat ineffective. The cat sure was from all the pictures...