Troop ships

[easymo]

Is it time to start building these things again?  I think so.  We are more dependent on some Arab states(Saudi Arabia) for a military base in the region, then we are for oil.  You cant launch grunts from mid-air.  Not even airborne troops. One of the excuses that Bush Sr. used, for not taking out saddam, was the potential loss of bases to work from in Arabia.

  The dangers of putting that many eggs in one basket are obvious.  However, I think we have the technology to not only "watch that basket". but to also build one hell of a basket to watch.

 Of course the U.S.Marians already do this on a smaller scale then I have in mind.  Working off aircraft carriers.  But I am talking about "convert the Queen Mary to a troop ship" scale.  In fact even bigger. A few of these in the Med would free us from dependence on the Arab states, and  possibly even the need to use nukes somewhere down the line.

[Jester]

There is a ready made fleet of them. In time of crisis they can confiscate all those crusie ships and turn them into AP's (Transports). While many of them are registered in Panama for tax purposes - many of them are owned by companies in the US.

The British did the same to QE II, Canberra and a couple others if I am not mistaken during the Falklands War with the Argentines.