Aircraft Carriers?

[Dr Strangelove]

No, I think there is a treaty forbidding the "militarization" of space. Spy satellites are of course not excluded, but I believe that the intention was to prohibit weaponery in space. OTOH the US government has said repeatedly that if it were feasible to put a non-nuclear "Star Wars" anti-missle system in space it would do so.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Toby Rowe
The "Invincible" class in my Royal Navy was a joke in the Falklands War, whilst HMS Hermes, our last real Aircraft carrier was the saviour. That war finally ended USN experiments in tiny-tinnie-wincy carriers- they are useless.

. . . the "Invincible" class carried 12 Harriers and 8 helicopers, or a mix and match.

Wow! Those "Invincible" class carriers seem to be just the right size to carry on anti-pirate operations off the coasts of Somilia and Malaysia.

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Wow! Those "Invincible" class carriers seem to be just the right size to carry on anti-pirate operations off the coasts of Somilia and Malaysia.

Except the RN doesn't have ebnough to go around, as the Invincible was de-commed this past August.

[Dr Strangelove]

I think that the ocean liner and freighter companies shuld hire some mercenaries to deal with the problem. Now that would make some interesting news.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Lonestar
Except the RN doesn't have ebnough to go around, as the Invincible was de-commed this past August.

We could buy them!! Just whisper the magic words "War on Terrorism" and Dubya will have our country's credit card out faster than you can say "Cash or charge?"

[Lonestar]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


We could buy them!! Just whisper the magic words "War on Terrorism" and Dubya will have our country's credit card out faster than you can say "Cash or charge?"

People like Trent Lott already forced the the Navy to buy a $1.5bil LHD it didn't want or need, and the Makin Island is more capable than the RN's P.O.S. Invincibles.

[Zkribbler]

Well, that takes care of the coast of Somilia. Now we need to buy the Makin Bacon for the coast of Malaysia.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Well, that takes care of the coast of Somilia. Now we need to buy the Makin Bacon for the coast of Malaysia.

I'm imagining the cartoon painted on the sides of the aircraft of its squadrons.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Sikander
I agree that the aircraft carrier is becoming obsolete but will play a role in the foreseeable future. As to what will replace it, I suspect that bombardment from rail gun munitions utilizing the same satellite targeting capabilities currently used by the J-Dams will play a large role in replacing the carrier's strike capability. Drones can be used effectively to gather intel / reconnoiter. Note that rail guns could be mounted on all sorts of ships, including submarines (though obviously the business end of the rail gun would have to poke out of the water at least temporarily.)

As for AA protection, a combination of missles and perhaps much smaller carriers (large enough to provide constant AWACS coverage and perhaps a few fighters) could do the trick.

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/arsenal_ship.htm

[Toby Rowe]

The Yanks never reduced the capacity of the Aircraft carrier after WWII.

The Falklands war showed how rubbish the baby ones were.- All major nations abandoned the concept- including the US, after it.

Any Warship of any nation within the Piracy zone off the East coast of Africa would have achieved the same result (news to me anyway).

Unlike the Battleship, I doubt the Aircraft Carrier will ever become obsolete- It's hard to make helicopter flights from a satellite in space, on behalf of the UN.

Toby