Iran builds a giant carrier shaped barge

[regexcellent]

Oh for ****'s sake no you can't board a carrier. It's not like it's a freighter, they're actually armed. They have 25mm guns around the perimeter and never sail without being escorted by at least 6-7 other ships, usually more.

FYI to take a plane off from a ship there has to be a lot of wind over the deck, like 20-30 knots so no, no planes are taking off from that barge, as if I need to say it.

[Kidlicious]

Maybe they just want to lie to their people by telling them they have a carrier.

[Serb]

Oh for ****'s sake no you can't board a carrier. It's not like it's a freighter, they're actually armed. They have 25mm guns around the perimeter and never sail without being escorted by at least 6-7 other ships, usually more.

FYI to take a plane off from a ship there has to be a lot of wind over the deck, like 20-30 knots so no, no planes are taking off from that barge, as if I need to say it.

Even a carrier has to stay in port time after time, no?
Still, there are thousands of armed people inside.
But, still, imho, that's obvious they want this barge for some kind of training. The only question is what kind of training?

[Hauldren Collider]

What port would they board it in? Norfolk? And yeah, including the embarked carrier air wing, a Nimitz class carrier has over 6000 crew. It's basically a floating city.

I can't imagine it being useful for any sort of training. The only thing you could do with this barge is sink it in some sort of weapons test. Which is probably what they're going to do and either pretend that it means they could sink Nimitz or pretend that they actually did sink Nimitz. Either way, it's almost certainly for internal propaganda purposes.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Iran is building a nonworking mock-up of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier that United States officials say may be intended to be blown up for propaganda value.

Have to imagine it would be cheaper to just call Michael Bay. The result would probably be more realistic, too.

[DaShi]

Okay what the ****?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/world/middleeast/a-ship-being-built-in-iran-looks-awfully-familiar-to-the-us.html?_r=1

Highlights:



So Iran has built a huge empty barge that looks like a 75% scale model of the USS Nimitz for no clear reason.

There is a clear reason. To get right-wing nutjobs worked up over it.

[regexcellent]

If it's for training, it's for a very expensive SINKEX (i.e. getting their naval crews to practice sinking an actual floating target). But that seems ridiculous because there are much cheaper perfectly suitable options.

Kidicious could be right but I doubt it, because of two things: first, USN markings are present, and second, they could just use public US Navy photos of the Nimitz and doctor those.

[Kidlicious]

Even a carrier has to stay in port time after time, no?

Actually no.

[DinoDoc]

Maybe they want to LARP a Battlefield 4 MP match:

[Dinner]

My guess is it is for some sort of training exercise. I'm sure it is also a complete waste of money and a make work kickback for someone who is politically connected and owns a barge building company.

[Hauldren Collider]

Actually no.

Actually yes, they do need maintenance periodically. But their at-sea endurance is in most respects unlimited, since they can be resupplied by air.

[Dinner]

Maybe they want to LARP a Battlefield 4 MP match:

This is dumb. A carrier would never get that close to an enemy shore because to do so would be stupid.

[DinoDoc]

This is dumb.

What part of Battlefield 4 MP match did you not understand?

[Hauldren Collider]

I was more perplexed by the use of 19th century cannons...

[Dauphin]

Actually yes, they do need maintenance periodically. But their at-sea endurance is in most respects unlimited, since they can be resupplied by air.

That seems a very expensive way to resupply. If supply is the only issue, why not just resupply by sea.