Posted on 12/04/2012 4:22:09 PM PST by JerseyanExile
Second of three articles
The shrinking size of the fleet is just one variable in considering its adequacy: the ability to perform assigned missions, especially after withstanding whatever threats may exist, is a far better measure than mere numbers.
As described by the Congressional Research Service, a core mission is to influence “events ashore by countering both land- and sea-based military forces of potential regional threats…including improved Chinese military forces and non-state terrorist organizations.”
This is similar to the mission described by former defense secretary Robert Gates: “to enhance…overall posture and capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region” with “numbers, speed, and agility to operate in shallow waters.”
Whether or not these sentiments are only passing conventional wisdom or profound insight, they represent the current mission. Unfortunately, it is precisely those areas of operation where the mismatch between capabilities and threats is most disconcerting.
The Diesel-Electric Submarine Threat
To put it simply, if naval exercises in the last two decades involving foreign diesel-electric submarines had been actual combat, most if not all, U.S. aircraft carriers would be at the bottom of the ocean: as many as 10 U.S. aircraft carriers have been reported “sunk” in these exercises...
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.time.com ...
Just about every day, I get the impression we are sleep-walking into a buzz saw.
Remember the USS John P Murtha (spitooee), LPD-26, coming on line eventually. That’ll fix ‘em. What a ship to command, eh? Imagine, all the rates will have to wear that curse on their shoulders.
I think we're being frog marched into one.
Bump for later
Yeah, I know what you mean.
Just as Obama’s re-election will show us what Jimmy Carter’s second term might have been, our adversaries will show the Navy what Dec 7th 1941 might have been, had the carriers been in port.
There are two kinds of ships, Submarines & Targets.
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