I feel what Obama did was stupid. President Trump has had to deal with a number of messes. I sometimes refer to Obama as 'Obama-mess', but I feel he had earned that title.
As far as I am concerning wasting over a billion dollars in tax money is a 'worthy news item' to address.
I would hope the White House would read this article. I would hope the CNO and US Navy Secretary would have 'visibility' of these.
This is part of 'Making America Great Again': having more ships to defend the United States and giving our Armed Forces the tools they need.
I’d love to see the Enterprise as a museum...or maybe as a reef...
The Enterprise is nearing 60 years old and *seriously* worn out from the reports of the last sailors to serve aboard her. She is of a class of one, many of the companies that made critical parts no longer even exist, the radar on board didn’t work and it would cost less to build a new Ford-class carrier than it would to fix CVN-65 and bring her up to date so she could fight with/be properly protected by her escorts in a modern CBG - and it would still not approach the capabilities of a Ford-class. To give one example, the radar the ship was equipped with *and built around* doesn’t work and powering it up took most of the ship’s electrical generating capacity. Oh, and it was mostly a missile magnet as the vacuum tube powered system had problems tracking modern aircraft.
Putting a nuclear powered vessel in the reserve fleet would involve a massive expense as the reserve fleet is a low-security concern. Getting on a mothballed reserve vessel without permission is almost a trivial accomplishment these days. Adding a nuclear vessel would mean having to upgrade security to that of a nuclear plant with the resulting gigantic annual costs. And even then, it would be a softer target for those wanting nuclear materials.
“Making America Great Again” does not include increasing security risks to this country or saddling our Navy with an outdated money sink that’s a logistical nightmare.
Apparently, the US Navy assumed a Soviet sub could not keep up with a Carriet Task Force, and in particular, a CVN like the USS Enterprise.
The United States found out the hardward way that a Soviet nuclear powered sub could make 31 knots and keep up with the USS Enterprise when 'a game' was set up to see if the Soviet sub could keep up...
When the Soviet sub was still keeping up with the USS Enterprise when the carrier was making 31 knots, the game was over. US Navy had egg on its face, and some folks in the Pentagon and elsewhere had to change their thinking...
The Soviet navy had become a serious threat to the US Navy.
Part of the legacy of CVN 65 is that it helped the US Navy re-assess what should be done with US Attack submarines.
Suppose a foreign power wanted to play chicken with the US Navy.
If the ship the foreign power was trying to play chicken had a hull as think as the USS Iowa class (BB-61), unless it is a supertanker, the other side would lose.
I am not so sure that builing ships with thicker hulls is a bad idea. It was reported in one of the threads I listed that some of our cruisers have to be retired because the hulls have become razor thin...
But as someone posted on this thread, you would have to deal with 'rust' (as well as barnacles) if you keep 60 year ships in service. I guess some of the World War II era ships will be approaching 80 years since they were launched...