Replies

And while those guys were doing that we were doing stuff like this...

A laser can pick off a drone from afar. But if there are hundreds of drones closing in to attack, you may want a high-powered microwave.
Currently mounted on a shipping container-like box, PHASER high-powered microwaves emit radio frequencies in a conical beam from a dish.
Snip...“The fact that you can simultaneously track and immediately move to the next target to address not just a swarm, but multiple swarms, is a big advantage.”

That's just the tech we know about.
They can toot their horns, but this is nothing.

Strategy - these ships would be blown out of the water with missiles with ranges of 200 miles before the first drone could be launched.

New Navy Missiles Hit Ships 200 Miles Away

The missiles can be launched from warships and aircraft. A major upgrade to the Navy’s arsenal, the missiles can hit targets 200 miles away. They can also autonomously avoid enemy radar and incoming fire, and target a specific part of a ship to attack.

So much for drone ships.

That's just the tech we know about. They can toot their horns, but this is nothing...
Strategy - these ships would be blown out of the water with missiles with ranges of 200 miles before the first drone could be launched...
So much for drone ships.
Would you like to withdraw your question?

No Phil, I will stand by it. Worse than you thought: inside the secret Fitzgerald probe the Navy doesn’t want you to read dave.kristula.com dave.kristula.com dave.kristula.com

That's just the tech we know about. They can toot their horns, but this is nothing...
Strategy - these ships would be blown out of the water with missiles with ranges of 200 miles before the first drone could be launched...
So much for drone ships.
You DO realize that aircraft aboard carriers have ranges much more than a few hundred miles, right? I just showed you missiles that have a 200 mile range.
Would you like to withdraw your question?

No Phil, I will stand by it.

I hope we don't get into a shooting war with China. And if we do, I hope the US Navy in your head, the one where news articles are operational weapons systems, the one where everything works, the one where our technology is so advanced that we don't even have words to describe it, the US Navy that operates so effectively it will effortlessly swat away all opposition, is the US Navy that fights the war.

I hope the US Navy that fights the war is not the one where half trained watch standing officers blunder through the night in busy seaways, not speaking to the officer in the CIC because the two are in a personal snit. The one where radars are down for months at a time, but that doesn't matter because the personnel standing watch don't know how to use them anyway. Worse than you thought: inside the secret Fitzgerald probe the Navy doesn’t want you to read.

I hope the US Navy that fights the war is not the one where, while approaching a busy foreign port, steering control is transferred to an unmanned station, resulting in death and destruction as the ship sails on with no input from the helm. Singapore Safety Report on USS John S. McCain Aug. 21, 2017 Collision

I hope the US Navy that fights the war is not the one that allows nuclear subs to remain infested with bedbugs for over a year, and, when changing course in the shallow China Sea ponders "Should we check that the new course is safe at this depth?" Decides "Nah, it'll be fine. In fact, increase speed from 16 knots to 24 knots!" then wrecks the boat's bow. The Story Of How The Submarine USS Connecticut Crashed

I hope the US Navy that fights the war is not the one that has apparently let its traditional excellence at damage control decline to the point where sailors can neither a recognize fire on their ship, nor effectively combat it. Long Chain of Failures Left Sailors Unprepared to Fight USS Bonhomme Richard Fire, Investigation Finds

I hope the US Navy that fights the war is not the one that is poorly positioned to fully repair its fighting fleet of warships damaged in future high-end battles, the Government Accountability Office found in a report released this week.

I hope you are right, and my concerns are unfounded. I hope that we would not see a repeat of the hubris that cost the US Navy so dearly in our first year in WW2, when its hierarchy stood by our nearly useless Mark 14 torpedoes, and refused to even consider the possibility that the Japanese Long Lance torpedoes were orders of magnitude better than the Mark 14 would have been if it actually worked, and they were, at least for surface engagements. I hope we don't see the hubris that needlessly lost hundreds of merchant ships, their crews and cargoes, by refusing to convoy merchant ships, because that was what the Brits did, and it must be a bad idea since the US Navy did not invent it.

I hope...