Comments on: The Navy could benefit from several improvements to support carriers and increase offensive ability

By: VXXC

VXXC — Tue, 13 Jun 2023 02:13:28 +0000

Who is this mysterious Austin Vernon? Why, the Mahan of our time.

Any war with nuclear powers, and frankly anything larger than the Balkans in the Northern Hemisphere will be nuclear war, as the Russians may reluctantly be forced to prove.

By: Pseudo-Chrysostom

Pseudo-Chrysostom — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:17:56 +0000

There’s an argument to be made for using gun tubes, probably smoothbored, as boosters for high velocity guided projectiles, which provide better ‘cost-per-intercept’ than a free-flying rocket boosted munition of equivalent range by a factor of five or ten or more — along with having the versatility of multiple munition types on a common platform as well. The only thing that has even better cost per ‘shot’ is high power radio-electric systems.

By: McChuck

McChuck — Sat, 10 Jun 2023 01:33:52 +0000

I lost what little credulity I had when the author recommended eliminating helicopters from warships.

By: Longarch

Longarch — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 21:11:28 +0000

“Maybe Our Betters plan to sacrifice us in a pointless war of aggression against China? But it is hard to imagine any such conflict which would not escalate to all-out thermonuclear war.”

Semi-relevant link:

https://acoup.blog/2023/06/09/fireside-friday-june-9-2023/

This AC of UP post deals with the internal politics and geopolitics of military institutions. It is fascinating but I hope Isegoria will refute some of its claims. Whether you agree or disagree, you will probably consider it relevant to the geologic and economics of building naval fleets that can fight.

By: Gavin Longmuir

Gavin Longmuir — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 19:35:17 +0000

“Engineering, economics, and practicality all point towards warships needing an incredible density of short-range air defenses”

Can’t argue with that. But the implication is that much of the capacity of the future warship and its crew will be focused on self-preservation, not on bringing harm to the enemy — a defense-ship rather than a war-ship. Is that worthwhile?

Back to the central question: Who are Our Betters planning to fight? The only people who threaten the US directly are the millions of illegal aliens pouring over the open southern border — and no warship is going to stop that.

Maybe Our Betters plan to sacrifice us in a pointless war of aggression against China? But it is hard to imagine any such conflict which would not escalate to all-out thermonuclear war. How would Our Betters respond to a single Chinese nuclear missile exploding in the general area of a threatening US carrier group, completely eliminating the US warships with almost no collateral damage, except a bunch of dead fish? Would Our Betters cease their aggression, or would they respond by nuking Beijing?

By: Cassander

Cassander — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 18:48:03 +0000

There’s no real point in armoring modern warships. Robust construction and splinter projection, sure, but armor doesn’t buy you much. Even a small, cheap ASM like the NSM will have a 250lb warhead. A 16″ battleship shell would carry maybe 150lbs of explosive in an HE shell, less in an AP. Modern weapons can put more boom on a target than you can reasonably armor against, especially because your sensors need to be high up in the ship to be any good.

As for guns, the argument is incoherent. If you want longer range you want missiles, not guns. Extending the range of guns past the horizon will come at large cost in payload.

By: Pseudo-Chrysostom

Pseudo-Chrysostom — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:51:36 +0000

The effective use of an aeroplane was as a reusable boost phase and guidance package for delivering ordnance.

A future float-craft-o-war may be construed as a ‘carrier’ as it will likely serve as a base platform for many high efficiency air breathing platforms for ISR-Strike purposes, though most of these will of course be operated via remote control and or autonomous expert systems.

There’s also the fact that the world’s oceans are the world’s largest stealth coating. A submarine might not be able to intercept a cloud of aerospace targets in most cases, but basically anything floating in the drink is a free target unless similarly specially designed.