The aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), USS Enterprise (CVN 65), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) are in port at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. US Navy Photo
Dave Majumdar, National Interest: America's Great Aircraft Carrier Crisis: Lots of Demand, Not Enough Ships
The U.S. Navy is struggling to meet its worldwide commitments with only ten aircraft carriers in the fleet. The service has been down to ten flattops ever since USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was retired in December 2012. The Navy will only return to eleven ships once USS Gerald R. Ford is commissioned in 2016, but that vessel won’t be ready for deployment until 2021.
But the law requires the Navy to operate a minimum of eleven carriers. The service is operating under a temporary exemption that allows it operate only ten vessels. But because the Navy is struggling to meet requirements with the current number of operational carriers, Congressman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) has introduced legislation to that would require the service to maintain a fleet of no less than twelve carriers.
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WNU Editor: This is where a discussion on what are our national security priorities should be undertaken. Resources are limited, we need to prioritize. Unfortunately .... U.S. foreign policy has become more of a "whack-a-hole" policy .... with no strategy or vision on what the future should hold.
2 comments:
We need to take a hard look at the Queen Elizabeth-class ships and see how they are employed and how they work. We need to build more numerous, smaller ships that will accomplish 80-90% of what a Nimitz or Ford can do, for significantly less cost. We can probably get a Queen Elizabeth class for 3-4 billion right now.
Or, we can see what can accomplish these missions that are normally done by a Nimitz carrier, like sea control, power projection, and see if something else can do. For example, the America-class or even a new design Arsenal ship (1200 VLS canisters could do a lot of good)
12 billion a pop for something that has a 500 km strike radius and probably won't survive a Spratly run is kind of foolish.
Interesting that all those carriers are lined up as in a shooting gallery.
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