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Hopefully it will reduce the cost, albeit slightly. Why exactly do we need so many warships and aircraft carriers? I mean what exactly are we doing with thirt

by ck2 13y ago

Hopefully it will reduce the cost, albeit slightly. Why exactly do we need so many warships and aircraft carriers? I mean what exactly are we doing with thirteen aircraft carriers that cost a small fortune to run?

rayiner 13y ago
Because the ocean is big and we want to be able to dominate all the key areas of it.
grecy 13y ago
Need to find a way to use up the excess produced in this world. You could just dig big ditches in the ground and dump lots of new goods in there, but the general public wouldn't get behind that the same way they do a war.
mpyne 13y ago
10 aircraft carriers, not 13 (though it will be 11 again in a couple years). The reason extends from matters of strategic planning though. Carriers provide "power projection" capabilities to about 90% of the populated earth. Power projection is inherently needed for the DoD planning assumptions (which are now, IIRC, to be able to fight and win 1 major conflict while responding to at least one other military contigency). The expected military requirements for those worst-case plans probably involve having at least 3-4 carriers. However, this is a worst case plan, which means those 3-4 carriers must be available, and on station (or nearby to respond), at all times. When you include the requirement to maintain/repair/overhaul the vessels, handle training periods for embarked aircrew, training and certification workup periods for the embarked ship's crew, you quickly end up multiplying the ship count you need by at least 3-4. In this case when they crunched the number I believe that they came to 9-10 to handle defense requirements. And then Congress told them to keep an 11th carrier anyways...
- deleted 13y ago
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Scramblejams 13y ago
mpyne and rayiner have hit all the high points, but if you're interested there's more detail here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/07/17/why-does-the-united-states-only-have-eleven-aircraft-carriers/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/07/17/why-does-the-un...

by ck2 13y ago

rayiner 13y ago

Because the ocean is big and we want to be able to dominate all the key areas of it.

grecy 13y ago

Need to find a way to use up the excess produced in this world. You could just dig big ditches in the ground and dump lots of new goods in there, but the general public wouldn't get behind that the same way they do a war.

mpyne 13y ago

10 aircraft carriers, not 13 (though it will be 11 again in a couple years). The reason extends from matters of strategic planning though. Carriers provide "power projection" capabilities to about 90% of the populated earth. Power projection is inherently needed for the DoD planning assumptions (which are now, IIRC, to be able to fight and win 1 major conflict while responding to at least one other military contigency). The expected military requirements for those worst-case plans probably involve having at least 3-4 carriers. However, this is a worst case plan, which means those 3-4 carriers must be available, and on station (or nearby to respond), at all times. When you include the requirement to maintain/repair/overhaul the vessels, handle training periods for embarked aircrew, training and certification workup periods for the embarked ship's crew, you quickly end up multiplying the ship count you need by at least 3-4. In this case when they crunched the number I believe that they came to 9-10 to handle defense requirements. And then Congress told them to keep an 11th carrier anyways...

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

Scramblejams 13y ago

mpyne and rayiner have hit all the high points, but if you're interested there's more detail here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/07/17/why-does-the-united-states-only-have-eleven-aircraft-carriers/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/07/17/why-does-the-un...