US Navy Enlargment

[Praxus]

I just read on Janes that the US Navy intends to increase the fleet by 81 ships to 375(formerly 294). They are doing this by cutting personal and wasteful programs. I guess they plan on replacing some people with machine that can do the same job.

What do you guys think?

[bigross86]

Larger Navy, which is good, but less humans, which is bad. A machine can only do so much, and at the moment, can't independently think

[Praxus]

Some jobs don't need humans, having humans there can just slow the process down.

It is just automation nothing more.

I think the majority of the new ships are going to be the Littoral Combat Ship. There will probley only be a slight increase in major surface vessals(they won't see a major increase for a good 22 years or so)

[Ironduke]

I'm more for modernization than expansion of our naval forces.

Nobody poses a threat to us on the high seas at the moment.

[Bill]

Reducing crew size also reduces damage control ability.

[Praxus]

Then don't get hit;)

[Ironduke]

Would it be viable to convert SSBN's into cruise missile platforms?

[Praxus]

No, it would be a complete waste of taxpayers money. We already have far more VLS cells then we have Tomahawks. The issue of sneaking in is rediculus because a Destroyer could sit out at 300 miles and fire a Tacticle Tomahawk 700 miles in land and no one would be able to touch them.

We should use that money for restaring our BB's to service and producing the 11" GPS guided DARPA round.

[Bill]

TACTOM has double the range of earlier Tomahawks....2000 miles.

[Praxus]

The current Tomahawk has a range of 650 nm. The Tacticle Tomahawk has a range of 1000 nm.

So 300 nm out, it could travel 300 nm over water then 700nm over land.

[Bill]

You're ranges are way off Praxus.

[Praxus]

http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/.../wep-toma.html

I was wrong it has a range of 900nm(1000 statute miles and 1600 kilometers).

Where the hell did you get 2000?

[SOLDIER 81]

Replacing men with automation is bad. The more men you can cram into a ship, the better the ship's fighting abilities will be.

[Officer of Engineers]

There comes a point where you have to give up the job to a machine. Otherwise, we never get past the oarsman.

[Bill]

A little birdie that makes them flew right up and landed on my shoulder and said "The public range figures are way off".

They are.