In a pinch, could Marine carriers serve as a platform for F-18's?

[Zhang Fei]

Assuming that for whatever reason, enough CVN's are out of commission that we need to cobble together a scratch force involving Marine carriers to do the heavy lifting.

[TopHatter]

Assuming that for whatever reason, enough CVN's are out of commission that we need to cobble together a scratch force involving Marine carriers to do the heavy lifting.

If you are referring to the Tarawa and Wasp class amphibious carriers being used as a platform for F/A-18 Hornets, the answer is a resounding No. They are strictly VSTOL carriers, whereas the Hornet is a CTOL aircraft, needing a catapult to take off from a carrier and arresting gear to land on one. The LHA/LHD's have neither.

(Caveat: I don't know if the Hornet could take off using a ski-jump or not. Certainly it's weapon's load - and therefore it's usefulness as anything but a fighter - would be minimal.)

Now, if you were talking about the F-35, then we'd have some food for thought.

[Francois]

[Dreadnought]

IMO We could always pull a "baby" from either of the reserve fleets Atlantic or Pacific to accomidate sealift command. Not sure how many are left but my guess between the two fleets would be a total of 2-4. As far as the Carriers go I believe they would always have one or two on standby as part of EOP pending which fleet or theatre required them.

[Galrahn]

The actual timeframe is top secret, but Congress does a review every so many years on the shipbuilding industry and gets estimates on times it would take to build various ships if a requirement for maximum production is required. You'll know when these meetings take place because they are one of the few closed door sessions Congress has with the shipbuilding industry every few years.

I recall in late 1990, as Operation Desert Shield was ramping up, Northrop Grumman let it slip they could build a 65,000 ton CV about the size of the old Midway class with an angled deck in less than 9 months, and build up to 4 of them in about 2 years IF at max production, AND it would be expensive.

I don't know what that number would be today, but I would bet it would be at least that today, if not faster due to technology advances in both construction techniques and technology advancements in design.

I'd be interested if Rusty had a take on this topic.

[TopHatter]

I recall in late 1990, as Operation Desert Shield was ramping up, Northrop Grumman let it slip they could build a 65,000 ton CV about the size of the old Midway class with an angled deck in less than 9 months, and build up to 4 of them in about 2 years IF at max production, AND it would be expensive.

Sounds great on paper, but there are probably quite a few long leadtime items that require more than 9 months to build. There's just some things that you can't buy off the shelf.

Not trying to tell Northrop Grumman how to run their business, but that just doesn't seem really likely.

You wouldn't happen to know of any links to that slip do you?

[BenRoethig]

Assuming that for whatever reason, enough CVN's are out of commission that we need to cobble together a scratch force involving Marine carriers to do the heavy lifting.

They're not carriers, they're amphibious assault ships. They have no cats or arresting wires.

[SnowLeopard]

A carrier landing had essentially been described as a controlled crash. One slams the bird into the deck to get it on the deck. Off hand, I would say a CV is built to take that kind of stress, day in, day out.

But is an amphib similarly designed? I don't know but before one goes about slamming a bird into the deck a few dozen times over, that might be an item of consideration.
----------------------------------------------
("They say that any landing you can walk away from is a good landing."--Major West to Judy Robinson after their (first) crash landing, (w,stte), "Lost in Space")

[Galrahn]

You wouldn't happen to know of any links to that slip do you?

I don't know of any, this was back in 1990 so I doubt there would be anything online, few things exist online that date before around 1994.

If I remember correctly, the US was building 20 or more ships a year up to the late 80s. With the industry only building 5-7 ships per year these days, I think you are right and it would take much, much longer just to get the materials.

[Rookie Snipe]

They're not carriers, they're amphibious assault ships. They have no cats or arresting wires.

Which carriers are currently considered the reserve carriers? Which is the training carrier and could that ship be turned around into a front line carrier pretty quick?

[BenRoethig]

None, everything that isn't in service is basically cat-X these days.