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What The Battleships Really Meant

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  • #31
    What the Battleships Really Meant

    I asked CNO Roughead at the Surface Navy Symposium in 2009 why the Navy didn't reactivate the battleships to fill the voids in NGFS and to ease CVN deployments. Without mentioning the USFSA, he and I spent more than 10 minutes discussing the WIP modernization, potential for long range precision guided munitions, the numbers of concerning areas within 50nm of the coast, and the ability to do all of this with mostly off the shelf GFCS, VLS, Mk45 5" guns in mothballs. After he said a bunch about TACAIR and tomahawks, I convinced him that shooting a scarce resource like tomahawks at everything you can't hit with a carrier is a bad idea. With that in mind, we discussed the tactical and economic utility of having battleships, he wound up saying:
    "Well, the battleships don't reflect the image the modern Navy wants to have." He began to talk about how gunboat diplomacy is inappropriate in the modern world and how LCS was going to do great things for the Navy.

    So, no, it's not a question about the tactical, technical, or economic pros or cons that the battleships have. It would be a challenge, sure! But so was reactivating them in the ‘80s. Just ask Rusty! However, today with the ease of converting unguided projectiles to guided projectiles (especially the 11" DSR) with either the plug and play course-corrective fuse, or the Excalibur Increment 1b GPS/SAL upgrade, they can easily have long range guided munitions. While more needs to be said in another battleship thread, suffice it to say that when it all boils down, the tactical, technical, and economic elements all favor the battleships.

    What would the battleships mean to a modern USN sailor?
    It would mean that we would have a super combatant that could arrive on scene and control the area.
    It would mean you were in a ship that could protect you, even if its point defenses were compromised, and still allow you to fight back.
    A battleship would mean that we have a ship that looked like it meant business.
    A battleship would be a ship we could be proud of.

    So, to a sailor, hearing from his CNO that the battleships look too mean for the "Global Force for Good" is not good. How do you think that makes a modern day sailor feel about his leadership? We don't have battleships because they look too aggressive.

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    • #32
      Originally posted by navydavesor View Post

      So, to a sailor, hearing from his CNO that the battleships look too mean for the "Global Force for Good" is not good. How do you think that makes a modern day sailor feel about his leadership? We don't have battleships because they look too aggressive.
      I guess image is everything now...
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      • #33
        When the slogan "Global Force for Good" came out, I immediately pictured CNO Roughead shmoozing with Batman, Superman, and the rest of the Justice League in their space station.

        :slap:

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        • #34
          Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
          I guess image is everything now...
          I've always appreciated the revised version of a Psalm:

          "Though I walk through the Valley of Death,

          I fear no evil.

          Because I'm the toughest S.O.B. in the Valley."
          Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by RustyBattleship View Post
            I've always appreciated the revised version of a Psalm:

            "Though I walk through the Valley of Death,

            I fear no evil.

            Because I'm the toughest S.O.B. in the Valley."
            Hi, Rusty! As always, it's great to see you post. I would like to run a few ideas by you at some point. Would it be best over on the "Ask an Expert - Battleships" section?

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            • #36
              Originally posted by RustyBattleship View Post
              I've always appreciated the revised version of a Psalm:

              "Though I walk through the Valley of Death,

              I fear no evil.

              Because I'm the toughest S.O.B. in the Valley."
              I'm generally not into jingoism or American exceptionalism, but every once in a while, I see something that makes me want to render a salute. This most recent recruiting poster for the Navy kind of says it all for me:



              Then there is this marvelous little piece of video shot from USS Eisenhower during her "dependents' cruise," of USS Gonzalez (DDG 66), battle ensign streaming, hauling ass down their port side before executing a 180 degree turn. In the process of turning, she easily met her reduced tactical diameter which I estimate to be about 400 yards. I just love the bone in her teeth and that rooster tail. That couple of minutes of demonstrable raw power really captures what being a tin can sailor is all about. A fast ship that means to go in harm's way.

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              • #37
                Agreed! "Ike" 2008.
                Attached Files
                Last edited by Dreadnought; 01 Aug 13,, 13:09.
                Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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                • #38
                  wow so they are to mean looking to be in todays navy ?? ughhh i cant take anymore P.C.!!!!:insane:

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                  • #39
                    Originally posted by navydavesor View Post
                    Hi, Rusty! As always, it's great to see you post. I would like to run a few ideas by you at some point. Would it be best over on the "Ask an Expert - Battleships" section?
                    Been pretty busy lately. I'm on too many committees. Just this morning I was with a work team from the Veterans Day Parade committee and my American Legion Post sorting through 150 American flags that had been in storage for a few years. We want to mount them along Atlantic Avenue for the November 9, 2013 parade. We found 92 in very good to excellent shape. The rest of them are torn, stained or heavily faded out colors.

                    Those rejects are in the back of my truck and I'm leaving in a couple of minutes to take them over to VFW Post 8615 for the VA to pick up for proper disposal.

                    Then I'm on the Long Beach Naval Shipyard picnic reunion committee.

                    Also going to bed late as we've had a small crime wave of breaking and entering and car theft all within 50 yards of my house. So I have our two dogs as our early warning system and a .357 magnum as a final warning.

                    Oh yeah, a friend is coming over later today to help me build a new fire pit in the back yard.

                    I think.
                    Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by desertswo View Post
                      I guess you haven't met too many recent high school graduates, have you?
                      funny you asked, I was a Navy recruiter from 2007 till 2009, out of Elko Nevada (easiest way to locate it, 4 hours east of Reno, 4 hours west of Salt Lake City and 4 hours south of Boise) my small 2 man station tied one of the biggest stations in NRD Portland for nuclear power recruits.. but your right, your average high school graduate can't pour piss out of a boot, with the instructions written on the heel.

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