Arrrr! No Quarter!

[PAR]

The mighty (2 years old) HMS Sheffield (spelling) didn't inspire much. The RN hasn't been much to brag about for some number of generations now.

For that matter, navies as a whole are through, as a viable force to be dealt with. With the exception of coastal patrol and possibly a handful of submarines, war doesn't need a navy anymore. It's sad to say, but 100 years from now there will not be a need for a navy.

The show of power a task force displays, parked off the coast of a country someone is pissed with can be impressive, but nothing like an alpha fly over with a selection of well armed attack aircraft. This is particularly true if the same buzzes the capital or major infrastructure. When weapons of every type can be deployed from 15,000 miles out, a navy is moot.

The exercises of futility, currently employed by navies around the world, development of faster, more heavily armed, better armored and stealth vessels is little more then the navy's attempt at staying worthwhile a little longer. A century from now, combat aircraft will mostly be unmanned. We'll be picking the roof top ventilator we want the bombs to hit, launch and recover all from a comfortable chair, in a secured room, sitting in front of a number of monitoring screens.

This isn't something new. Our ability to increase the kill range of a target has been increasing ever since we gave up clubs and chose rocks and slings to do battle. 100 years ago the best we could do was a very reliable few miles away, but not terribly accurately. We can now drop a piece of ordinance on something (within a foot or so) over thousands of miles. In the next century, we will have similar advances and will be able to attack a target anywhere on the globe, with pin point accurately, likely with little more then voice command.

[Bergalia]

Blasphemy, PAR...unfortunately true.
But are you willing to explain this to all those retired (but handsomely pensioned) admirals - roughly one for every 30 serving ABs in the RN ?

[FAST FRED]

"We'll be picking the roof top ventilator we want the bombs to hit, launch and recover all from a comfortable chair, in a secured room, sitting in front of a number of monitoring screens."

More likely that the UAV will relay thousands of cellphone messages to the satelite to be voice rec scanned and the missle will target the cell phone user, as he speaks.

Far less messy for targeting Islamofachist trash that hide in orphanages ,
with CNN or Al Jezera cameras ready to show the "carnage", when located.

FAST FRED

[PAR]

I suspect we'll have more advances that are currently realized. Possible a DNA specific pathogen flown to the target, by a house fly sized RC or self contained control, delivery system. Piss off the CIA and an incurable cold from hell will dehydrate them to death in a few days, maybe force them to cough up their lungs in the process. No mess, no fuss, no orphanages to use as shields, just verification of mission success, which could be possible with thermo sensitive imagery.

[Thunderhead19]

I saw that movie, THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN. The CIA makes me sad....

Jeeze! Can't we all just get along, eh?
Here, have a brew, y' hosers, and keep yer eye on the puck!!!
Later, if you're really well behaved, we'll go moose-tipping and shoot some gophers.

[Thunderhead19]

I saw that movie, THE FALCON AND THE SNOWMAN. The CIA makes me sad....

Jeeze! Can't we all just get along, eh?
Here, have a brew, y' hosers, and keep yer eye on the puck!!!
Later, if you're really well behaved, we'll go moose-tipping and shoot some gophers.

[safewalrus]

Few hundred years and we'll still need the PBI (Poor Bloody Infantry) to mop up and claim the land - the whole idea about war is to steal the other chaps real estate! No matter how smart you are you still need to get your arse in in there and claim it after you've blown the f*** out of the opposition - and you'll still loose a few! thats why real countrys have Navies and most Importantly Marines (some better than others but still Marines) Apart from Oz who still use 'bluejackets', why we won't go into here but Bergalia can tell 'ee [same reason the Duke of York and Albany raised his First Maritime Foot back in 1664!]

[Bergalia]

Australia has no need for marines...every man (and some women) are equipped like Errol Flynn....

I just know that some Tasmanian is going to remind me that Errol came from the 'Apple Isle'... But 'we' mainland Australians still count it as part of the colonies....

[safewalrus]

Aaar, he were a 'family' man then [for explanation ask any fine Australian!]

[safewalrus]

Have 'ee noticed lots of names in Tasmania have Cornish origins (family men 'one and all'

[Wellydeckhand]

Gallipolli ....... butterfly tatoo.... not a flag

[safewalrus]

The incident you referred to Thunderhead? did it not have some 'swopbillet' Canadians amongst the Crew - good stuff this 'cross training' or was it 'cross dressing?' your never sure with the 'odd' heilander in the crew!

What really worries me about all this technobabble futuristic military waffle is that anyone might actually believe it!

Lets get real here - a towel headed camel jockey can demolish the two world trade centres AND the pentagon in just ONE days work...and you can't even find the goat herder what - 5 years later?, when anyone with even HALF a brain has known ALL that time, he is sitting safe as houses in The Muslim enclave in XingXian province just over the border from Afghanistan, in China!.

What amazes me is how everyone falls for Bushes and Condi rices sleight of hand and the speeches etc about how they will get Osama.. heck they pulled the wool over your eyes right there on the TV screen with the oldest pea and shell sleight of hand trick known to man!

Bush, Condi, Donald and Dick, ALL stated to a man when invading Afghanistan after 9/11 that they had troops on the ground (including some of our elite SAS) who they claimed would get Osama, if he crossed into pakistan, or if he crossed into Azerbijahn, or into Turkey, or if he crossed into india...they even had a map!

Only thing was- theres 6 countrys with borders to Afghanistan, not 5 and the map they ised was neatly cropped to hide that border and not ONE speech mentioned it....and one of em's China!

Yep - Osama was in China signing a joint defense pact with the Chinese on behalf of Al Queda, and Mullar Omar was with him...on the day of 9/11!

But - here we are 5 years later, bombed Iraq looking for the weapons of mass dissapearance...and about to use tactical battlefield nukes against Iran at the end of next month...and we can't even get ONE camel jockey?...

Gimme strength!

OK Maybe Saddam DID have WMD capability and yes it likely went to Assad in Syria...

But really people, Billious and Hillaryous were doing China white (cocain) deals with the Chinese right back in the whitewater days...

Do you know - your American Penn fishing reals are even made in China now???...

Your making that "communist" nation wealthy beyond belief, while it harbours Osama, and has threatened repeatedly Taiwan - and helps that cerrtifiable cook, Kim Jong Il in Nth Korea to get nuclear weapons... and we console ourself that our technology will save us?

I personally think thats what will bring us undone - over reliance on our technical superiority.

You know - it's that very technical superiority that the fanatical towel heads use against us- they recognise it is our weakness and they exploit it!

Saddest of all is we taught em (the mujahadine/Osama) how to think outside the box like that as guerilla's - when fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, and now they successfully use it against us!

I think we are in for a very big wake up call any time soon when our technology fails us in time of need!.

When we open this Iran pandora's box - there will be no putting the lid back on it!They have a 100 million standing army....with Russia as their allies (not to mention probably most of the arab nations in the middle east like Syria).

Thats just what I think, tho and what the heck would I know? I learn most of what I know from the internet!

Cheers!

[safewalrus]

What makes you think the powers that be WANT Sammy bin Liner? He's more use running around free! After all how can you justify the large defence expenditure against an enemy who's a prisoner in Guantanermo Bay!

[Thunderhead19]

Originally Posted by safewalrus

The incident you referred to Thunderhead? did it not have some 'swopbillet' Canadians amongst the Crew - good stuff this 'cross training' or was it 'cross dressing?' your never sure with the 'odd' heilander in the crew!

That's right, we're all swashbucklers looking for action. We didn't really have a navy in them days. So, no, no swopbillet.