Reduction in Military Reduces Navy Size

Yo Barnacle-- notice how i broke that up-- Holidays?? the world keeps on turning and work keeps on churning,(did take a short break it was pleasurable ) Getting ready for the trip-- started overhauling the rig yesterday, not so pleasurable

 

What sanitary facilities do you have in your "rig"? Holding tank? Cassette?

 

Is that one hand praying for Obama to lose?
Very Zen!

 

Actually, it's the story about the privates wondering why all the officers was college grads and the grunts weren't even all high school grads. One volunteered to ask Lt. Lt put his hand in front of a shaggy barked tree and invited the soldier to hit it. He pulled away his hand in time for the private to bark his knuckles on the tree. Private got the lesson and returned to foxhole. His buddy asked what Lt said. "Here let me show you", said the private holding his hand in front of his face.

 

I honestly believe the Iraq war was the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of this country -- and it's going up against some stiff competition.

While I didn't have any facts and figure at my fingertips, that was the point I was trying to make earlier when I mentioned air freight vs. cargo ships. As much as they awe me with what they can do these days, airplanes simply can't compete with ships when it comes to tonnage and firepower. You aren't realistically going to carry out a saturation bombing campaign with bombers shuttling between the US and the Middle East.

And to be profitable, precision air raids need concentrated, high-value targets. With all the air power we had in the Vietnam War, we had no real answer for North Vietnam when it issued soldiers a rifle, a pair of sandals and a 50-kilo sack of rice apiece, pointed them south, and told them to start walking.

 

There's time to surpass that.
During the latest debate in NH, some candidates seem to want to go back to
Iraq, keep going in Afghanistan, attack Iran, and declare a trade war against China.

A while ago I saw some calculations explaining why it took so long to start
the Iraq campaign. Basically, even if all FedEx planes were commandeered,
they still wouldn't be able to move the materiel needed fast enough.

My interest is in other "high-value" targets, such as the victims of the Aceh
tsunami. Essentially, it's all just a logistic problem, whether the targets are
military or humanitarian.The US "100 knot Navy" challenge is interesting from
both aspects.

 

As long as no-one is left craving a navel, er, naval engagement, all is well.

 

The problem isn't the navy. The navy isn't in the cargo business. It's lack of a sufficient size or number of bottoms in merchant fleet. At the end of WWII, the US had the largest merchant marine in the world. Pres Eisenhour decided american flag ships weren't a good idea, in case of oil spills. Yes, that was a concern even in 1952. Forein flags if they spilled, the govt could exact compensation. The US merchant marine been getting smaller every since.

http://shipbuildinghistory.com/today/statistics/wldflt.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Merchant_Marine

An army may travel on it's stomach. My suggestion is a nations economy floats on it's bottoms. Even in the modern world!

The merchant fleet is ignored untill war time, then "Where are our ships?"

 

This is:

 

The American merchant fleet is non existent thanks to the Jones Act and American Seamen's propensity to sue when they stub their toe.

 

Well, I've been american merchant marine for 40 years? Captain more than 30 years. Ocean going ships, tugs, oilfield boats, western rivers boats, great lakes ships, even a mississippi paddlewheeler.
I've never met anyone who sued. Heard about it, but never met anybody.
You make it sound like all american seamen are crybabies. Untrue and unjust.

 

The Jones Act requires that all goods transported by water between U.S. ports be carried in U.S.-flag ships, constructed in the United States, owned by U.S. citizens, and crewed by U.S. citizens and U.S. permanent residents. The purpose of the law is to support the U.S. maritime industry.

Please explain how that has killed the American merchant fleet.

 

It killed it...there are no American ships. And the legal problems are so prominent that my insurance prohibits me from hiring American seaman.. Health care is triple cost.

The Jones act is protectionism gone wild.

 

American ships must be built, serviced and staffed by americans.

 

Have a read Troy...then pound your fist on the table .........

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/06/08/to-save-the-gulf-send-the-jones-act-to-davy-jones’-locker/