The Future of Current Battleships

[Deleted member]

It's been a long time since I watched that film. I really must see it again. It's probably on Netflix or Google.

There was talk about a sequel that saw another CVN getting involved in the Battle of Midway. It languished in development hell for a few years and then died. A pity that.

Not as one-sided as one might think by the way. Torpedo planes coming in very low and slow were seen as a serious threat right up until the early 1970s.

I have seriously thought that if a second nation with a large carrier force existed in the 60s-70s that wasn’t definitely friendly to the US it might have a jet torpedo bomber for carrier ops, built like a flying tank and designed to carry very heavy torpedoes developed to launch at speed. In the ground attack role it would certainly be able to carry a huge number of iron bombs or rockets and be perfectly useful as well.

 

[Francis Urquhart]

The old Royal Navy had a system where a promising youngster could be promoted up through what we would call the enlisted ranks and eventually be promoted to take command of a small ship. Only, he wasn't the Captain, he was the "Master and Commander" and he was joining all the other Master and Commanders who had joined as midshipmen. The big break would come when he did something distinguished (like take a ship of greater force as prize). Then he would be promoted to a ship that was designated as a Post Ship, that is, a ship commanded by an Honest-to-God Captain. After he was "made post" he would go up through the ranks in dead man's shoes. It wasn't a perfect system but at least one Admiral of the Fleet in the Napoleonic Wars started his career on the lower decks.

By the way, you mentioned earlier pilots on riverine patrol craft. Yes, those craft did take pilots on board, from USAF, US Navy, Marine Corps and Army. They were forward air controllers, tasked with bringing in air strikes and putting them on target. Usually a team of two, a pilot and an enlisted man who carried the radio (we can't expect intrepid birdmen to actually work for a living can we?). The FAC concept actually came from General Pete Quesada in 1944 who had seen the idea used by the RTAF in 1941. His original teams were all-army ground personnel but experience showed that pilots were better at steering aircraft in to a given attack point. So, the FAC duty became one that was rotated around pilots. It was (and apparently is) very popular with pilots because it gave them a chance to collect battlefield souvenirs that they wouldn't otherwise get to collect.

Usually, ground FACs had a jeep with a radio. They were replaced for a while with airborne FACs but the trend now is to switch back to ground teams.

 

[Sailor.X]

The old Royal Navy had a system where a promising youngster could be promoted up through what we would call the enlisted ranks and eventually be promoted to take command of a small ship. Only, he wasn't the Captain, he was the "Master and Commander" and he was joining all the other Master and Commanders who had joined as midshipmen. The big break would come when he did something distinguished (like take a ship of greater force as prize). Then he would be promoted to a ship that was designated as a Post Ship, that is, a ship commanded by an Honest-to-God Captain. After he was "made post" he would go up through the ranks in dead man's shoes. It wasn't a perfect system but at least one Admiral of the Fleet in the Napoleonic Wars started his career on the lower decks.

By the way, you mentioned earlier pilots on riverine patrol craft. Yes, those craft did take pilots on board, from USAF, US Navy, Marine Corps and Army. They were forward air controllers, tasked with bringing in air strikes and putting them on target. Usually a team of two, a pilot and an enlisted man who carried the radio (we can't expect intrepid birdmen to actually work for a living can we?). The FAC concept actually came from General Pete Quesada in 1944 who had seen the idea used by the RTAF in 1941. His original teams were all-army ground personnel but experience showed that pilots were better at steering aircraft in to a given attack point. So, the FAC duty became one that was rotated around pilots. It was (and apparently is) very popular with pilots because it gave them a chance to collect battlefield souvenirs that they wouldn't otherwise get to collect.

Usually, ground FACs had a jeep with a radio. They were replaced for a while with airborne FACs but the trend now is to switch back to ground teams.

It is also where the time honored tradition of trolling the Flyboy came from. It is Naval Tradition after all.

 

[Francis Urquhart]

It is also where the time honored tradition of trolling the Flyboy came from. It is Naval Tradition after all.

Indeed so - and painting rude words all over his aircraft if he landed on the wrong carrier.

 

[Shipmaster Sane]

We should give them to Japan as an ironic gift.

 

[Deleted member]

The old Royal Navy had a system where a promising youngster could be promoted up through what we would call the enlisted ranks and eventually be promoted to take command of a small ship. Only, he wasn't the Captain, he was the "Master and Commander" and he was joining all the other Master and Commanders who had joined as midshipmen. The big break would come when he did something distinguished (like take a ship of greater force as prize). Then he would be promoted to a ship that was designated as a Post Ship, that is, a ship commanded by an Honest-to-God Captain. After he was "made post" he would go up through the ranks in dead man's shoes. It wasn't a perfect system but at least one Admiral of the Fleet in the Napoleonic Wars started his career on the lower decks.

By the way, you mentioned earlier pilots on riverine patrol craft. Yes, those craft did take pilots on board, from USAF, US Navy, Marine Corps and Army. They were forward air controllers, tasked with bringing in air strikes and putting them on target. Usually a team of two, a pilot and an enlisted man who carried the radio (we can't expect intrepid birdmen to actually work for a living can we?). The FAC concept actually came from General Pete Quesada in 1944 who had seen the idea used by the RTAF in 1941. His original teams were all-army ground personnel but experience showed that pilots were better at steering aircraft in to a given attack point. So, the FAC duty became one that was rotated around pilots. It was (and apparently is) very popular with pilots because it gave them a chance to collect battlefield souvenirs that they wouldn't otherwise get to collect.

Usually, ground FACs had a jeep with a radio. They were replaced for a while with airborne FACs but the trend now is to switch back to ground teams.

Speaking of which, I wonder if our navigation problems wouldn't be helped by recreating a Sailing Master warrant because it seems officers have overspecialized in other things and no longer devote enough time to learning navigation and shiphandling...