America's ‘big stick’ arrives in the Philippines

[CoffeeRulzMe]

20 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I don't think "all your toys on one ship" exactly applies for one carrier.  There are a huge amount of assets protecting each carrier, including on the ship technology, underwater, on the water and in the air.  Sinking one would certainly be a big win for an enemy, but extremely hard.

The Roosevelt battle group:

Here is a link to a chart of USN ships:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a15297/us-navy-entire-fleet/

100% correct. Plus the eyes in orbit up in space.

 

[Reboot]

22 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

I don't think "all your toys on one ship" exactly applies for one carrier. 

And for all the talk about a carrier being obsolete, everyone who doesn't have them, wants them. China certainly does. 

[Reboot]

 

22 hours ago, GeoffH said:

 

That's basically why china are building infrastructure on those south china sea islets, they're trying to create an area where they can deny (if they choose) passage of other ships during a military conflict.  And it costs less.

 

For China, it's maintaining access to the sea that is paramount. It's geography.

China is a continental nation, but more than 90% of what goes in and out of the country, does so by sea. So in effect, China is practically like an island nation, although the country is trying to diversify through the One Belt One Road initiative to connect all Eurasia overland.

But an island nation that cannot control the seas around it is always at risk. It cannot be a great power. Britain, another island nation, learned this and built the greatest navy the world had yet seen. It succeeded and created a global empire.

Japan understood this, and embarked on that path as well. It beat the Russians in a huge naval upset in 1905, shocking the world since the country was just decades removed from feudal isolationism. The US understood this also, leading to the Great White Fleet under Teddy around that same time. Then Japan attacked the US to gain supremacy in the Pacific a few decades later after securing an overseas empire, which failed.

China believes in itself, and believes this is its time to reclaim its place in the world after a long period of "shame." Securing sea access is of first importance to China. The country cannot feed or power itself without imports.

But again, it's geography that makes things difficult for China.

China's coast is ringed by a long chain of islands running down through Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines. From those islands, sea access to the wider world can be denied. So that's a big reason why China is grabbing islands that do not belong to it.

From its own land, and those islands, it wants to be able to deny access to any other navy in the world. The country has built a huge inventory of missiles, including anti ship missiles. It also wants Taiwan, not just for its own sake (which is important to Chinese nationalism, but to have greater control of its near seas. The country has been meddling in the Maldives also, for similar reasons (much to the annoyance of India).

But that same strategy can be turned against it, since land based area denial weapons can be deployed along the entire first island chain.

China is a rising power and the problem is finding out how to allow it to rise while keeping things peaceful. Everybody's worried. Germany and Japan were once rising powers challenging existing ones and look what happened.

By the way, the Japanese just started up their first marines unit since WW2.  https://www.trtworld.com/asia/japan-activates-first-marines-unit-since-wwii-16697 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Reboot

[Reboot]

https://qz.com/1251960/china-just-conducted-its-biggest-ever-display-of-naval-power/

The Liaoning is a Russian retread. It can't hold a candle to a Nimitz class supercarrier (let alone a finished Ford class), along with the US decades of experience in carrier operations....but still. This is impressive. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Reboot

[Jack Peterson]

7 minutes ago, Reboot said:

https://qz.com/1251960/china-just-conducted-its-biggest-ever-display-of-naval-power/

The Liaoning is a Russian retread. It can't hold a candle to a Nimitz class supercarrier (let alone a finished Ford class), along with the US decades of experience in carrier operations....but still. This is impressive. 

 These people only let us see what they want us to see, I would be more worried what was in the garage 

[Reboot]

5 minutes ago, Jack Peterson said:

 These people only let us see what they want us to see, I would be more worried what was in the garage 

And there's the ability to use what you've got that is key. I am not keen on the strike that just happened in Syria, but the operation was a ballet of military brilliance.

On the subject this is really worth reading:

https://theaviationist.com/?p=53071

The Chinese have no such experience (and let's hope they never feel the need to acquire it). From memory, the last time they had a serious fight was when they went into Vietnam after we pulled out. Vietnam's forces were full of hardened warriors. Decades of fighting experience. China probably thought it had a cakewalk on its hands against a smaller southern neighbor, but it got its clock cleaned. That was like 40 years ago.

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Reboot

[virginprune]

On 4/15/2018 at 6:53 AM, Dave Hounddriver said:

America's ‘big stick’ arrives in the Philippines

ABOARD THE USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Published April 14, 2018 11:05pm 

 

 

War porn!

[Jack Peterson]

1 minute ago, Reboot said:

China got its clock cleaned. That was like 40 years ago.

 

 They may have learned a lesson then as we should all do. But the Element of Surprise should not be underestimated, I am sure those in Syria have now learned that too.

[GeoffH]

The Liaoning is probably better compared in capability to the new British Queen Elizabeth class carriers than the larger US carriers and China will soon have 3 (all somewhat different) carriers which will give them a larger force projection capability than any country other than the US.

 

That can’t be ignored from a strictly pacific viewpoint.

Edited April 16, 2018 by GeoffH

[Reboot]

4 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

The Liaoning is probably better compared in capability to the new British Queen Elizabeth class carriers than the larger US carriers and China will soon have 3 (all somewhat different) carriers which will give them a larger force projection capability than any country other than the US.

I really hope the Brits do more to build up their Navy. If the Argies took to the Falklands again, they might not have the resources to be able to take them back again, unlike last time. Even last time it seemed to be touch and go, with Exocets and Reagan wanting to get them a fresh ship.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Reboot