Aircraft carriers - floating coffins?
When children play war, they spend more time not shooting, but arguing: "You are killed!" "No, not killed! You missed!" The older the children are, the worse. I remember one player in "Dungeons & Dragons" who cried when his hero was killed - he did not speak to us for years, all grieving for his dead elf.
Exactly the same dispute, reproduced by the world press, since August, the US armed forces have been leading. Believe it or not, these are still more whiners and sufferers than virtual role-playing gamers. Information plums and information plum charges, custom articles and a lot of good old malicious slander.
It all began with the military exercises "Millennium Challenge 2002", which we arranged this summer in the Persian Gulf. The big scandal happened because the commander of the forces of the conditional enemy, General Paul Van Ryper, refused to participate in the middle of the exercises, because everything was arranged in the exercises so that the troops of the United States defeated. According to the scenario, the States invaded a nameless country of the Persian Gulf (either Iraq or Iran). The States tested their new doctrine for the use of the combined high-tech forces, so van Ryper, naturally, went for any low-tech tricks that he could think of to spoil everything. When the Americans jammed his control and communications channels with interference, he sent messages with motorcyclists.
But it was all empty tricks. Americans had nothing against it. Also, I suppose, they would congratulate Van Riper, treat him with a drink for ingenuity at the banquet after the exercises.
The truth is that van Riper created something so significant that I still can not believe that the central press did not unleash it. Having nothing but a few "small boats and airplanes", van Ryper managed to sink almost the entire fleet of the United States in the Persian Gulf.
The conclusion from here is simple and straightforward, like a skull box: not one of the combat groups of the US Navy, not one of the hugely wonderful aircraft carriers so loved by us, will not even last a day in battle against a serious opponent.
Command fleet tried to make a good face with a bad game, but it turned out they were very awkward. They simply announced that the sunken ships had "returned buoyancy" so that exercises could continue as planned. It is because of such pearls that the military is considered stupid. What a pity that Bonaparte didn’t think of this after Trafalgar: "My fleet, it will now return buoyancy!" What a pity that Philip did not demand to return the buoyancy to his armada when it went to the bottom: "Ay-ah, guys, this English is to sink my todos boat, chinga sus madres, so escuche: the el fleet is ahora again to sail, EXPLAIT?"
Everyone in this stories their motives to do so and not otherwise - starting with a retired US Marine General named Paul Van Ryper, a hero in the eyes of most readers. Even the Armie Times weekly, publishing this story, admitted that van Ryper has a reputation as a “rare bastard”, who does not tolerate high-tech scenarios similar to those tested by the military this time. He also has a reputation as a man who does not feed him with bread, let him put his bosses in a puddle of military exercises.
But such a fact must be a good commander of a conditional opponent. Perhaps this van Riper and a bastard, but after all the good generals are for the most part such. The same Patton was by no means one of those with whom you would have dreamed of getting stuck in an elevator. Rommel was even worse; They say how one morning somewhere in the desert Rommel announced to his staff officers: "Today is Christmas. Now we will celebrate it. Hans, how is your wife? Herman, how is your wife?" Without waiting for the officers to answer, Rommel said: "That's all for Christmas. And now - get cards."
And what van Riper would not have been guided by in his actions, do you seriously believe that the authorities, who “restored the buoyancy” of the sunken ships, objectively than he? Their careers are entirely dependent on the success of this operation, and they have exactly the same reason for lying or falsifying the results.
Harzuya on the Internet, the story continued to grow mud. The gullible types, who take at face value everything that the Pentagon says to them, decided to believe the command - that Van Riper is simply troublemakers. Paranoids, who think that the CIA even controls the weather, took it for granted that the results of the exercises were predetermined from the very beginning.
Many discussions have come down to the question of what the Millennium Challenge exercises are held for. The gullible warriors voiced themselves on the net: "After all, the whole meaning of military exercises was to identify weak spots! Therefore, it is natural that when Van Riper sank the ships, they made notes and resumed the teachings!"
The thought is good, but somewhat naive. Most military exercises are by no means neutral. They think like a demonstration of a new weapons or doctrines. The Millennium Challenge was conceived as a demonstration of the doctrine of high-tech joint forces. Therefore, when Van Riper sank the fleet, one can argue that the comrades who commanded them did not simply say: "Well done, old man! We should take note of your tactics in order to prevent similar failures in the future!"
What does not reach the majority of inattentive readers is that some of Van Riper’s actions are full of rubbish and not worth a jigger - but others are so dreadful that the US Navy will take more than one year to recover from them.
The same trick with sending messages with motorcyclists is a good example of actions that are widely publicized and give the impression of intelligence and ingenuity, but there is little sense from them. Well, you sent a message with the motorcyclist. First, they move at a speed of 60 km / h, in contrast to the almost lightning-fast radio waves. The loss is huge. What if the motorcyclist is attacked? And there is no message - or the message is intercepted. I would love to fight against the army, which has nothing better than motorcyclists.
But what Van Riper did to the United States fleet ... that is another matter. He had nothing at his disposal except small aircraft and watercrafts — fishing vessels, patrol boats, and the like. He told them to cut circles across the Persian Gulf aimlessly, infuriating the fleet trying to follow them. When the admirals finally lost patience and ordered all the planes and ships to leave, van Ryper sent them to the attack all at once. And they sank two-thirds of the fleet of the United States.
It should have scared the hell out of anyone who cares how much the States are ready to fight in the next war. After all, this means that a handful of Cessn, fishing boats and private craft in stock, equipped with good fighters and armed with anti-ship missiles, are able to destroy the US aircraft carrier. This means that hundreds of billions (yes, billions) of dollars invested by us in shipbuilding are thrown to the wind, cost nothing.
A few years ago, the commander of a United States submarine said: "The US Navy has two types of ships: submarines and targets." The fact that large surface ships are dinosaurs has become increasingly clear with each decade since 1921.
That was the year Billy Mitchell was finally given the opportunity to prove what he had been saying for years: large surface ships without air support have no chance against aviation. They did not hate anyone in the armed forces like Mitchell did for these words, but he was not going to shut up. Finally, thanks to the huge overabundance of military vessels remaining after the First World War, he got his chance. The German battleship Ostfriesland and three unclaimed American battleships were anchored off the coast of Virginia to see what three of Mitchell’s pimped bombs could do with them. Here you need to remember how big and formidable these "dreadnoughts" seemed to people in those days. They had the thickest armor, the largest weapons and the reputation of the most deadly killing machines on earth, on the sea. The idea that a plane could sink them seemed ridiculous to most people. Of course, the fleet command was in the know and tried by all means to stop the tests. They all too well understood what would come of it - and there was nothing good for their careers.
The little biplanes flew ... and sank all the ships. First a destroyer, then a huge German battleship, then all three states of the battleship. The Navy attempted to ignore the results, but, at every step, Mitchell began to move from the battleships as the basis of battle groups to aircraft carriers.
The British did not pay any attention to Mitchell's demonstration performances. Their battleships were better made, better armed and equipped with better crews. What will these japanese monkeys do to them when Britain has an unapproachable strong point in Singapore and the coastal waters are patrolled by the royal naval forces?
Three days after Pearl Harbor, the British found out what they would do to them. A powerful battle group led by the battleship Prince of Wales and the battle cruiser Ripalz set off to counter the landing of the Japanese in Malaysia and came across numerous squadrons of Japanese aircraft. A few minutes later, both ships went to the bottom, and the “Prince of Wales” was sinking so quickly that almost the whole crew sank with it. With the disappearance of the ship fence, His Insecurity Singapore fell at such a rate that the British still cannot speak on this subject.
The battleship in 1941, the aircraft carrier is now: a big, proud, expensive ... easy target. In World War II, aircraft carriers showed themselves to be powerful, but then there were no microchips yet. Now, when an enemy tanker is capable of launching 60 self-guided cruise missiles from a distance of hundreds of miles, no aircraft carrier will survive the first real battle.
Carriers are not only the largest and most expensive ships ever built, they are also the most vulnerable. Because one serious hit of a cruise missile, and aircraft can no longer take off from an aircraft carrier, its best weapon. They will go to the bottom together with the crews without firing a single shot.
This was the real lesson of the Millennium Challenge II. And that is why the Navy is so angry with Van Riper: he tore off their disguise. He showed all the boobies in their homeland that a combat carrier group could be sunk by "small aircraft and ships." When the weapon becomes smaller and more deadly, large targets simply cannot survive.
Calls were enough. In the Falkland War, the Argentine air force, which, in fact, “team A” cannot be called, managed to tear the British fleet to shreds, flying up at low altitude and high speed to fire the rocket Eksoset. And they did this hundreds of kilometers from their shores without the help of ground-based systems.
If the Argentines were capable of this with 1980 technology of the year, think about what the Chinese, Iranians, or North Koreans could have created in 2003 with a floating target the size of a city, which is a state aircraft carrier.
If your library has a copy of the "Jane" weapons systems directory, look in the section of anti-ship weapons. Among the standard weapons, it is possible that the old “Harpoon” is still leading, but it’s not at all necessary to possess such elaborate products. Anti-ship missiles are easy to manufacture and use, because surface ships are always slow-moving, leave giant marks on the radar and cannot dodge.
For some time, we may be lucky, as long as we rush to muddle like Iraq. And Iran? The Iranians are not cowardly slaves like Iraqis. They are intelligent, they are purposeful, and they hate us more than poison. Imagine how many small planes and ships the Iranian coast has. Imagine if each of them is filled with explosives and turned into a kamikaze. And now add here all the anti-ship missiles that Iranians have the opportunity to purchase on the open market. If you want to get scared for real, add one more atom bomb.
Aircraft carriers - floating coffins?
For example, the Iranians will apply the Van Riper method: they will fire everything at once from each ship, aircraft or boat, what they have, direct fire on the aircraft carrier. We hope for the valor of the sailors and suppose that they will shoot down 90% of the missiles flying into them. As a result, we still have a wrecked aircraft carrier.
Now let's try to change the scenario for the US against China off the coast of Taiwan. The Chinese have everything: submarines, airplanes, anti-ship missiles - the devil, but they TRADE with this good with other countries! I will say without any obscenities: not a single American aircraft carrier in a full-scale naval battle in Chinese waters takes even five minutes.
Let us return to the objection, which is surely lingering among many of you: “The Navy must have thought about all this!” What are you talking about? And who did not let the British think in 1940? There was plenty of evidence that the battleships are nothing more than giant coffins. They decided not to think about it.
What is now engaged in the US Navy. Here, after all, careers, and big money, and traditions. There was always a surface fleet; hence, it will always exist. Approximately this is the depth of their argument.
The day will come, and the second Pearl Harbor will come to us. Perhaps not this year - fighting with a clown like Saddam, the US Navy will probably survive, sending its aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf. But if Iran enters the cause, the aircraft carriers will not last a day. Have they ever been on the Chinese coast in wartime, they will erase from the face of the earth. Come combat carrier group close to the shores of North Korea ... what remains will not be enough even divers really admire the remains.
What is more disgusting is that admirals, captains and contractors know all about it. Damn it. Perhaps we deserve what happens to us. Only now will not die the authorities. Unhappy gullible boys on those aircraft carriers will die, unhappy suckers who thought that they would be trained and given a free ride around the world, or they might even get a chance to "defend America." They will perish, and not believing in the reality of what is happening, when all this giant shell starts to crack and go under water.
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