USS Enterprise Takes Its Final Voyage

westlake writes "The AP is reporting that the world's first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Enterprise, is to be retired after fifty years of active service — the longest of any warship in U.S. naval history. Its final deployment will take it to the Middle East and last for seven months. The big ship has become notoriously difficult to keep in repair. As an old ship and the only one in its class, breakdowns have become frequent and replacement parts often have to be custom made. Despite its place in naval history and popular culture, Enterprise will meet its end at the scrap yard rather than being preserved at a museum. This is expected to happen in 2015, after the nuclear fuel has been removed."

Comments

That's odd

[koan]

Final voyage to the Middle East for an old hard to maintain ship, one wonders if something will befall the ship while there since it is apparently "expendable".

Re:That's odd

[daveschroeder]

...ahh, you're one of those who buys into the "Enterprise false flag" conspiracy theories? That Enterprise will be sunk, and that Iran will be blamed as an "excuse" to attack it?

Figured some loons would post on this article, but didn't expect it to be the FIRST post. Bravo.

Re:That's odd

[koan]

Wait... there's already a ""Enterprise false flag"" conspiracy theory?

Re:That's odd

[Hognoxious]

It's a false Enterprise false flag conspiracy theory.

Re:That's odd

[Y-Crate]

Wait... there's already a ""Enterprise false flag"" conspiracy theory?

You're talking about the same type of people who really believe the planes that hit the World Trade Center didn't hit the World Trade Center, or if they hit the World Trade Center they didn't have people on them, or if they had people on them they were controlled by robotic pods. And that this was just to somehow cover the REAL method of destruction which was extensive demolition charges in the buildings that no one ever noticed, because flying a plane into a building somehow wouldn't be enough to destroy it so there needed to be a REAL method of destruction that the planes somehow didn't provide. You're talking about the same people who really believe the people trapped above the impact floors weren't trapped, that the photos of them were falsified and took place on a set because the window sizes don't look right - which had nothing to do with the fact any first year photography or film student could tell you that zooming from 1/4 of a mile away will distort perspective.

It's a pathological desire to undermine anything that is believed by anyone. It's not healthy distrust, it's a creepy, nonsensical obsession with being the one, unique snowflake who sees things how they "really are".

Every little bit of information presented to them is disputed due to "inconsistencies" but their basic theories are routinely rewritten over the course of an argument. Their own truth isn't even stable, because they're not stable. Being in opposition to commonly-held beliefs is the only thing that sustains them, and they define themselves and reality solely based on that stance. Nothing else.

Re:That's odd

[gman003]

It also makes sense to put the best one there, since it would be best equipped to fight back.

Or, if you have the resources, put the weakest one closest, with as many other better ones nearby as possible, so you can take the first hit (and thus be "justified", whatever that means) and then immediately fight back hard.

And indeed, that's likely the case. CVN-70 Carl Vinson and CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln are currently in the Gulf as well. And CVN-68 Nimitz is under way to relieve Lincoln - if the timing is right, both will be in the Gulf when the shit hits the fan, meaning four aircraft carriers (nearly 360 aircraft) plus the accompanying ships (four cruisers, eight destroyers, four attack submarines and various supply ships).

Re:That's odd

[grumling]

I love their reactions to me presenting them with the following facts about WTC:

1) It was built on a shoestring budget
2) In the 1970s.
3) Using mob-connected contractors
4) By the (at the time bankrupt) City of New York.
5) Using an untested "open floorplan" design, with over 90% of the building hollow.
6) And some of the first recycled steel.

It's a wonder the damn things stood up at all.

But no, it's much easier to believe they were built to outlast the pyramids and a bunch of CIA types planted detcord throughout.

Re:That's odd

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

If you look at the current aircraft carrier deployment, you'll notice that 'hanging around the middle east' is a very popular activity among aircraft carriers, with 'maintenance' the runner up.

Further, given that it was CNV-72, the very much not obsolete yet, Abraham Lincoln that had the dubious honor of passing through the Strait of Hormuz(ie. within range of practically anything not classified as a 'small arm', the Enterprise certainly hasn't been obviously singled out as the sitting duck.

Re:That's odd

[koan]

It doesn't have to be destroyed.

this is all it took for Vietnam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident

Re:That's odd

[cold fjord]

Sadly, these links never go out of style.

Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report
Questions and Answers about the NIST WTC 7 Investigation
World Trade Center Disaster Study

Re:That's odd

[PPH]

If the entire crew is wearing red shirts, I'd worry.

Re:That's odd

[Y-Crate]

And sadly, the facts aren't even an issue for them. They define themselves based on their opposition to what's accepted. It's solely a case of being "special" enough to see the "truth", while the rest of us are "sheep".

That's what it's about. They'll create, and continue to create vast conspiracy theories that don't even match the last theory they said was the absolute truth. Their theories clash with their own theories. It's just about being different, and elevating your own worth above that of other people who are seen as dumber than you and need to be saved from themselves.

9/11 isn't even really the issue, it's merely a symptom of their own malignancy.

Re:That's odd

[ScuzzMonkey]

"Considering how much talk there is of an enterprise false flag operation, if it was ever intended it probably won't happen because of all the talk about it."

That's just what they want you to think!

Re:That's odd

[Y-Crate]

"Nano-thermites"?

"Little passenger plane"?

You're talking nonsense. It's not even an argument against what I said, it's merely words that have no real connection with reality being written down for the sake of opposing what I said.

Which is at the core of the 9/11 Truther M.O.

Re:That's odd

[lennier]

...ahh, you're one of those who buys into the "Enterprise false flag" conspiracy theories?

Bah, everyone knows it's the Reliant which is the real false flag.

What's actually going to happen is that Admiral Greenert is going to "borrow" the Enterprise so he can take it to Genesis Island to retrieve the body of Admiral Rickover and reunite it with his katra, which is temporarily stored within the mind of ex-President George W Bush.

Re:That's odd

[drooling-dog]

I guess it's one straw man against the other here. Either all of the wacky conspiracy theories are credible - despite their incompatibilities - or the Official Version of events is gospel truth (at least for the 30 or 40 years that the truth still matters).

But if you're in power and need to bend recent history for some purpose - like starting a war - your best move is to get as many nut-job theories into circulation as you can. That way the real truth gets lost in the circus and yours is the only one left standing.

Re:That's odd

[DesScorp]

If the entire crew is wearing red shirts, I'd worry.

I was in the ordinance section ("G" section) on Big E. Aviation ops staff... ordinance, flight deck ops, fuel, safety, etc... all wear color coded shirts. The fuel guys wear purple shirts. Safety guys white, flight deck guys blue, plane captains brown, etc. Ordinance wore red shirts. So yeah, I was a redshirt on the Enterprise, and lived to tell about it :P

Re:That's odd

[Runaway1956]

Lemme just ask some retarded questions. I'm terribly stupid, naive, uninformed, ignorant, and whole bunch of other horse shit. Oh yeah, can't forget batshit crazy.

With that out of the way - just how large an aircraft do you think would be required to destroy your home, if it were to crash into your home? Alright - how large a plane would be required to destroy your city hall? Your high school? Come on - THINK about it. Have you ever seen a mere 5-gallon can full of nothing but gasoline vapors explode? It's fucking DESTRUCTIVE, man! It will tear your goddamned HEAD OFF!

Now, imagine the explosive power in an automobile's gas tank - 10, 14, maybe 20 gallons of gasoline. Put that in your house. Ignite. Add a bottle or two of pure oxygen - remember, those high altitude aircraft come equipped with an oxygen source, large enough to supply all the people aboard, just in case.

Have you absorbed that yet? Fine - let's move on. How many gallons of aviation fuel did those jetliners carry? I don't even know - but I know damned well that even almost empty, they held more fuel than your family car - or an 18-wheeler.

Pull our heads out of our asses? No - I suggest you study physics.

Skyscrapers aren't exactly "stationary" to start with. They sway. They bend, They stretch. Just like Romper Room, "Bend, and stretch, reach for the stars!"

Impact one side, at a predetermined elevation, in the process destroying some structural elements, and delivering an explosive charge along with some nice long lasting flammables. You don't NEED to bring the building down. All you need do is to destroy SOME structural members, weaken some more - and wait for the building to bring itself down.

And THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT WE SAW ON 9/11/01 ! ! ! ! !

Those buildings stood for quite a long while after the impacts. It took TIME for them to finish destroying themselves. But, once those impacts, explosions, and fires were started, it was only a matter of time until they fell.

Pull our heads out of our asses, indeed.

Re:That's odd

[AK Marc]

It's the issue of people trusting "common sense" above everything else. "common sense" says they stated they built the buildings to wiithstand this event, and nothing has ever been shown that discredits this (as, if the building standards were wrong and it was a valid requirement, why aren't 90% of tall buildings in the US condemned for not meeting safety requirements at the time they were built?). So, it "should" have survived. That it didn't in reality was because the steel "melted" (melted as in got sufficiently weak through heating and expansion from heat, not turned to liquid), and that happened because the design was to withstand a plane crash, and to survive burning fuel, but not to survive a plane crash with burning fuel. How stupid would one have to be not combine the two? Ask the "tsunami or earthquake, but not tsunami and earthquake" power plant.

The core of all "truthers" is wrong common sense being elevated above all else.

Re:That's odd

[AK Marc]

Which parts are lies is hard to determine, but the official story clearly contains lots of lies,

I've never seen one probably false statement in the "official story." I'm a fireman, so we are taught to never say anything to anyone for that exact reason. The "official story" is the one published on paper from the commission, not any verbal statements made by any "official" or anything else like that. So, what's the lie?

Here's an exercise in futility: review the data and evidence surrounding 9/11 in an open and honest way. You will probably reach the conclusion that there was some sort of inside job,

I have. You are wrong. What now?

Re:That's odd

[mschuyler]

Confirmed. The Nimitz is now in home port Everett, Washington after a week or so of sea trials. It may very well be scheduled to relieve the Lincoln eventually, but they haven't left yet. Also, they just got to Everett. They have been at PSNS Bremerton for the last 15 months undergoing maintenance.

Re:That's odd

[Anthony Mouse]

No, you're talking about people who know history. It's full of documented false flag events, that's primarily how war is waged to gain public support, because generally most people are against going to war.

I've come to a conclusion about conspiracy theories: They don't matter. They don't matter if they're true, they don't matter if they're false, they don't matter if the aliens abducted you and changed the bits in your brain to make you think they're true or false. They don't matter.

Because it doesn't change anything. You're not going to convince anyone one way or the other. The conspiracy theorists will just make rationalizations and the government is never going to admit to a false flag operation until well after it stops mattering whether it was or not.

The problem is not false flag operations. The problem is that we're all so stupid that we allow ourselves to get manipulated into spending trillions of dollars on bombs and coffins as a result of bullshit propaganda. The War on Terrorism is a stupid failure of an idea. The War in Iraq is a stupid failure of a war. These facts do not depend on how the towers fell. The problem is not false flag operations, it is irrational overreactions to malicious instigators.

The next time some stupid halfwits manage to kill a large number of people in the same place, stop thinking about revenge, and never again say "Something Must Be Done." Just prosecute as many of them as are still alive and then get on with life. Because any other response is letting the terrorists win, whether the terrorists work for the government or not.

Re:That's odd

[PopeRatzo]

The problem is that we're all so stupid that we allow ourselves to get manipulated into spending trillions of dollars on bombs and coffins as a result of bullshit propaganda.

Boy, ain't that the truth.

Even worse, the people who profit from war know exactly which notes to hit to get everyone to stand up and march around and DEMAND WAR. It's as if the run-up to the Iraq War never happened, when you think about Iran. The same people, saying exactly the same thing, about going to war in the same region, for the same reasons. In five years, we'll be hearing, "Well, everyone agreed at the time that Iran's nuclear weapon program had to be stopped, so you can't really blame anyone for deciding to get involved in a costly, unnecessary war".

The amazing thing is how they've got this formula down to an exact science. The same faces on my TV: Michael Ledeen, Paul Wolfowitz. John fucking Bolton. All looking grave and serious. "We have to stop Iran or it's curtains", they say. Somebody writes an op-ed in the New York Times or Wall Street Journal questioning the rush to war and BOOM! "He's not patriotic", they say, "He's anti-American". The next thing you know the guy who wrote the op-ed finds his entire life under attack. Maybe his wife loses her job. He's collateral damage. And still, in five years, they'll say, "Everybody thought for SURE that Iran was building a bomb", and they'll forget all about Joe Op-Ed Writer.

The other night I heard some guy who teaches at the Naval War College. He wrote a book called "Rush to Judgement" about how someday historians will all agree that George W Bush was our greatest president and how absolutely necessary the Iraq War really was. It was on some right-wing talk show that just a little earlier had Victor Davis Hansen, and (guess who!) Michael Ledeen talking about how weak little Israel is totally going to bravely take out Iran's burgeoning nuclear arsenal and how Israel is the only thing standing between the world and total nuclear winter because of Iran's thousands of nuclear weapons, which they will absolutely have next week unless the feckless islamo-fascist in the White House finally wakes up and immediately starts playing Driving Miss Daisy with Bibi Netanyahu playing the role of Miss Daisy. Oh, and then that Kenyan pretender steps aside to let a real man, oh, I don't know...maybe somebody like Mitt Romney, run WWIII because everyone knows a Democrat can't win a war. And Romney is a job creator and a venture capitalist and so he is totally the kind of guy you want leading the troops into battle with his years of military experience as a Mormon missionary in third-world countries like France. In fact, he's just like Patton when you think about it. Sort of a cross between John Galt and Winston Churchill with better hair.

It's nauseating how predictable it all is. And it's terrifying how they can just get away with it again and again. But I guess when you've got major media networks owned by military contractors, it shouldn't be a surprise that the media is so willing to let this predictable scenario play out. But fucking hell, I'm weary of it.

Re:That's odd

[cold fjord]

Calm down dude, and explain why WTC7 came down.

I can help you with that.

Questions and Answers about the NIST WTC 7 Investigation
World Trade Center Disaster Study
Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report

Re:That's odd

[Suiggy]

And you're doing the exact same thing, attempting to elevate yourself as having a superior intellectual position using the same techniques and ad hominin generalizations while ignoring any contradictory evidence which actually is objective and factual.

The only difference between people like yourself and so called "conspiracy theorists" is the amount of trust or distrust one assigns to certains collections or groups of people such as corporations, governments, and nations.

It all stems from group dynamics and evolutionary psychology and it is ingrained into the human condition. No human can escape it, not you, not me, no one.

Re:That's odd

[tragedy]

On the one hand, I know that there are plenty of evil conspiracies that governments engage in to further their goals. The Nazi's burned the Reichstag to gain popular support. Some factions in the CIA conspired to fake and/or actually commit terrorist attacks on US citizens and blame them on Cuba to start a war with Cuba (the Northwoods documents are real, but they were never green lighted by the President, but the CIA agents behind it still planned it and sought approval to do it and even specifically talked about manufacturing another "remember the Maine" incident). The FBI under Hoover pulled off a huge list of dirty tricks including COINTELPRO... Governements, including the US government, pull off all kinds of dirty tricks. It frankly wouldn't surprise me if there's a few proposals floating around for all kinds of false flag operations they can pull off to justify a war with Iran (it wouldn't even surprise me if sinking a ship such as the Enterprise were in one of those proposals).

Conspiracies are real things. They happen in real life. The events of 9/11, for example, are proven to be a conspiracy... by a group of mostly Saudi terrorists. Whether there was actually any US government participation in it is another story. I think it's quite likely that there was some, but probably not in the grandiose secret hidden demolition charges way most of the conspiracy theorists seem to think. Just like the first World Trade Center Bombing, various intelligence and law enforcement agencies seem to have had their eye on the people who did it, but still let them go about their business and possibly even provided some material support here and there. Law enforcement and intelligence agencies do this a lot. They monitor and sometimes infiltrate criminal and terrorist organizations and cultivate "informants" and double-agents. They let small crimes (and sometimes big ones) get by in order to build up for really big takedowns. Consider FBI informants "Whitey" Bulger and Stephen "the rifleman" Flemmi who were getting away with murder and eliminating the competition with FBI protection. Let's face it, sometimes they commit out and out entrapment and manufacture crimes. Some may argue that the ends justify the means and maybe they're right, but they seem pretty hard to justify to me. So, maybe some in the US government actually did give the 9/11 terrorists a pass, or even provide them assistance just to see what they would do or to give them a chance to commit a terrorist act (which they could swoop in and heroically prevent). I'll even concede that I wouldn't put it past some of the kinds of people in these positions to allow a terrorist attack to occur just to have an excuse for a war. That, sadly, does not stretch credibility to the breaking point.

Having said all that, most of the conspiracy theories around this stuff are nuts. For example, your nano thermite paint idea. Why, exactly would that be necessary? How would it even be practical since a layer of thermite paint couldn't produce enough heat to do much more than slightly warm the very thick steel we're talking about? Why would it even be necessary given the damage from the collision and the furnace from the burning jet fuel (and everything else flammable in the building)? Has anyone claiming it's what happened bothered doing any research or experimentation? Most of the really vocal conspiracy theorists seem to be really bad at the physics of the real world and to be terrible at logic. Like the ones who insist that the Pentagon was hit by a missile because the hole in the wall wasn't the same size and shape as the front profile of the plane that hit it and don't understand that: A. a jet plane is a flying, hollow, aluminium can and the Pentagon is a re-enforced concrete fortress and B. it would require the people behind the conspiracy to simultaneously be brilliant enough to pull off the elaborate conspiracy, but stupid enough to use a real plane in three other places, but use a missile in a fourth.

Then there's the moon hoax conspiracy idiots who consiste

Re:That's odd

[dbIII]

There are people that think it is a self evident truth that the US government is so powerful that it can only be harmed or halted by itself. That's the reason we get the unshakable "inside job" viewpoint like the one above. They don't understand that portions of government can be as competant or incompetant as any other large group.

Re:That's odd

[GameboyRMH]

A building pre-rigged with explosives would be a deathtrap in a fire, and the explosives have a limited shelf life anyways. Also the holes where demolition charges are planted structurally weaken the building. There's a reason why access to demolition-prepped buildings is carefully controlled.

Not to take anything away from the Big E...

[daveschroeder]

...but the USS Constitution is the "world's oldest commissioned warship afloat", having been launched 21 October 1797.

As for the USS Enterprise (CVN 65), some video memories:

USS Enterprise at Sea
USS Enterprise Flight Operations

"Fate protects fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise."

Fair winds and following seas.

Re:Not to take anything away from the Big E...

[Anonymous Coward]

They did say the longest in "active service", not by commissioned date.

Re:Not to take anything away from the Big E...

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the Constitution a myth that got replaced by corporate money?

Wow. Captcha is 'bribery'

Re:Not to take anything away from the Big E...

[navyjeff]

The USS Constitution wasn't continuously in service. There were several breaks, including a few years between the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812.

Ref. 1
Ref. 2

Safety First!

[Rotworm]

The big ship has become notoriously difficult to keep in repair.

For instance, the holodeck safety protocols continually go offline.

Re:Safety First!

[owlnation]

When did the holodeck ever work as planned? I assume its software was designed by the great, great, great, great, great grandson of the guy who thought IE6 was a good idea.

Seriously, no-one thought of sandboxing the holodeck? Even after the first 10 times the ship got pwned by it?

Re:Safety First!

[lennier]

Seriously, no-one thought of sandboxing the holodeck? Even after the first 10 times the ship got pwned by it?

In the 1980s, it seemed totally unbelievable that every passing alien ship could drive-by root their holodeck.

The sad thing is, the older I get and the more I experience real Internet security, the more depressingly probable that scenario seems.

Good show Big E.

[phrackwulf]

That's a lot of hard work and a huge number of sailors who have sheltered and lived in a small floating city. There's a new world coming though. Submersible carriers protecting the Atlantic Confederated States will be something to see once the Chinese realize they need somewhere to put all those new citizens looking for an exciting new life and a daily wage.

Re:Causality Failure...

[hawguy]

But how will Kirk and the crew save the Whales and get back to the 23rd Century without that "nuclear wessel"? (evil grin)

They went back in time to 1986, so retiring the ship now won't affect the whale recovery. Geeze, what are they teaching kids in school today? Apparently not Starfleet future history.

Gulf to Gulf

[some old guy]

The "Big E"'s first combat deployment was in the Gulf of Tonkin, on Yankee Station. As a veteran of TF77 (The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club) I find it appropriate that her last cruise will another Gulf...the Persian. Too bad there's nothing to compare to Subic Bay in the Mideast for R n' R.

Bravo Zulu, CVN-65

Re:Gulf to Gulf

[DesScorp]

"Too bad there's nothing to compare to Subic Bay in the Mideast for R n' R."

We once defended people who liked to party and fuck. Now our opponents AND clients are religious fanatics who BOTH hate "freedom".

I've been to Subic several times. In my younger stupid days, I once drank so much at the Tennessee Club in Olangapo City, that I had alcohol poisoning for three days afterwards.

I also wised up and got out of the regular sailor party haunts and actually saw some of the rest of the PI. And far from being a country where people like to "party and fuck", it's one of the most deeply Catholic countries in the world. Outside of Olangapo, the rest of the PI looked at the areas surrounding the Naval (and Air Force) bases as a kind of Filipino Sodom and Gomorra, a stain on the country and an embarrassment. We weren't all that popular once you got outside those gates. Filipinos were truly grateful for our chasing off the Japanese and rebuilding infrastructure after WWII, but were resentful for our continued presence. And yes, they thought... probably not illogically... that we were a bad influence on their kids. We were essentially kicked out just a few years after my time of service.

I think you'll find that overseas US bases are no different from overseas bases of the British Empire or the Roman Legions. Young horny troops with money to spend will always attract party people, prostitutes, and vice operations eager to take their money. Pretty sure there were Jewish hookers servicing those Roman soldiers in Judea back in the time of Jesus. It surely didn't make Judea a land where people liked to "party and fuck". So I think you're looking at the world in a rather skewed lens.

Re:Gulf to Gulf

[couchslug]

I served 1981-2007 and saw the changes first hand. The military will stay full with or without religious fanatics.

I owe no religion respect. I respect willingness to fight, but the military climate before it began to fill with Evangelicals was much more to my liking.

It has to be scrapped

[Animats]

Sadly, it has to be scrapped. Removing the reactors requires cutting out decks from the flight deck down to all eight nuclear reactor compartments. The hull gets towed to Bremerton, WA for disposal. The reactors, less fuel, go to a trench in Hanford, Washington.

Efforts towards the next Enterprise

[oracleguy01]

There currently are petitions to name the next unnamed planned Ford-class carrier (CVN-80) Enterprise. I personally hope CVN-80 will be named Enterprise.

See: http://ussenterp.epetitions.net/signatures.php?petition_id=1870 and http://www.petitiononline.com/CVN80ENT/petition.html

Custom made parts

[damn_registrars]

Aren't most parts for US Navy vessels custom made regardless? I don't recall seeing a section at WalMart for warship parts.

Re:Custom made parts

[DesScorp]

Aren't most parts for US Navy vessels custom made regardless? I don't recall seeing a section at WalMart for warship parts.

Most modern US warships of a class are constructed with modern modular techniques, with tooling at the ready to reproduce standard, common parts. The Nimitz class... like all of our other modern warship classes... was basically built in modular parts in an indoor factory, and then put together piece by piece at the yards. You can look up pics of modern carrier construction where they're using cranes to lift factory made sections into the ship, where they're welded and secured into the vessel. The Enterprise... a unique design... was built the old fashioned way, completely (and uniquely) built in the drydock itself from the keel up. So when a major part on a Nimitz needs replacing, they simply tell Newport News Shipbuilding, where machinists simply make one quickly and economically from an existing productions template. The Enterprise's parts have to very much be custom made.

Renovation Suggestion

[NEDHead]

Can't they just add a third nacelle and give it to some Admiral to use?

Re:Renovation Suggestion

[ehintz]

Better yet, sell it to a fiber optic dude by the name of L. Bob Rife...

Story is wrong:

[fyngyrz]

...to be retired after fifty years of active service — the longest of any warship in U.S. naval history.

The USS Constitution, launched in 1798, retired from active service in 1856, after 58 years of active service. And after that, she was turned into a school ship, then a whole bunch of that kind of service, and she's still afloat today, the official "symbolic flagship" of the US fleet.

Re:Story is wrong:

[vikingpower]

I was a junior Navy officer for some time, in a NATO-member Navy. One of the few things I learned quite thoroughly in that time was: "Never trust what an admiral says. Never. Ever. Find your own facts".

Re:Story is wrong:

[Malc]

Puh: that's nothing. HMS Victory was launched in 1765, and is still in commission. She's even older than the United States! You guys have some catching up to do.

Re:Story is wrong:

[Malc]

No need to focus on the negative old chap. Mind you, China will do the same to the US in a few years if they keep things up. Nobody stays on top forever.

Re:Story is wrong:

[gman003]

China's Army and Air Force are doing fine, but their Navy is in relatively poor shape. They're good enough to be a threat to anyone invading them, maybe even a threat to the locals, but even the Royal Navy could take them at this point.

They've got one aircraft carrier. One. Not even a full one. They bought an incomplete and stripped Soviet "carrier-cruiser", and are currently finishing and refurbishing it. It's designed to carry a mere 40 aircraft, mostly helicopters. Compare that to the 90 or so carried on the Enterprise or a Nimitz-class. Now, they somewhat compensate by having quite a few more missiles, including some pretty hefty AA, but they're as outclassed as a PDP11 on the TOP500.

Re:Story is wrong:

[petsounds]

Maybe, but when Chinese subs can surface within a US carrier group without the US knowing about it, the number of planes the Chinese carrier has becomes less of an issue.

Re:Story is wrong:

[cold fjord]

I believe most people would agree that Austria and Switzerland have the most trustworthy admirals.

Re:Story is wrong:

[fyngyrz]

USS Constitution is STILL in commission.

Actually, she's been de-comissioned and re-comissioned several times. So the "continuous" thing has some holes in it. The stretch I quoted was the longest in-service stretch where she was legitimately a member of the fighting force to be reckoned with.

Being assigned to the crew of Constitution is still a very much sought after posting due to the prestige of the posting. Only the very best and brightest ever get such duty.

Two members of my family have served aboard her; hence my particular interest.

Re:Story is wrong:

[koan]

Or an Italian Captain.

Re:Story is wrong:

[rthille]

The report can probably be taken at face value, but if it would be interesting if the US forces had been tracking the sub all along, but never let on that they knew, so China would be caught "flat footed" in any real conflict.

Re:Story is wrong:

[WindBourne]

Yes, they have exactly one Aircraft carrier. HOWEVER, they have 4 keels laid already. In addition, it is though that the last one is nuclear powered. Add to that some 20 boomers and 15 attack subs, with 1-2 new booms/1-2 new attack subs going to sea EACH YEAR, well, I doubt that you will consider them piss poor in about 5 years.

What else you are missing is that their space program is part of their military. All of this man flight and their new space station is actually a military base.

Then add to that the fact that they spend more of their GDP on military than does even America and that was 5 years ago. Since that time, the American DOD budget has been steady or dropped, while China's has increased 5-10% EACH year.
Quite honestly, you should consider a bit of humility.

Re:Story is wrong:

[Marcika]

The Swiss Army has a company-strength "navy" of lake patrol boats (Motorbootkompanie 10). As an army company, it is not led by an admiral.

I know better than to whoosh you, but to be a good pedant, you'd need to be technically correct...

Re:Story is wrong:

[Swampash]

This is the 21st century. Aircraft carriers are nothing more than floating coffins. Time after time in war game after war game, modern carriers go straight to the bottom - sunk by everything from 2-man crews in speedboats to ballistic missiles.

Aircraft carriers are the fucking Death Star and every man and his dog has an X-Wing and proton torpedoes. Floating coffins.

It was a beater in the 90's.

[dcherryholmes]

I remember finishing Nuke School in the early nineties, and one of my buddies went surface and got assigned to the Enterprise. It was kind of a good deal for him since he went straight to the shipyard instead of going out to see on a non-hoopty vessel. But we stayed in touch for a while after our assignments and I remember him telling me "dude, I will *never* go out to sea on this thing, I'll jump ship first." Obviously a bit of hyperbole involved, but the ship was showing its age even back then.

Re:It was a beater in the 90's.

[Anonymous Coward]

The condition of old ships can wax and wane based on the quality of the leadership and money invested. I was on Kitty Hawk during her last few years, and I had heard stories about how bad of condition she was in, however after repeated SRAs (Ship Repair Availability) in Japan, and a lot of investment repairing old systems, she was in much better shape in the end than her sister ships (Connie, America, JFK) and was the last decommissioned despite being the oldest. To be fair, Connie had a great rep and I never set foot on her, but America and JFK had bad reps. Repairing old aircraft carriers always involves a lot of custom work and fabrication, however at some point the things that start wearing out are parts that were NEVER planned on being replaced. You still can replace them, it just gets really expensive.

Re:It was a beater in the 90's.

[DesScorp]

I remember finishing Nuke School in the early nineties, and one of my buddies went surface and got assigned to the Enterprise. It was kind of a good deal for him since he went straight to the shipyard instead of going out to see on a non-hoopty vessel. But we stayed in touch for a while after our assignments and I remember him telling me "dude, I will *never* go out to sea on this thing, I'll jump ship first." Obviously a bit of hyperbole involved, but the ship was showing its age even back then.

Back in the late 80's, we had constant reactor safety drills on Big E. She's got eight old and unique reactors which even then required a lot more TLC than the two more modern reactors on the Nimitz class. I almost got to hearing those drills on the 1MC in my sleep they happened so often. "Emergency in number 3 MMR", etc. They were always drills, of course, but man... they happened a lot.

Re:Nuclear Powered Surface Ships of the World

[bruce_the_loon]

Chekov says "VOOOOSH"

carriers are people too

[Goldsmith]

As much as a ship like the Enterprise is important to the Navy (and it's hard to find one which is more important to the modern Navy), what is truly amazing about modern carriers are the way the people on them work together.

If you ever have a chance to cruise on a carrier, go for it. Watching launch and recovery of planes is amazing, particularly at night. People die if someone makes a small mistake, stands in the wrong place, leaves a tool or spare nut lying around, or sets the pressure on an arresting cable just a little off. So they don't do anything wrong. Several hundred people working together flawlessly is really something to see.

Re:Causality Failure...

[MorePower]

He showed up during the Eugenics Wars, which didn't get much press coverage because they happened at the same time as the O.J. Simpson trial.

Asbestos Kills

[drainbramage]

The plans called for the steel beams to be wrapped in asbestos.
By the time construction was in prgogree the use of asbestos was banned.
Blow on insulation was used.
Much of the blow on insulation got blowed off, the rest did not have the properties required to portect the structure from a prologed exposure to fire.