Awesome Thread

Hmm, as much as I love big battleships and aircraft carriers, I've always wondered about their role in modern warfare. Especially aircraft carriers, which always need to operate with a fleet of other ships around it and appears to me like a big floating target.

With aerospace tech evolving at such a phenomenal rate, it seems to me that these days jet aircrafts can pretty much take over the traditional roles of destroyers and aircraft carriers thanks to ever-improving range, heavier firepower, increased stealth and advanced electronic sensory systems.
 
Flying aircraft carriers. Now that would be awesome.
 
nsx_23 said:
Hmm, as much as I love big battleships and aircraft carriers, I've always wondered about their role in modern warfare. Especially aircraft carriers, which always need to operate with a fleet of other ships around it and appears to me like a big floating target.

With aerospace tech evolving at such a phenomenal rate, it seems to me that these days jet aircrafts can pretty much take over the traditional roles of destroyers and aircraft carriers thanks to ever-improving range, heavier firepower, increased stealth and advanced electronic sensory systems.
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Yer, but the aircraft have to take off from somewhere!
Carriers are about power projection, ie. going and giving Johnny Foreigner a shoeing even if he's hundreds of miles away and over the horizon.
 
^I bought This:
78344.jpg
 
stiggles said:
Yer, but the aircraft have to take off from somewhere!
Carriers are about power projection, ie. going and giving Johnny Foreigner a shoeing even if he's hundreds of miles away and over the horizon.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but these days aircrafts have extremely good range, and you can always refuel mid-flight.
 
Extremely long flights are tough on the pilots though, particularly in tactical aircraft where they are stuck in the seat with no chance to move around. Sailing an airport closer to the target makes the logistics of operating on the other side of the world much easier.
 
Which is why the US 2018 bomber will have UAV elements to it.
 
XeroState said:
The K234, a flower-class corvette [worst class name ever?], launched in Oct 1941
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Loving the naval pictures. However Flower class corvettes may have a rubbish name but were awesome little ships, cheap and plentiful they were the backbone of the convoy support in WW2. Read The Cruel Sea and Three Corvettes by Nicholas Monsarrat for beautiful stories of life on board these.
 
The biggest Airfix kit I ever bought was a 1/72 model of HMCS Snowberry, a flower class corvette.
 
nsx_23 said:
Hmm, as much as I love big battleships and aircraft carriers, I've always wondered about their role in modern warfare. Especially aircraft carriers, which always need to operate with a fleet of other ships around it and appears to me like a big floating target.

With aerospace tech evolving at such a phenomenal rate, it seems to me that these days jet aircrafts can pretty much take over the traditional roles of destroyers and aircraft carriers thanks to ever-improving range, heavier firepower, increased stealth and advanced electronic sensory systems.
Click to expand...

i think i see what your saying and that is why the battle ship was fazed out. I was on the ground in a combat zone and there have been plenty of times where it was just more practical to call for Naval fire than for bombers. destroyers are for big hits needed now, bombers are for scheduled hits. fighters can only carry so much. as far as the purpose of the carrier, its quick strike. thats it. im no Navy guy, but, something about a carrier group off the coast of my country is very intimidating.
 
Twerp128 said:
Figured I'd hijack a photo from my cousin's facebook. It's a functioning deck gun replica, not sure the scale but you can tell with the quarter. Right now he's making a 2 cyl. water cooled combustion engine, everything custom made right down to the valve springs, not sure on the scale of that either, but it's probably 2"x3"x3".

https://pic.armedcats.net/t/tw/twerp129/2009/07/06/4537_1002821849982_1807922515_1463_1463472_n.jpg
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i need a mini lathe in my life. i NEED it everyman needs a good lathe. And a mini forge. why do my parents hate me?
 
nsx_23 said:
Hmm, as much as I love big battleships and aircraft carriers, I've always wondered about their role in modern warfare. Especially aircraft carriers, which always need to operate with a fleet of other ships around it and appears to me like a big floating target.

With aerospace tech evolving at such a phenomenal rate, it seems to me that these days jet aircrafts can pretty much take over the traditional roles of destroyers and aircraft carriers thanks to ever-improving range, heavier firepower, increased stealth and advanced electronic sensory systems.
Click to expand...

The range of fighter aircraft hasn't really improved since 1945. A carrier means you can have aircraft anywhere in the world in a couple weaks who are completely self sufficent for months on end. There is no alternative for such a system.
 
nsx_23 said:
Especially aircraft carriers, which always need to operate with a fleet of other ships around it and appears to me like a big floating target.
Click to expand...
That "fleet of other ships around it" makes it not such an easy floating target. Woe unto thee who think "hey, an aircraft carrier, that's an easy target".
 
^Hmm, but it means whenever an aircraft carrier goes somewhere, there has to be a big convoy around it to make sure it stays safe...

Just seems so clumsy having to mobilize so many units as soon as the carrier needs to travel, but then I'm no military expert.
 
 
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