Aircraft Carrier's

[Timmyhoffa]

There's been talk of moving 1 of the 5 east coast carriers to Mayport, FL for years but the Virginia congressional team has fought it succcessfully so far. Right now we are down to 10 carriers, the Enterprise is awaiting defuelling in Newport News Virginia as of January. We are smarter with our west coast carriers, there's usually 2-3 in WA and the rest of the 5 in San Diego. Well, except for the USS George Washington which is forward deployed out of Yokosuka, Japan.

 

[Timmyhoffa]

A better question for those who may have more insight into things like this would be, has this ever happened since Perl Harbor? Is this normal or something we should be asking WT %@*< about?

I've served on three carriers over the past 12 years and have been stationed on the West coast, East Coast, and Far East coast (Japan). For better or worse this is a very common occurrence. I feel sorry for the guys in Norfolk, the parking by the carrier piers must be crazy.

 

[rlongnt]

I've served on three carriers over the past 12 years and have been stationed on the West coast, East Coast, and Far East coast (Japan). For better or worse this is a very common occurrence. I feel sorry for the guys in Norfolk, the parking by the carrier piers must be crazy.

Thanks, I feel a little better now anyway.

 

[dennishoddy]

I've served on three carriers over the past 12 years and have been stationed on the West coast, East Coast, and Far East coast (Japan). For better or worse this is a very common occurrence. I feel sorry for the guys in Norfolk, the parking by the carrier piers must be crazy.

I was a ground pounder in the service. I've always had a facination to tour an ACC

 

[3inSlugger]

Even if five carriers were destroyed in one day, we would still have the largest carrier fleet in the world by a large margin. In fact, the US Navy would then be able to support and escort the remaining carriers eeven better!

 

[SMS]

Of course you are 100% correct but as of today it would only take a single sheep dipped bad guy with a nuke & a cargo van to take out a massive chunk of our Naval air strike capacity. That is not a bet I would make.

If "they" can get a sheep dipped bad guy into the U.S. with a functioning nuke, they aren't going to waste it on a bunch of carriers.

Norfolk has seen a lot of ships in port at the same time for many years, it's not really anything new.

This is more "internet chain mail legend" that only takes a few seconds to look into:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/co...e/2013/02/the_truth_behind_the_aircraft.shtml
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/carriers.asp
http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/military/ss/Five-Nuclear-Carriers-At-Norfolk.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-...station-is-packed-tight-for-christmas-2012-12

 

[Timmyhoffa]

If "they" can get a sheep dipped bad guy into the U.S. with a functioning nuke...they aren't going to waste it on a bunch of carriers.

I wouldn't be so sure. Norfolk is an excellent target both because of the fleet concentration and the fact that it is a very densely populated area. Add in the fact that the USS Carl Vinson, the ship that launched the raid that killed Bin Laden, is homeported there and I could see why they might target it.

 

[SMS]

Not symbolic enough. New York, D.C., L.A. etc...

...or if they did decide to hit it, it wouldn't matter if there was 3, 4, or 5 carriers there. My main point is that the original story is bogus and just another internet chain mail, loose on facts that people get all "Oh Noez!" about without doing any of their own research.

 

[Timmyhoffa]

Not symbolic enough. New York, D.C., L.A. etc...

...or if they did decide to hit it, it wouldn't matter if there was 3, 4, or 5 carriers there. My main point is that the original story is bogus and just another internet chain mail, loose on facts that people get all "Oh Noez!" about without doing any of their own research.

I agree. It doesn't help that the Pentagon also announced that the USS Lincoln refuelling was postponed and that the USS Eisenhower was being short cycled to deploy in place of the USS Truman. The first is sequester related, the redeployment is more about "resetting" the carrier deployment rotation with all of the unexpected maintenance issues they have run into over the past few years and the "gap" in total carrier strength until the USS Ford commissions. Carrier maintenance is a crazy thing, I've done a complete refuelling and several smaller repair periods and not one has been completed anywhere close to on time.