Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
- Status
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Off top of my head I think one of these ships carried around 20 Harriers during 2003 invasion of Iraq, after this the high command found that these flat tops could provide decent air cover, as result the two air centric Ameirca Class LHD was suggested which did materialise
Using one of these ships exclusively for fighter aircraft turned out be success and was looked upon favourablely by the navy
If you think about it, a America Class can essentially free up a super carrier if it can provide its own air cover, in some circumstances this can lead to a big advantage and allow a super carrier to focus on what it does best
Using one of these ships exclusively for fighter aircraft turned out be success and was looked upon favourablely by the navy
If you think about it, a America Class can essentially free up a super carrier if it can provide its own air cover, in some circumstances this can lead to a big advantage and allow a super carrier to focus on what it does best
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
Here it is found a picture USS Bataan I count 19-20 carriers
Two of them were used.
There's over 30 Harriers on these two Wasp Class vessels in this picture, and they were probably carrying 40. Think of that, particularly loaded with F-35Bs, in comparison to other carriers that are coming out and you can see how the US, if needed, could really field upwards of twenty carriers at once if it had to.
Last edited:
Blackstone
Brigadier
This is one of my favorite pics when it comes to Naval Power and the US Navy.
Not one of these 40,000 ton+ vessels is considered an "Aircraft Carrier" in the United States Navy, yet in a Sea Control Carrier mode, each one of them could carry 24 VSTOL aircraft for carrier operations.
In addition to the 11 nuclear aircraft carriers, the US Navy currently has 10 of these vessels. And with 22 Ticonderoga Class AEGIS cruisers, 62 Arleigh Burke Class AEGIS destroyers, and 40 Los Angeles Class and 10 Virginia Class SSNs, the US Navy has plenty of vessels to escort them.
Pax Americana!
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
I dont think they could deploy 20 flat tops at once, very unlikely, under the fleet response plan (FRP) on a 30 days notice USN could manage 7 fleet carriers 8 I think under 60 day notice deployment based on a 11 carrier fleet
Infact under the plan USN can surge 7 and ready another 2 in a 90 day period to rotate the ones initially deployed, this excercise was called Summer pulse '04 at a time when USN had 12 carriers
I guess it's probably same for LHD, so with the current strength USN of 10 carriers and 9 amphibious assault ships I would think that they have 13-14 deployable flat tops at anyone time, that's 7 carriers and 6-7 of the amphibious assault vessals
That's why I said "upwards" of twenty.
The US Navy could get eight-nine carriers and eight-nine LHD/As out at a time if they absolutely had to once both are at full strength of 11 vessels each. That's 16-18.
And, in a serious war time scenario, like particularly early in in World War II, everything available was out...and short of major damage, any problems were turned around very, very quickly and they were sent right back out. The US got so good at this that several times when the Japanese thought that they had sunk the USS Enterprise, they thought the US had more carriers because the Enterprise would show up a few weeks later and be fighting them again.
Those would be desperate times...but in those times, people do amazing things.
Last edited:
asif iqbal
Lieutenant General
I don't get it, your saying they can deploy 16-18 and also saying at the same upwards of 20?? Which one is it
LoL, he said US Navy can deploy an average of 16-18 with a maximum of 20 in a wartime scenario. As of now, rotation is inplaced to reduce cost.
16-18 is "upwards" of 20. In English, "upwards," of something means a number approaching it.
- Status