Aircraft Carriers

I was looking at the soon to be an "expermintal ship" USS Siapan LHA-2 website and found out that the Siapan did some experiments with UAV's. Very intresting. Here are some pics

18 AUG 2006, An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) “Scan Eagle” is launched & recovered on the flight deck aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Saipan (LHA 2).

I wonder why the does , since Chile has very little strategic depth? Argentina can't afford one, but Chile is rich, and Brazil had a CV for years. I heard that Bolivia may resort to arms, if necessary, the to the Pacific.

There were rumours after the Falklands War that Chile had been offered HMS Hermes at a bargain price as a reward for assistance during the conflict, and considering how much of the pacific the Chilean Navy has to patrol a CV would make a lot of sense. I've speculated previously that Chile may be in the running to purchase one of the Invincibles when they are retired (Invincible herself won't be on the market until 2010), since they already operate a number of ex- RN frigates and destroyers this would make integration of a large and complex vessel easier, as the engineering plants are very similar for a start. Of course this would also allow Chile to eclipse their neighbour Argentina for the first time in over a century, and national pride is a force that should never be under estimated in South America.

I read also, that during the eighties the need of carrier was so prestige to Chile that there were even plans to convert old Brooklyn class Cruiser, O'Higgins to carrier....

On 9 January 1951

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was transferred under the Mutual Defense Assistance Program to Chile, where she was renamed O'Higgins, and served there into the 1980s, finally being sold for scrap in 1991..Sold to Chile following WW2 and re-named Capitan Prat,

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served for many years in the Chilean Navy.

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Now it's my turn to say "it wasn't worth" converting them to CVs!

If they really wanted a carrier in the eighties, up until 84 they could have had HMS Bulwark and were free to bid on Hermes up until 86. Both would have been a much better deal than converting O'Higgins which was much smaller and much older.

Bulwark has always been linked with similar Peruvian ambitios to aquire a carrier....

I think in the case of these So. American countries it's more a case of pride over need as far as having an aircraft carrier is concerned.

Remember during the Falklands war Argentina did not commit her CV to the fray. Although some of her CV aircraft were involved.

well main threat of what against all S.american navies are planned to be used
are the other S.american navies.
And in that, carrier, even a modest one, is clear advantage and it brings some of the most basic features of sea borne aviation in to completely different ligth if compared to other parts of world...

Change of subject..

The USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 is presently in the Northrup-Grumman shipyard in Newport News VA undergoing a major Re-fit. The re-fit know as a Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH), will take 3-4 years and will include re-fueling it's nuclear core. The re-fit will keep CVN-70 in service another 25-30 years.

Newport News, Va. (Jan. 5, 2007) - Employees of Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard install new propellers on USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) in dry dock in Newport News. The shaft and propeller project is a major milestone in the aircraft carrier's Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH), and is one of the final major components of outside-the-hull work before the ship's undocking later this year. U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Matthew Dewitt