There’s a great deal of talk about the attack on two US warships in Jordan yesterday. While others have looked into who carried out the attack, who might have ordered it, and just what it all means, I decided to take a different tack — to look at the technical aspects of the attack.
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While the first Kearsarge was named after a mountain in New Hampshire, the subsequent ships have been named after that first ship. It was a Civil War era sloop-of-war (the equivalent of a WWII light cruiser) that fought and defeated the Confederate raider Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg in France. Since then there has been a pre-dreadnought battleship and an aircraft carrier named Kearsarge before the LHD
I had to watch that film about that one aircraft carrier catching on fire and explosions and whatnot as a part of OBC. I think they’ve figured out it’s not a good idea to stick explody things in the helicopters and stuff until they’re ready to leave now. it makes them less…explody.
also, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard this before, USS Cole got sunk because they didn’t have enough Marines on board to search the frickin’ boat. these days they’ve got the 50 cals locked and cocked, ready to rock 24/7, so I’m amazed they didn’t meat with Allah before they could get the first round off.
Actually I believe the Cole was sunk because they weren’t allowed to put out and intrediction efforts. They were in a “freindly” port. I have fire the type of rocket Jay Tea is talking about and they are a bit more accurate than he suggests. I doubt this attack was intended to cause serious damage but was more likely an attempt at disruption or possibly a probe of security, however if I had a mortar and wanted to cause some damage to warships in port let me intoduce you to a little thing called White Phosphorus. Drop a couple of those on the deck and watch the hilarity ensue as everyone scrambles to put out fires. If you are lucking the damage control teams get it washed overboard before anything really serious ignites if you’re not you have a fuel fire and hell breaks loose.
My first ship was a Whidbey Island Class LSD, the Ashland was one hull number after us. A soild ship, but a big target, the forward part of the ship (we called it the hotel) is a big flat square structure that is filled with the deployed Marine living quarters and ship’s crew quarters. Not many explody things in there, but lots of soft targets if something should penetrate the bulkhead.
The aft section of the LSD is all flight deck and the main deck covers a 400 foot long ‘well deck’ which when deployed is fully loaded with all the Marines ‘junk’ (guns, humvees, AAVs, and of course the LCACs. The LSD doesn’t have a hanger, so in port there would be no flying things on deck (not neccesarily the case with the LHD which while deployed may have to stage some craft on the top deck), also while deployed we had the forward of two landing pads chock full of more of the Marine ‘junk’ ready to go below and be offloaded on the beach.
You are right that fire is the biggest scare for a Navy ship, and as a result something that the sailors (and Marines) train very hard to be the best they can be at it.
Um… guys? The Cole wasn’t sunk. She was badly damaged, but stayed afloat. Bit of an important distinction…
J.
While I appreciate your thoughts that if they had hit either the USS Ashland or the USS Kearsarge, it probably would not have caused much damage, unless someone was on deck, let us not forget what it would have been like if there had been sailors or Marines on deck, or if the rocket hit the Kearsarge and penetrated to the hanger deck.
As the parents of a Marine on the Kearsarge, I can assure you that we and other Marine parents did not feel that the news was something that we viewed as “all sizzle, and no steak”. However, I know enough Marines that their first instinct would have been to “Get Some”and want to “discuss”the folly of firing at them.
forget about london, moron?
My father flew F4’s off the carrier USS Kearsarge during the late 1950’s. Personally I always find that an amazing fact.
I think the point has been missed by many – that even though the attack missed it’s mark, it caused the USS Ashland to hastily leave port. That in itself is a major move scored by these attackers who have now created increased military paranoia about port calls, dockings, resupplying and r&r for crews. Ashland departed so rapidly that some crew members were left ashore. Extrapolate.
Maybe the rockets did their job. One hit in Israel and one in Jordan, threatening U.S. vessels and causing us to start blaming each other!
What good helpful suggestions you have all posted for those looking to improve their chances of taking out a ship!
Our forces are able to adjust to whatever is thrown at them. Certainly this latest “attack” created a situation in which plans had to be adjusted, but having 10 years Navy experience, I can say with a high level of confidence that it did not cause too much of an inconvenience.
As far as the Cole incident, I sent two of my men, (we were close by), to assist in clean up/repair. Their description of the ships condition and the grief the crew was feeling over the loss of 17 of their fellow crewmembers was, to say the least, quite depressing.
But we go forward regardless of what weapons are used against us, or who the perpetrators are.
You silly, silly person. You conservatives attacked Kerry during the 2004 election when he suggested that we would win the war on terror when the acts of terror were not much more than “nuisances.”
Nothing like getting literal, hey Dave? There’s a huge difference between describing a nuisance as acceptable and describing something as a nuisance without any implication that it IS acceptable.
I don’t know about these 2 ships, but the class of ship I was stationed on, an FFG, is made mostly of steel, but has some aluminum components.
Very bad if aluminum catches fire.
The fires on board USS Stark (37 sailors killed) and USS Samuel B. Roberts were intensified by the aluminum construction.
Wow, a nuisance eh?
Not they way our duly elected President tells it………
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-20T151402Z_01_MOL050830_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-BUSH-DC.XML
“Our troops know that they’re fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere to protect their fellow Americans from a savage enemy”
“They know that if we do not confront these evil men abroad, we will have to face them one day in our own cities and streets, and they know that the safety and security of every American is at stake in this war, and they know we will prevail,”
And what about Spain, London, and Egypt? Guess they dont count.
Attention Meeting, Dave: “savage” is not a synonym for “incompetent.”
Why don’t you also take pleasure in people trying to kill Americans, and failing miserably? I, personally, find it encouraging that they are now reduced to lashing out so impotently. Not that that’s any reason to ease up, but it is heartening to me.
Awaiting the “false sense of confidence” meme in 5… 4… 3…
J.
LSD – Large Sitting Duck
A derogatory nickname for the USS Kearsarge was/is the “Queer Barge”.
The Whidbey Island (if it is still commissioned) was converted to a command ship and has antennas all over the help deck now and doesn’t carry marines anymore.
Al Qaeda were never “mighty”
The author almost seems disapointed that the rockets missed their targets.
This guy needs to be checked out, which is what I’ll do now, and have the ability. Adios meatheads.
Don’t waste too much of your Adelphia broadband connection having me “checked out,” Classified. Just poke through the archives around here — I’ve spelled out just what I believe in quite thoroughly.
J.
The author almost seems disapointed that the rockets missed their targets.
To come to that conclusion, you’d have to be missing several key brain lobes.
How about remembering the attack on the USS Liberty June 8, 1968.
The attack lasted several hours and involved jet planes with bombs & napalm. This was followed up
with torpedo boats, and survivors were machine gunned.
There were twice as many casualties and injuries as on the USS Cole.
The whole affair was hushed up.
Check it out yourself.
The USS Reagan aircraft carrier has a pretty amazing NBC response of flooding the entire flight deck with a lot of water. It would seem useful on anything that carried fuel and explosives on deck.
And… aircraft carriers do have armor. It’s called a pack of cruisers and destroyers. 😉
How about remembering the attack on the USS Liberty June 8, 1968.
Um, I’ve heard extensively about it. Mainly because Israel was involved, people like you keep bringing it up. If it were Britain, it would be a footnote.
Ukraine actually SHOT DOWN a random airliner in a non-combat situation in 2001 and you never hear about THAT. Of course, in that case, Jews died, so people like you don’t care.
All this extraneous stuff is all beside the point. The point is they attacked or tried to attack two of our ships; and, one dropped in “Israel.” Until authorities finish investigating all the “facts” we don’t know the intent of any of the missles or objects. As I understand it, one didn’t explode. So there is that one device to be explored.
All the bickering about who said what about past incidents is just a distraction. All the psat comparisons to unrelated events is a distraction.
Personally, I think if Al-Qaida did this then they are getting desperate. They usually “don’t” miss. If it was a Al-Qaida “??” group, they weren’t very effective, either.
But it does appear they wanted to either stir things up or test security. It may even be a distraction from something else they are planning elsewhere on a grander scale that will “succeed.”
In any case, I would never under estimate any terrorists enemy or get distracted from the here and now!