Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?

[Llarry]

With aesthetics as the top priority for our ships, I would suggest two measures to improve the look of American aircraft carriers:
1) The flight deck is typically very visually cluttered with aircraft, aircraft handling equipment, etc. Let's reduce the clutter by stowing the entire air wing on the hangar deck. Just bring them up when you want to launch.
2) The straight line of the flight deck is not aesthetically pleasing. Make it curvy.

Anybody with me on this, or is it just POTUS and me?

 

[taxi1]

just POTUS and me?

Might even just be you on this one.

 

[Llarry]

Might even just be you on this one.

I recognize the first aesthetic modification requires trade-offs; the new carrier air wing would probably be a single VFA, a reduced size VAW with perhaps two E-2Ds and a det with just a few helos. But since everything below the hangar deck would be the same, you'd have terrific fuel and ordnance capacity for the wing, reducing unrep needs. You'd need many fewer personnel for the much smaller wing; new JOs would have spacious staterooms and LCDR-up would have suites. I think of it as a win-win. But of course a major lose on combat effectiveness.

 

[sevenhelmet]

I recognize the first aesthetic modification requires trade-offs; the new carrier air wing would probably be a single VFA, a reduced size VAW with perhaps two E-2Ds and a det with just a few helos. But since everything below the hangar deck would be the same, you'd have terrific fuel and ordnance capacity for the wing, reducing unrep needs. You'd need many fewer personnel for the much smaller wing; new JOs would have spacious staterooms and LCDR-up would have suites. I think of it as a win-win. But of course a major lose on combat effectiveness.

Since nobody would ever build it anyway, does combat effectiveness even matter any more?

I’m kidding… sorta.

 

[Griz882]

I recognize the first aesthetic modification requires trade-offs; the new carrier air wing would probably be a single VFA, a reduced size VAW with perhaps two E-2Ds and a det with just a few helos. But since everything below the hangar deck would be the same, you'd have terrific fuel and ordnance capacity for the wing, reducing unrep needs. You'd need many fewer personnel for the much smaller wing; new JOs would have spacious staterooms and LCDR-up would have suites. I think of it as a win-win. But of course a major lose on combat effectiveness.

By the time we’re done converting our carriers to steam catapults there won’t be any manned strike aircraft anyway.

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carnegieendowment.org