"Pirate/Tramp Navy?"

Since the US Navy does not have the manpower or resources to deal with the pirates off of Somalia, Maybe a call for Veterans should go out. Naval and merchant service preferred, but not required. For ships they can snatch whatever surplus firepower that they can get their paws on (Vulcan Cannons, Bofors Cannons, old tank turrets, miniguns, etc..) and mount it onto whatever USNS vessels that can be pulled out of of the reserve fleets. Hell, there may even be something sitting in the reserve fleet on which a makeshift flight deck and hanger can be put together to fly old surplus National Guard Cobras from. This Pirate/Tramp Navy would be slow, ugly, probably not very professional, extraordinarily dangerous and politically incorrect, but I bet it would be effective and cheap by modern military standards. We don't need a first class front line naval presence around Somalia to get rid of those pirates. We just need an armed presence there. We can play their game and launch small craft from old ships to hunt them down and kill them.

I would love doing something like this, this is what the Pirates need an ass kicking!

submarinepainter wrote:I would love doing something like this, this is what the Pirates need an ass kicking!

me too Subster .

just park her or one of her sisters off the coast of Somalia. doubful she'd have to fire a shot.

namvet wrote:

just park her or one of her sisters off the coast of Somalia. doubful she'd have to fire a shot.

That is one Cool ship

she's ideal. perfect considering the Marxists is cutting back on high tech military hardware. massive fire power, age and paid in full. when she shows up Muslims run for their lives.
in Nam the New Jersey almost flattened the port city of HaiPong. she was an obstacle to the Paris peace talks. so we had to send her home.

All four Iowa class ships have been decommissioned. Three of them are museums and USS Wisconsin will be a one soon.

We could however clean out an old tanker or freighter and stuff it full of vertical launch tubes.

This will never happen, but I would love to see the 2 LHA's

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/07/07idx.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/07/0702.htm

and 4 LPD's

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0912.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0910.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0905.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0904.htm

that we have sitting in mothballs be dusted off, loaded with helicopters and patrol boats (Riverines at sea) and used to unleash merry Hell on to the Somali pirates.

Clubtender wrote:All four Iowa class ships have been decommissioned. Three of them are museums and USS Wisconsin will be a one soon.

We could however clean out an old tanker or freighter and stuff it full of vertical launch tubes.

This will never happen, but I would love to see the 2 LHA's

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/07/07idx.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/07/0702.htm

and 4 LPD's

http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0912.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0910.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0905.htm
http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/09/0904.htm

that we have sitting in mothballs be dusted off, loaded with helicopters and patrol boats (Riverines at sea) and used to unleash merry Hell on to the Somali pirates.

1 Iowa class can do the job of all these. and a lot cheaper. Reagan pulled em all out of mothballs. but we won't see any of these. not with this limp dick illegal alien in office.

namvet wrote:1 Iowa class can do the job of all these. and a lot cheaper. Reagan pulled em all out of mothballs. but we won't see any of these. not with this limp dick illegal alien in office.

As much as I would like to see the Iowa class back, it wouldn't happen no matter who is president. They are truly obsolete. If something is in range of a battleship's guns, the battle ship is well in range of whatever missiles that something may have.

On the open sea, a big gun battle ship is no match for a modern destroyer. A battleship can take out a destroyer at 20 miles. A modern destroyer can take out a battleship at 120+ miles. Big gun battleships can not defend themselves well enough in today's world to justify the expense of sending those national treasures to sea.

Granted, nothing says "you've got our attention" better than 16" guns barking away at someone's port, but some lucky bastard with a surplus Russian short range missile system could easily destroy that American national treasure before the battleship even knows that it is being fired on.

Clubtender wrote:

namvet wrote:1 Iowa class can do the job of all these. and a lot cheaper. Reagan pulled em all out of mothballs. but we won't see any of these. not with this limp dick illegal alien in office.

As much as I would like to see the Iowa class back, it wouldn't happen no matter who is president. They are truly obsolete. If something is in range of a battleship's guns, the battle ship is well in range of whatever missiles that something may have.

On the open sea, a big gun battle ship is no match for a modern destroyer. A battleship can take out a destroyer at 20 miles. A modern destroyer can take out a battleship at 120+ miles. Big gun battleships can not defend themselves well enough in today's world to justify the expense of sending those national treasures to sea.

Granted, nothing says "you've got our attention" better than 16" guns barking away at someone's port, but some lucky bastard with a surplus Russian short range missile system could easily destroy that American national treasure before the battleship even knows that it is being fired on.

they were equiped with cruise missiles. four Harpoon missile magazines, Phalanx anti-aircraft/anti-missile gatling gun systems, and electronic warfare suites

namvet wrote:they were equiped with cruise missiles. four Harpoon missile magazines, Phalanx anti-aircraft/anti-missile gatling gun systems, and electronic warfare suites

This can be replaced.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/01051.htm
CLASS - BURKE Flight I As Built.
Displacement 8373 Tons (Full), Dimensions, 504' 7" (oa) x 66' 11" x 20' (Max)
Armament 1 x 5"/54 RF, 2 Phalanx 20mm Guns, 90 VLS Cells,
8 Harpoon Missiles, 6 x 12.75" TT.
Machinery, 100,000 SHP; 4 GE LM-2500 Gas Turbines, 2 screws
Speed, 30+ Knots, Range 4400 NM@ 20 Knots, Crew 370.

Operational and Building Data
Laid down by Bath Iron Works, Bath ME on December 6 1988.
Launched September 16 1989 and commissioned July 4 1991.
Active unit of the US. Navy.
Homeported at Norfolk Virginia.

This can not be replaced.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/63a.htm
Iowa Class Battleship: Displacement 45,000 Tons, Dimensions, 887' 3" (oa) x 108' 2" x 37' 9" (Max). Armament 9 x 16"/50 20 x 5"/38AA, 80 x 40mm 49 x 20mm, 3 AC. Armor, 12 1/8" Belt, 17" Turrets, 1 1/2" +6" +5/8" Decks, 17 1/4" Conning Tower. Machinery, 212,000 SHP; G.E. Geared Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 33 Knots, Crew 1921.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by New York Naval Ship Yard, January 6, 1941. Launched January 29, 1944. Commissioned June 11, 1944. Decommissioned February 26, 1955. Recommissioned May 10, 1986. Decommissioned March 31, 1992. Stricken for disposal January 12, 1995. Donated for preservation May 4, 1998.
Fate: Preserved as a museum at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, June 1998.

Even if you could retrofit the firepower of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer to an Iowa class battleship, you would still be sending an irreplaceable relic into harm's way.

so when we all shipping out?

Clubtender wrote:

namvet wrote:they were equiped with cruise missiles. four Harpoon missile magazines, Phalanx anti-aircraft/anti-missile gatling gun systems, and electronic warfare suites

This can be replaced.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/05/01051.htm
CLASS - BURKE Flight I As Built.
Displacement 8373 Tons (Full), Dimensions, 504' 7" (oa) x 66' 11" x 20' (Max)
Armament 1 x 5"/54 RF, 2 Phalanx 20mm Guns, 90 VLS Cells,
8 Harpoon Missiles, 6 x 12.75" TT.
Machinery, 100,000 SHP; 4 GE LM-2500 Gas Turbines, 2 screws
Speed, 30+ Knots, Range 4400 NM@ 20 Knots, Crew 370.

Operational and Building Data
Laid down by Bath Iron Works, Bath ME on December 6 1988.
Launched September 16 1989 and commissioned July 4 1991.
Active unit of the US. Navy.
Homeported at Norfolk Virginia.

This can not be replaced.
http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/63a.htm
Iowa Class Battleship: Displacement 45,000 Tons, Dimensions, 887' 3" (oa) x 108' 2" x 37' 9" (Max). Armament 9 x 16"/50 20 x 5"/38AA, 80 x 40mm 49 x 20mm, 3 AC. Armor, 12 1/8" Belt, 17" Turrets, 1 1/2" +6" +5/8" Decks, 17 1/4" Conning Tower. Machinery, 212,000 SHP; G.E. Geared Turbines, 4 screws. Speed, 33 Knots, Crew 1921.

Operational and Building Data: Laid down by New York Naval Ship Yard, January 6, 1941. Launched January 29, 1944. Commissioned June 11, 1944. Decommissioned February 26, 1955. Recommissioned May 10, 1986. Decommissioned March 31, 1992. Stricken for disposal January 12, 1995. Donated for preservation May 4, 1998.
Fate: Preserved as a museum at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, June 1998.

Even if you could retrofit the firepower of an Arleigh Burke class destroyer to an Iowa class battleship, you would still be sending an irreplaceable relic into harm's way.

what do think they were built for July 4th parades??? they spent their service in harms way. and they can use Arleigh Burkes' for target practice. can a Burke Missile penetrate that double hull ???? im not talking WW3 here. just one BB. updated with current systems. its her sight that cause's fright.
Some people say the Iowa class battleships are to old and are no match for todays modern battle conditions but thats not true.
Most warships today have very little in the way of armor, they rely on advanced sensors and defense systems to protect them. As a result most missles lack a armor piercing head and instead are packed with explosives and computers. The Iowa class are the exception, they have 13inches of belted armor all around the ship. This means that it would take several, perhaps as many as 10 large missles to force the Iowa back into port.
The Iowa's also carry many of the same sensors and defensive systems that modern destroyers and cruisers carry. Namely the 20mm Gatling guns and Sea Sparrow missles, The Iowa's 16inch guns are also still as lethal as they were in 1944. One salvo of 16inch shells could sink just about any modern warship with ease. Iowa's also carry the famous Tomahawk Land Attack Missile in several boxes around the ship, this means it can hit targets beyond the range of its massive 16inch rifles.

The Iowa class ships are still viable and useful, If a Iowa class warship pulls into your harbor your gonna respect it and the nation it serves. They are simply fantasic ships.
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they don't need protection - just targets