ChiComs Play Rope-a-dope with US Navy Admirals

 

US Admirals’ botching management of US Fleet.  As a retired naval person, it reminds one of the biggest difference between the Boy Scouts and the Navy:  the Scouts are under adult supervision. 

1. ASW has never had the “sex appeal” of missiles and aircraft. On a FF with a captain who was serious about ASW we set records tracking the bad guys, but only because we had no missile capability and were therefore allowed to go do our own thing instead of hanging around the carrier noise group. That was 20 years ago. I doubt much has changed.  We paid attention to the acoustics and the layers and picked our locations and tactics accordingly. In some water, the physics are against you and you can not detect the sub.  The solution is to go somewhere else. Still, diesel boats are so quiet I don’t see how anyone moving within 20 miles of the carrier group will detect them passively even with the best conditions.

   Posted by JimT       11/14/2007  at  12:08 PM  



2. It is also possible that the Navy is not anxious to give the ChiComs even a hint about ASW capabilities.  A bit of overconfidence on their part, our spooks getting their boats signatures…

   It’s worth a tiny bit of embarrassment. 

   Wait ‘til the shootin’ starts.

   Posted by heldmyw       11/14/2007  at  01:30 PM  



3. I hope heldmyw (held my water?) is right, but I have my doubts. And while I don’t know whale poop from ASW, are these electric boats undetectable actively or only passively?

   If you can ping them, that suggests a very straightforward approach. Put out a bunch of little seeker ships all over the perimeter of an expanding multi-hundred mile radius circle. If they can actively locate anything with 25 miles, then 25 of them could cover the perimeter of a circle 400 miles in diameter. If they can do the job within 35 miles, then 50 of them can handle a 1000 mile diameter circle of ocean. That’s a lot of space to hide a fleet in.

   Posted by Drew458       11/14/2007  at  02:30 PM  



4. This isn’t news at least to us geeks who read Clancy and his ilk; these writers have pointed out in their novels that the USN has turned a blind eye (er, deaf ear) to “old technology” diesel-electric subs. There’s been more than one scenario in these many techno military thrillers where the bad guys (pick one) have penetrated both carrier group
   and coastal defenses (!) to deliver a near knockout punch. Here’s hoping that the USN is really playing “rope a dope” with ASW technology and is holding cards close to the chest.
   If not, we are truly f’d !

   Posted by memoryleak       11/14/2007  at  11:41 PM  



5. Heads are sure to roll over this........well maybe in the old USN they would have.

   A Chinese sub getting within striking distance of a battle group’s most important asset is incomprehensible. Barring any technical problems unrelated to training or maintenance, there are no excuses.

   Incidences like this and the one about the USAF unknowingly flying nuclear warheads around make me very nervous about the readiness of the US military.

   Have the cuts gone too deep? Are they retaining the most qualified personnel? Are the high ranking officers leaders of men?

   Posted by Kuso JiJi       11/15/2007  at  08:02 AM  

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