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Hey, Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth . . . I just found something you can cut in the Pentagon budget.



Photo above - World War 2 ends with Japan's surrender on a US battleship. The US is now bringing back a pair of 1940's era battleships to bolster our nation's defenses. Not a joke . . . for real.

Isn’t it enough that we have ELEVEN aircraft carrier groups? Each with an entourage of more than dozen support ships guarding the big enchilada? Carriers can't survive 5 minutes without submarines, guided missile cruisers, destroyers, frigates, and who knows what else.

Now a pair of 80 year old battleships are returning to duty. Commissioned in 1942-44, the Wisconsin and Iowa. Entered active duty before the end of World War 2. Before the invention of broadcast television and the hula hoop.

Generals (and admirals) always spend their careers preparing to re-fight the last war. Apparently we are getting ready for a repeat of World War 2. The Wisconsin and Iowa are equipped with 18 inch guns, the largest ever fitted to any ship. These behemoths can hit targets up to 24 miles away. Unless someone fires a cruise missile in their direction first - range 1,000 miles. Remember to watch out for torpedoes, too!

The Russians are using legacy "capital ships" against Ukraine. But a Russian heavy cruiser was destroyed almost immediately by a homebuilt Ukrainian drone. Apparently, Russia thinks it’s refighting World War 2 also.

Attention please, outgoing Biden administration (and incoming Trump administration). World War 3 has already begun. The weapons are hacking, infrastructure attacks, disabling GPS and cellular networks. Using cheap orbital payloads to kill military satellites which have no defense, and no way to shoot back. Puleeze . .. we don’t need two battleships, and the flotilla of support vehicles each will need.

The pentagon has 490 generals, and at least 62 admirals. The incoming Trump administration plans to “transform” America’s defense by forcing a bunch of them to retire. I humbly suggest that leaving the Iowa and Wisconsin in mothballs go to the top of the our spending cuts.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

Iowa and Wisconsin Battleships Return to Service: A Controversial Move Amid Evolving Naval Strategy
SusanInFlorida
31-35, F
31 replies 60 views 2 days ago2 d
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jackson55 · M
The Missouri, the battleship that the Japanese surrendered on was put back into service for the gulf war.
It’s a tourist attraction in Hawaii now.
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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
@jackson55 My son did the tour while in Hawaii some years ago.. His only comment was that is smelled of oil. 😷
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Kenworth4954 · 56-60, M
@whowasthatmaskedman your son sounds like a real man's man🙄🤣🤣🤣
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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
@Kenworth4954 One of the things I drummed into him from an early age is how fortunate he has been to have a choice about going to war, considering the time his grandparents and great grandparents lived through. He gets that..😷
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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M
Based on what I could find this was done back in the 1990s. What does it have to do with anything now?

As for Russian battle cruisers they are actually intended to be very different and armed very differently despite similar size.

And all surface vessels are vulnerable to that kind of attack. See the USS Cole for an example. Same principal. Taken out by a Zodiak loaded with explosives.

Not sure what the point of all this is.
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SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow so, are you agreeing with me that world war 2 battleships have no strategic or tactical value in the 2024 battlefield?
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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M
@SusanInFlorida Actual battleships. Sure. But the same arguably could be said of carriers and perhaps even expensive subs.

I brought up the Russian heavy cruiser though because not everything that looks like a battleship necessarily is.

They were designed to destroy carriers. They are largely upscaled missile frigate. And the remaining deck guns are actually very effective for finishing off a surface ship. Armour against missiles on modern ships is basically useless against ship artillery.

That being said. I am curious where this talk of bringing back battleships comes from. The most I could find was talk about it back in 1998 when I was in high school.

First problem with that idea is you would need to enlist engineers from a senior citizen's home just to find a Stoker who knows how to start a coal fire boiler.
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whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
The way America fights wars, there is a reason for those ships as a way of delivering artillary support within fifty kilometres of the sea. And the armor on those ships can withstand a lot of punishment as well as launching missiles.. Still. If America stopped beating up smaller nations a long way from home, these would not be useful.. So...Yeah...😷
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 1 day ago1 d · Edited: 1 day ago
swirlie · 31-35, F
@whowasthatmaskedman
That would then explain why the US has lost every war it started in the last 107 years.
+ 1 · Reply · Translate · 21 hrs ago21 h
whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M
@swirlie I wasnt going to go there. But since you mention it......😷
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 21 hrs ago21 h
swirlie · 31-35, F
@whowasthatmaskedman
OH NO! Did I speak out of turn again? 😅

The bottom line is, the US has a lot of fancy hardware for warfare in it's arsenal, but the American culture itself is not a culture that actually understands the fundamental relevance of war, which means that the American culture does not comprehend the concept of warfare which is why they keep losing.

Sort of like playing a board game of Monopoly where a player will not ever win a game of Monopoly if they don't understand what the true essence of the game is about, which means you cannot win at Monopoly by default unless you're either playing Solitaire Monopoly by yourself over in the corner, or your opponent is Donald Trump who doesn't actually understand the concept of business in the real world, anymore than Americans understand the concept of warfare outside their classroom simulators.

This is also why Trump has never been the one who makes business decisions at Trump Corp, which is also why the US military retreated from Vietnam and Afghanistan and went home empty handed, minus 78,000 of their own soldiers.
+ 2 · Reply · Translate · 21 hrs ago21 h
jehova · 31-35, M
Stuck in ww2 nostalgia?, Definitely. Trump dodged the draft for vietnam yet many of his supports served in ww2? Idk my point is only ancient equipment will only endanger current combatants. Were we to retrofit these old vessels they still move slowly. Have no stealth and its all to keep the ww2 veterans in support of the current ongoing war.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 1 day ago1 d · Edited: 1 day ago
SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@jehova your thread hijacking attempt is noted. kudos.

having no luck attracting readers to your own anti-trump posts? the best you can do is completely avoid discussing whether resurrecting WW2 battleships serves and legitimate function?
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 6 hrs ago6 h
jehova · 31-35, M
@SusanInFlorida i commented its counterproductive due to inefficency and lack of technology (outdated equipment). Its being used to keep baby boomers and ww2 veterans engaged its not anti trump its anti never ending war.
Hows that tunnel vision treating you?
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 6 hrs ago6 h · Edited: 6 hrs ago
trollslayer · 46-50, M
Agree 100% and have made this argument for 15 years…we spend way too much on military machines that likely will be mostly useless during the next war.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 2 days ago2 d
trollslayer · 46-50, M
@SusanInFlorida exactly. And considering what they can do with drones - aircraft carriers are mostly bravado these days. I can see a need for maybe 4, but not 11.
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specman · 51-55, M
@trollslayer you mean after the current wars that are using these war machines?
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trollslayer · 46-50, M
@specman what current wars?
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CoffeeFirst · 56-60, F
Petey doesn't understand or care. He thinks he got a cool new job where he can complain about women in the military. Like that's an issue?
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SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@CoffeeFirst it's doubtful that he will be confirmed, since shirtless photos of him sporting white supremacist ink have surfaced.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 6 hrs ago6 h
specman · 51-55, M
So you think we should be under equipped, but remain the biggest most powerful superpower? Lol
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SomeMichGuy · M
In 1928, WRGB, then W2XB, was started as the world's first television station. It broadcast from the General Electric facility in Schenectady, NY.
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SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@SomeMichGuy wikipedia says a half dozen "experimental" TV stations began operating in 1928. They had 48 line resolution, and no civilian audience. the intended viewers were other scientists and researchers, much like the first internet use didn't reach consumers, either.

the first commerical broadcast happened on july 1, 1941, and was sponsored by "Bulova" wristwatches. It had 525 lines of resolution - 10 times that of the experimental efforts in 1928,

there were 7,000 tv sets in all of America in 1941. Most were nowhere near the NBC broadcast which took place on July 1, 1941.

thanks for being a loyal reader.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 6 hrs ago6 h
SomeMichGuy · M
@SusanInFlorida My quote IS from the wikipedia.

And it was broadcast TV.
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swirlie · 31-35, F
Battle ships including aircraft carriers have officially been declared 'obsolete' by the US military almost 5 years ago. The latest and greatest aircraft carrier the US Navy had ordered and then subsequently cancelled, was obsolete before the ink was dry on the blueprints. They are obsolete because they can be sunk in a heartbeat from land-based arsenals.

Another reason the Iowa and Wisconsin Battleships are returning to service is because the US government is bankrupt, which means it's broke. There is no money for new ships, nor is there any money for infrastructure rebuilding of the country itself.

The USA is functioning on borrowed money and every time their debt ceiling is raised, the USA owes even more money in interest payments on that spiraling national debt.

As Trump pulls the USA out of action around the world by re-creating the USA as an isolationist Nation just like it was 100 years ago after WWI, you watch how many US Navy ships get mothballed to save money when the USA decides to sit on the sidelines and watch from afar, which is standard Republican posturing in an isolationist Nation.
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SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F
@swirlie its hard to pinpoint when the US government became bankrupt. our national debt is $35 trillion now. resurrecting old mothballed ships doesn't save money. it costs money. it's a flim flam intended to appease people who want a "strong national defense". Just like Trump's border wall made of shipping containers was intended to convince the gullible that border immigration could be inexpensively halted.
+ 0 · Reply · Translate · 6 hrs ago6 h
 
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