"‘You’re on your own’: US sealift can’t count on Navy ..." Topic

….escorts in the next big war.

"WASHINGTON — In the event of a major war with China or Russia, the U.S. Navy, almost half the size it was during the height of the Cold War, is going to be busy with combat operations. It may be too busy, in fact, to always escort the massive sealift effort it would take to transport what the Navy estimates will be roughly 90 percent of the Marine Corps and Army gear the force would need to sustain a major conflict.

That's the message Mark Buzby, the retired rear admiral who now leads the Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration, has gotten from the Navy, and it's one that has instilled a sense of urgency around a major cultural shift inside the force of civilian mariners that would be needed to support a large war effort…."
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Amicalement
Armand

Fortunately, this won't be an issue, since I've read numerous times that large, olde-style, conventional wars are passe', so heavy armored units and large divisions are no longer needed.

Light troops and quick reaction forces, of brigade strength, or less, are all we need to fight future conflicts.

I hope someone has also informed our enemies of that, so they play ball with us on the matter.

The constant desire for more and more funding requires fear!!!

Well, ya know, instead of building yet more multi-billion dollar carriers or subs, how about a dozen or two liberty ships?

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Nothing new. Back in the 80's we needed all the ships to escort the carriers --> to strike the sub bases --> to keep the subs from sinking our transports. Except the USN wasn't buying transports and didn't want to even if they had the $$. And we relied on others for escorts.

Back in the '80's the Navy had a whole class of ships for this duty- frigates. Knox and Perry class frigates. The Navy doesn't have tin cans anymore and that's pretty dumb. We don't need expensive LCS craft. We need frigates!