Nah, take Conny out, rig her up for an extended voyage, and take her on a 'good will tour around the world' with a few escorts.China pisses us off so much we decide to humiliate them with cannon broad side after destroying any anti ship weapons
That would be hilariousNah, take Conny out, rig her up for an extended voyage, and take her on a 'good will tour around the world' with a few escorts.
Then when they reach the SCS, sail her inside 12 miles of every sand-castle, while blast the US anthem and such.
Humiliate China without firing a shot, and show how little we think of them by pulling out or most treasured, and least armed, ship to sail up to their little sandbars and thumb our nose at them.
Conny needs 23ft of water just to go anywhere without running aground. She is larger than a Fletcher-class destroyer.Nah, take Conny out, rig her up for an extended voyage, and take her on a 'good will tour around the world' with a few escorts.
Then when they reach the SCS, sail her inside 12 miles of every sand-castle, while blast the US anthem and such.
Humiliate China without firing a shot, and show how little we think of them by pulling out or most treasured, and least armed, ship to sail up to their little sandbars and thumb our nose at them.
I'm jokingDude, don't go there.
Conny needs 23ft of water just to go anywhere without running aground. She is larger than a Fletcher-class destroyer.
Yes, and?Conny needs 23ft of water just to go anywhere without running aground. She is larger than a Fletcher-class destroyer.
I'm not certain the US Navy can assemble a crew capable of showing you what she's was actually capable of way back when she got her "don't fuck with the US" reputation.Yes, and?
That just means the need to stay out of particularly shallow water.
I meant taking Conny out on a FONOP as mostly a joke, but if they did it...we have modern charts; running her aground would damn near take an act of intentional malice on the part of some portion of the crew.
Not that hard. Plenty of people who still sail ships like her, newer ones. As well as those who load and maintain cannons.I'm not certain the US Navy can assemble a crew capable of showing you what she's was actually capable of way back when she got her "don't fuck with the US" reputation.
She's still a commissioned ship with a crew, even is mostly as a barracks vessel.I'm not certain the US Navy can assemble a crew capable of showing you what she's was actually capable of way back when she got her "don't fuck with the US" reputation.
Let's not oversell the old girl; about the most useful thing she could do in modern combat is carry a temporary sonar array or two to look for subs, since she doesn't have to use engines to move.Not that hard. Plenty of people who still sail ships like her, newer ones. As well as those who load and maintain cannons.
She is capable if combat
Oh come on. A canon barrage would be badassShe's still a commissioned ship with a crew, even is mostly as a barracks vessel.
It wouldn't be a snap of the fingers to do it, but getting her ready for an extended voyage isn't impossible.
Wouldn't try to arm her though; that'd be pointless and defeat some of the purpose of sailing her as a 'good will tour'.
Let's not oversell the old girl; about the most useful thing she could do in modern combat is carry a temporary sonar array or two to look for subs, since she doesn't have to use engines to move.
A full broadside from her would require roughly 450 people who know what they're doing all working together. A Burke-class destroyer has a crew of about 300Not that hard. Plenty of people who still sail ships like her, newer ones. As well as those who load and maintain cannons.
She is capable if combat
Badass yes, but I want her back in one piece.Oh come on. A canon barrage would be badass
They are getting rid of if not gotten rid of themBadass yes, but I want her back in one piece.
The object of this idea was to avoid combat, and just use non-violent humiliation to screw with China.
If we want a threat of a 'badass barrage' to go with Conny, one that could actually be effective if combat happened, we ought to send New Jersey with her as an escort. Except Jersey would be fully armed, including her Tomahawks, Harpoons, and 16's.
I mean actually, the more I think about it, the more pulling out and possibly a bunch of old museum/'old' ships to use in FONOPs to humiliate China by saying 'this is how little we think of you as a threat' get more attractive.
Admittedly with Jersey it's more of a 'museum ship that can actually hurt them', but I do not think any 16 inch shells or powder bags still are in the military inventory.
I mean actually, the more I think about it, the more pulling out and possibly a bunch of old museum/'old' ships to use in FONOPs to humiliate China by saying 'this is how little we think of you as a threat' get more attractive.
Yes, which is why I specifically said New Jersey for Conny's escort, not any of the SoDaks or other Iowa's.Reactivating any of the museum BBs would be atrociously expensive. At the point when they were finally decommissioned, it was costing the Navy ~$250,000 a year to maintain them in mothballed status, and it was estimated that it would take *at least* $500 million each for minimal reactivation with no modernization upgrades. Inflation from 1995 to 2021 alone pushes that up to almost $450 million per, and you're going to get an even bigger increase from the fact that they have now been museum ships for twenty-five years getting *more* wear and tear and *less* maintenance than they did when they were mothballed.
Intact does not necessarily mean functionalstill has the most of her original gear intact.
Easiest would still be damn hard.New Jersey would be the easiest of the Iowa's or any BBs, to get back into service,
Only if handled poorly, if I remember right. Then again, we did have a post-mothball explosion because of the powder bags if I remember right.Weren't the powder charges considered damn dangerous to use?