What If a Drone Carrier Ship

[Sailor.X]

I have been pondering this for a while. What if we take one of the old Wasp Class ships and convert it into a ship that can deploy airborne and seaborne drones. You know retrofit a Catapult system for Drone fighters on the flight deck and turn the welldeck into a Surface and Subsurface drone deployment area. Do you think such a vessel would be a big boon for the US Navy?

 

[Captain X]

I doubt if they'd want to refit an old ship for this. More likely, they'll add drone launching capabilities to a regular carrier before they do that. Might even fit something to some of the other smaller surface ships for that matter. Surface and sub-surface drones? Can they kick those out of the back of a regular amphibious assault ship? I guess it's the same thing where I can see them adding the capability to something existing rather than making purpose-built drone carriers.

 

[Sailor.X]

I doubt if they'd want to refit an old ship for this. More likely, they'll add drone launching capabilities to a regular carrier before they do that. Might even fit something to some of the other smaller surface ships for that matter. Surface and sub-surface drones? Can they kick those out of the back of a regular amphibious assault ship? I guess it's the same thing where I can see them adding the capability to something existing rather than making purpose-built drone carriers.

Well I said the Wasp Class because many of them are around 30 to 35 years old. They still have at least 20 years of life that can be gotten out of those hulls. Ships that size can go for 50 years.

 

[Bacle]

I doubt if they'd want to refit an old ship for this. More likely, they'll add drone launching capabilities to a regular carrier before they do that. Might even fit something to some of the other smaller surface ships for that matter. Surface and sub-surface drones? Can they kick those out of the back of a regular amphibious assault ship? I guess it's the same thing where I can see them adding the capability to something existing rather than making purpose-built drone carriers.

Existing hulls in the reserve fleet are don't have R&D or teething issues, and can be made ready far faster than new hulls could be built.

The Wasp's would give a base for a small crew of sailors and drone operators a way to hit far above their weight class, and without the massive flight crew numbers needed for a full on CVN. Would be great as escorts for CVNs as well, it could handle the ASW/CAP duties while the fleet carrier handles strikes and large mission packages.

Well I said the Wasp Class because many of them are around 30 to 35 years old. They still have at least 20 years of life that can be gotten out of those hulls. Ships that size can go for 50 years.

How many people would they need. Would also pulling the other Tarawa class out for the same purpose be a smart move as well.

 

[Bear Ribs]

The US generally prefers building new more advanced ships to repurposing old ones.

It's necessary to keep the shipbuilders sharp and recently experienced, and the shipyards in business. This is one reason the US is so fond of handing over weapons to other nations, it gives them a good excuse to place new contracts with the weapons manufacturers and also discourages other nations from building rival weapons manufacturing companies.

 

[Sailor.X]

Existing hulls in the reserve fleet are don't have R&D or teething issues, and can be made ready far faster than new hulls could be built.

The Wasp's would give a base for a small crew of sailors and drone operators a way to hit far above their weight class, and without the massive flight crew numbers needed for a full on CVN. Would be great as escorts for CVNs as well, it could handle the ASW/CAP duties while the fleet carrier handles strikes and large mission packages.

How many people would they need. Would also pulling the other Tarawa class out for the same purpose be a smart move as well.

Well being that they won't need the large Marine contingent for Amphib Operations. We could make it work with a crew of 800 Sailors and 200 Marines for ship security. That should be enough for all watch stations, damage control and upkeep.

Edit: Sadly all the Tarawas are in Davy Jones Locker.

 

[Bacle]

Well being that they won't need the large Marine contingent for Amphib Operations. We could make it work with a crew of 800 Sailors and 200 Marines for ship security. That should be enough for all watch stations, damage control and upkeep.

Edit: Sadly all the Tarawas are in Davy Jones Locker.

Oh shoot, thought some were in reserve.

Do we even have any reserve decks of decent size other than the Wasp's now that KittyHawk is on the way to the scrapper?

 

[Sailor.X]

Oh shoot, thought some were in reserve.

Do we even have any reserve decks of decent size other than the Wasp's now that KittyHawk is on the way to the scrapper?

We can take one or two of the Whidbey Island Class Ship and make them into a slightly smaller back up to the Wasp Drone ships.

 

[Husky_Khan]

I guess it depends on the purpose of the drone carriers.

Will they be like mini carrier groups capable of strike operations or something like a dedicated picket ship for anti-Submarine operations? Or just smaller multirole drone carriers?

Could be best if you want to refine Marine MEU's and Air Ground Task Forces. You can have Marine controlled aircraft for air support without the dedicated Marine pilots and aircraft.

I don't think drones have approached the level of being replacement fighter craft yet. Plus we already have escort ships which can carry air defense missiles.

 

[Sailor.X]

I guess it depends on the purpose of the drone carriers.

Will they be like mini carrier groups capable of strike operations or something like a dedicated picket ship for anti-Submarine operations? Or just smaller multirole drone carriers?

Could be best if you want to refine Marine MEU's and Air Ground Task Forces. You can have Marine controlled aircraft for air support without the dedicated Marine pilots and aircraft.

I don't think drones have approached the level of being replacement fighter craft yet. Plus we already have escort ships which can carry air defense missiles.

They would make the perfect ships to sit in the middle of a light taskforce. Have the Drone Carrier in the center and flank it with 2 Burkes and 2 Frigates. Something for operations that don't require a full on Carrier Battlegroup.

 

[Bacle]

They would make the perfect ships to sit in the middle of a light taskforce. Have the Drone Carrier in the center and flank it with 2 Burkes and 2 Frigates. Something for operations that don't require a full on Carrier Battlegroup.

They wouldn't be that much use in the Atlantic or Med, due to how many friendly airbases are located nearby, and the lack of onboard nukes like CVNs.

However, pair them the Izumo's and add a Kongo or Akizuki to the mix to create a double deck task force; plenty of firepower to help deal with any fights in the SCS or Kurils, and enough to make one deck CAP and one deck strike.

 

[Sailor.X]

They wouldn't be that much use in the Atlantic or Med, to to how many friendly airbases are located nearby, and the lack of onboard nukes like CVNs.

However, pair them the Izumo's and add a Kongo or Akizuki to the mix; plenty of firepower to help deal with any fights in the SCS or Kurils.

They would be effective Antipiracy platforms in the Indian Ocean also.

 

[Bacle]

They would be effective Antipiracy platforms in the Indian Ocean also.

I think the "issue the pirate's Letter's of Marque if the promise to only hit Russian, Chinese, and Iranian shipping and don't engage in human trafficking" response would be more useful.

The Founding Fathers were very willing to use pirates against their enemies, and Letter's of Marque make it all nice and legal-like.

They want to use the 'new age' grey zone against us, let's use an old school grey zone to screw with them.