The Navy Thread

It's more than some nations have had. Or have in the case of Costa Rica today.

You can't have an Air Force before airplanes existed. Civil War-era observation balloons were part of the US Army Signal Corps, I believe.

So was all of Army Aviation circa 1917. It was only during the First World War that the idea of a dedicated rather than slaved to an existing outfit for aircraft managed to emerge. Hence the US Army Air Corps (until 1943).

All of the branches were disbanded after the American Revolution. We have covered this. The only things left were militia, a single artillery corps that was not an army in name or spirit, a very few federal militia troops, and the frontier guard. All of the original three branches were all reinstated at pretty much the same time for the Quasi War with France.

AFP: The air force, no matter how you slice it, has never won a war and is the youngest branch of the entire armed services.

Hot air balloons are not an air force, were still part of the army, and were disbanded.

Why's everyone talking about balloons for, anyways? I'm drawing direct lineage to the USAAF, which definitely flew airplanes. The Air Force traces it's organizational roots back to the foundation of the Aeronautical Division of the Signal Corps in August 1907, which also flew airplanes (it was established for that express purpose).

We do trace the roots of US military aviation back to the Balloon Corps in 1861, but don't consider that part of the Air Force, as funny as it would be.

Who operates the military balloons now? Is that the Air Force or still the Army?

EDIT: I forgot what I had already talked about this time.

edited 26th Mar '17 8:47:49 PM by AFP

AFP: No one is operating balloons in that regard. Most balloons are either aerostats or someone trying to bring the return of the zepplin.

I still say that a dirigible armed with batteries of Patriot, Sidewinder, and Tomahawk missiles could be awesome, if not maybe practical.

Who runs the Aerostats now? (Nevermind, a quick google suggests that it is now mainly the Army and US Customs and Border Patrol who operate them. The Air Force used to operate some of them, but the Border Patrol guys took over due to Do D budget cuts).

Stop Trying to Make a New Russian Aircraft Carrier Happen, from War Is Boring.

Evidently this design firm in Russia is trying to pitch their design for a new Russian aircraft carrier, and nobody is interested in it beyond mild curiosity, to include the Russian military.

Just tell Putin it'll increase the size of his war-penis and he'll be all for it.

Well, at least it isn't by Dahir Insaat.

Gee, Vladimir, why does your mom let your aircraft carrier have two islands?

An article on the US Navy's biggest intel success. The Tapping of undersea communications lines of the USSR in operation Ivy Bells

Or sky ramps, dude! That's a bigger screw-up for a carrier than dual islands.

^ I could see dual islands having a benefit, for example command and control or sensor redundancy in the case of battle damage or equipment failure.

Ski ramps, no such luck.

Guided-missile destroyer Laboon intercepted a small craft packing several hundred kilograms of heroin on the Arabian sea during a patrol. It is part of a carrier group when the intercept was made.

Also, one bridge might be for operating the ship, the other for flight operations. I understand that that's the arrangement on most carriers, except that they stack the bridges instead of place them separately.

The decade-long, $6M effort to put a 74-year-old WWII boat back to water

An article about the restoration of PT-305, a Higgins 78-foot PT Boat.

edited 1st Apr '17 10:51:26 PM by AFP

What might be a training torpedo made by Russia has washed up on a Lithuanian beach. It does not appear to be a helicopter or sub delivered torpedo. It is obviously missing its nose cone and has shrouded propellers.

Sounds like the Russian counterpart to American destroyer/frigate launched ASW torpedoes.

I'm putting this here instead of the aviation thread because of what launched it.

The Leader Of One Of The Most Daring Raids Of WW2 Survived By Landing In A Huge Pile Of Shit.

That one particular fact of the Doolittle Raid is absolute TOP KEK.

A little clip on the amenities and luxuries aboard a Typhoon class submarine.

Luxuries include an arcade, a lounge and TV room, an indoor swimming pool, and a fucking zoo

edited 24th Apr '17 5:52:17 PM by LeGarcon

Boy, The Hunt For Red October sure got it wrong.

Back when it was written, Clancy couldn't ask.

"Yes, Tovarisch, our Akula submarines are much better than those capitalist Ohio-Class submarines - they even have swimming pools and zoos. And taps with hot and cold running Stolichnaya vodka."

"Dimitri, have you been drinking anti-freeze again?"

"Well, Yuri, my friend, I may have been lying about the Stolichnaya vodka".

... You guys can't tell I was thinking that you were taking the piss about there being swimming pools in the Akula-Class (what we Westerners call the Typhoon-Class) submarines, can you?

Honestly I'm more amazed with the onboard zoo.

edited 25th Apr '17 12:44:59 AM by LeGarcon