Posted on Jan 2, 2016
SN Greg Wright
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RP members, if this isn't eye-opening, I don't know what is!

In 1989 the Pacific fleet conducted PACEX exercises with the Japanese Navy. This evolution had the most amount of ships assembled together since the end of World War II. PacEx had five complete battle groups and a flotilla of Japanese ships aligned in six columns. Watch the video to get a sense of the size of the fleet. Watch the whole thing as he pans to see them all, since his POV is narrow.

That's a LOT of combat power!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3Y1WBu1iwE
Edited 10 y ago
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Probably the 6 Carrier Battle Groups assembled in the Gulf/Red Sea for Dessert Storm...
LTC Stephen Conway
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could we do this today even with the whole reserve fleet activated? too bad our 4 battleships are now just museums since they are still relevant and necessary.
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LT Steve Wilson
LT Steve Wilson
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Unfortunately Maj Conway I don’t think we will ever deploy them again. The plans to convert them to nuke-power never got off the ground and their “M”-type boilers were obsolete. It is truly a shame since they provide a massive crippling psychological effect and provide naval-gunfire support still unrivaled by modern platforms (we’re getting there though).
I don’t know how much of a difference it made to naval planners, but the attack on the USS Missouri (BB 64) by a Silkworm battery during Desert Storm showed the vulnerability of the battleships to coastal defenses. Both missiles launched missed the Mighty Mo, with one crashing into the sea 700 yd off the bow and the other taken down by the HMS Gloucester’s ( ) Sea Dart missile battery. It didn’t help that within a couple of days her own escort (USS Jarrett FFG-33) fired a CIWS rounds into her in response to Missouri launching chaff (that’s the official report anyway). One round traveled all the way into an interior passageway while another passed completely through the forward funnel.
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LTC Stephen Conway
LTC Stephen Conway
10 y
LT Steve Wilson - I am confused by this paragraph " It didn’t help that within a couple of days her own escort (USS Jarrett FFG-33) fired a CWIS rounds into her in response to Missouri launching chaff (that’s the official report anyway). One round traveled all the way into an interior passageway while another passed completely through the forward funnel." are you saying there was a blue on blue attack where a ship fired on another friendly ship? Im army guy that likes and admires naval vessels. please explain.
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LT Steve Wilson
LT Steve Wilson
10 y
Yes, it was a friendly-fire incident. Luckily, nobody was actually struck by the rounds, but a fireman was burned by the steam from a line cut by the interior round. Supposedly, the Jarrett’s CIWS was left in AAA-auto and reacted on its own to what it perceived as a threat. Friendly-fire among warships is extremely rare, but it does happen once in a blue moon.
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LTC Stephen Conway
LTC Stephen Conway
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LT Steve Wilson - thanks for explaining :)
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PO3 Steven Sherrill
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Nice. Thanks for sharing.
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CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter
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In 1983 I was on the USS Coral Sea when we held an exercise in NORPAC with over 40 ships(3 aircraft carriers) and over 300 aircraft. We operated within 200 hundred miles of the Soviet Union. We were supported by the Canadian Navy and the US Coast Guard. The Soviet Air Force also was there but they were not invited. With 16 foot waves and a wind chill of a -4 degrees and 16 foot seas it was quite the adventure.
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
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CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter The Bering Sea is a stone cold bitch. Only time I was in honest fear for my life as a Merchant Marine was there.
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MCPO Roger Collins
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Who was the President, Greg?
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
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MCPO Roger Collins Well Bush was by time this happened, but this was all Regan's doing with his 600 ship Navy program.
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
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So how many global conflicts were going on during this show of power?
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MCPO Roger Collins
MCPO Roger Collins
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My questions were rhetorical to show the difference between a powerful military and C-in-C as opposed to what we have today.
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
10 y
MCPO Roger Collins - Pretty stark contrast, Master Chief.
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