Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military
From: terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: nuclear powered ships
Message-ID: <12060@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 7 Dec 89 04:16:43 GMT
References: <11822@cbnews.ATT.COM> <12017@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: Oregon Graduate Institute (formerly OGC), Beaverton, OR
Lines: 36
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker)
In article <12017@cbnews.ATT.COM> hplabs!ron@hpfcso.hp.com (Ron Miller) writes:
>
>
>From: hplabs!ron@hpfcso.hp.com (Ron Miller)
>
>Generally the tactical and strategic advantage of having nearly unlimited
>fuel is extremely important. Having to call "time-out" for underway
>refueling is both difficult and dangerous. A nuke doesn't have to 
> be refueled at sea, nor is its operation dependent upon this 
>financial quarter's oil prices. (yes, one eventually has to replenish
>food stores.... but you can do that with a helicopter at 30 knots)
>
Unfortunately it takes more than food to keep a battle group 
operational.  Carriers still require enormous quantities of 
aviation fuel, and munitions (assuming there's any shooting).  
Although the navy has spent a lot of time and money developing
effecient ways of getting materiel across the gaps between ships,
they have not made much progress in striking the stores below.
The replenishment process is still slow.  As an aside this is
one of the major questions about the vertical launchers.  Reloading
them is essentially an inport function.

The carrier may be a nuke, but many of the escorts aren't.  Try
as it might, the navy has not been able to provide enough nukes
to make nuclear powered battle groups.  Considering the small boys
need fuel more frequently, the battle group still requires
frequent stops at the pump.  It's a shame that the navy hasn't been
able to build enought nukes.  The mobility of an all nuke battle
group is impressive.  Try it sometime in the Fleet series games
using the logistics rules.

Terry Rooker
terryr@cse.ogi.edu