Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: nuclear powered ships
Message-ID: <12167@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 11 Dec 89 05:19:45 GMT
References: <11822@cbnews.ATT.COM> <12017@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
>From: terryr@ogicse.ogc.edu (Terry Rooker)
>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).  

My recollection is that off Vietnam, typical carrier operations were
something like 7 days "on the line" followed by 4 days off to replenish
fuel and munitions.  (I can *probably* dig up exact numbers if anyone
is interested.)  A supercarrier's magazines have a couple of kilotons of
ordnance in them (that is *not* counting nuclear weapons), but intensive
air operations eat bombs and missiles at a frantic rate.

                                     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
                                 uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry@zoo.toronto.edu