Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!cbnews!military
From: terryr@ogicse.ogi.edu (Terry Rooker)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: USN CVs wont fit in Arabian Gulf?
Message-ID: <1990Aug14.033650.8608@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 14 Aug 90 03:36:50 GMT
References: <1990Aug11.015042.19542@cbnews.att.com>
Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker)
Organization: Oregon Graduate Institute (formerly OGC), Beaverton, OR
Lines: 36
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: terryr@ogicse.ogi.edu (Terry Rooker)
In article <1990Aug11.015042.19542@cbnews.att.com> wdr@wang.COM (William Ricker) writes:
>
>on August 7, the Rear Admiral in charge of US DoD Information Agency 
>(the Pentagon PR group) was interviewed on Canadian public radio's 
>"As It Happens" (prototype of US NPR's "All Things Considered").  He 
>reported that a blockade operation in the Persian Gulf (and land 
>operations nearby) would be difficult without air-bases in Saudi 
>Arabia -- because our carriers are too big to operate in the 
>congested waters of the Gulf.  I recall his mentioning both the
>carriers' size and the body of water's size and being pocked with
>drilling rigs -- deep water obstacles.  
>
The problem is not physically navigating in the Gulf.  Obviously
many tankers are of comparable size.  The problem is in OPERATING in
the Gulf.  Carriers need LOTS of sea-room to maneuver, both to
launch/recover aircraft, and to avoid attacks.  As you point out,
there a many obastacles for a carrier to dodge.  Plus if they faced a
serious attack, the only direction to run is South, and that makes
chasing them very easy.  Basically, by entering a restricted waterway,
the carrier gives up all of its advantages, and only gains a little in
reduced range for its aircraft.  Ther eis an additional defensive
factor involved.  If the carrier planes must fly the length of the
Gulf, then so would attacks against them.  The effects on detecting
and avoiding such attacks should be obvious.  If an attack is
launched, the carriers can move to a new location, making the
attacker's problem more difficult.  The difficulty is the same
irregardless of the carrier's size, so a smaller carrier would still
take quite a chance operating in the Gulf.  


-- 
Terry Rooker
terryr@cse.ogi.edu