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From: cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Possible BB mission in Gulf
Message-ID: <1990Aug22.025605.16798@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 22 Aug 90 02:56:05 GMT
References: <1990Aug17.023708.1350@cbnews.att.com>
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From: cga66@ihlpy.att.com (Patrick V Kauffold)
> 
> From: cashman@acsu.buffalo.edu (geoffrey a cashman)
> 
> 
> Some of you might be saying "What can the Wisconsin due to Iraq from the
> eastern mediterranean?".  Answer: (one possible one)  She has tomohawk
> cruise missiles as well. 

Within a few days the Marine Corps will have a built up a substantial
amphibious assault capability, which would be might useful if it were
decided to liberate Kuwait by assault.  The Marines hit the beaches,
while the Army swings north through the desert, threatening to cut off
about 1/3 of Iraq's army.  

The Wisconsin can easily hit targets 15-20 miles inland, day or night.
Ask any Marine what this means if he has to go in over the beach.
Air power is great, but (IMHO) NGFS would be essential to a successful
assault from the sea.  You should see what a VT fused 16" HE round does
to troops in the open. Shazam!

I don't think the Wisconsin is there primarily to launch cruise missiles;
there are other platforms which can do this there already.

Cruise missiles are nice, but there are problems with the "exotic"
weapons that make them indecisive in the Gulf: (a) they are relatively
few and mighty expensive, (b) nobody knows how effective they are in
REAL combat - 80%? 50%?; history says less than 100%, (c) they are 
best used against the enemy's high-value targets like C3, and Iraq's
forces are mostly tanks and grunts.  To defeat Iraq you need the
old standbys (probably): artillery, tanks, iron bombs, and grunts.

That's my idle speculation for today.

Pat Kauffold AT&T Bell Labs Naperville (708) 713-4726