Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!xanth!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!osu-cis!att!cbnews!ugthomps@cs.buffalo.edu
From: ugthomps@cs.buffalo.edu
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Are Aircraft Carriers Obsolete?
Message-ID: <3411@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 24 Jan 89 02:53:02 GMT
References: <3352@cbnews.ATT.COM>
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Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Computer Science
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In article <3352@cbnews.ATT.COM> henry@zoo.toronto.edu writes:
>Don't forget sheer incompetence, as well.  The Argentines never did figure
>out that their bombs were not fuzed properly for low-altitude drops.  They

It's rare that I disagree with you, or find error in your information
Henry, but I think I found one now.  The Argentines did find out about
their fuze problems and tried to resolve them towards the end.  Of course
I could be wrong on this, but the source I heard was a reliable one.

>The Falklands War is an excellent example of the effectiveness of sea
>power against an ineffective opponent.  It says little about what would
>happen against prepared, competent opposition.  Indeed, given the non-
>trivial losses that the fleet did take, what little it does say is ominous.

What little it does say concerns the effectiveness of the british fleet as
well.  We have considered the ineptness of the argentines, but what of the
british?  we assume they performed perfectly with adequate equipment.
>From what I have heard, one of the ships that went down went down because
of a "rules of the road" error on the part of the victim, and even though
the ship was hit rather severely, had it had a more modern compartmentalised
design, the standing opinion from one observer I talked to was that the
ship would not have gone down. 

Modern technology can not fully replace many systems now in use, such
as your basic deck guns.  There are other examples of this as well. 
Modern designs of ships take into account modern threats.  But some
of these designs also deal with age old problems, such as damage control.
United States ships have a heavy leaning towards damage control.  Do
the russians?  From what I know, they don't.  Did the british ship that
sunk?  From what I've heard, it didn't. 

I think what the Falklands does portray is two nations ill-prepared
to go to war, and one nation who had the capability to project enough
power to win despite its many mistakes. 

                        - G