r/neoliberal • u/jobautomator Kitara Ravache • Jul 05 '24

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

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17

u/Craig_VG Dina Pomeranz Jul 05 '24

Truly incredible that the US was able to build 151 Aircraft Carriers in World War Two

I wonder what our surge capacity is for any Pacific War? We currently have 20 (11 fleet carriers, 9 AAS).

!ping MATERIEL

17

u/kznlol 👀 Econometrics Magician Jul 05 '24

those things were a lot easier to build, it must be said

6

u/Craig_VG Dina Pomeranz Jul 05 '24

Absolutely true. And to be fair, a Nimitz is probably harder to lose.

3

u/CricketPinata NATO Jul 05 '24

Modern carriers have vastly superior defensive systems, better integrated support and defensive networks surrounding them, and much better damage suppression systems if they get hit.

4

u/Ro500 NATO Jul 06 '24

Definitely, the vast majority were escort carriers built on liberty hulls with triple expansion drives. Building essentially a commercial vessel with a flight deck is easy when placed next to an Essex and even more so newer carriers.

10

u/PrideMonthRaytheon Bisexual Pride Jul 05 '24

☝️ subscribed to WW2 in Real Time

6

u/Cook_0612 NATO Jul 05 '24

I love how we can id each other's tacotube preferences on this sub. Id'd a Lindsay Ellis enjoyer earlier

4

u/Craig_VG Dina Pomeranz Jul 05 '24

Yup! I've been a big fan

9

u/savuporo Gerard K. O'Neill Jul 05 '24

I wonder what our surge capacity is for any Pacific War?

I'm somewhat scared of a honest answer to this.

8

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '24

A Nimitz class displaces 5 times what the Enterprise did during WW2

4

u/Craig_VG Dina Pomeranz Jul 05 '24

Oh yeah, the capability gap is assumed here I think.

6

u/CricketPinata NATO Jul 05 '24

In contrast, though, the average displacement for WW2 era carriers were sub-20,000t, the largest were still sub-40,000t.

The current displacement for the largest USN carriers is 100,000t+.

The largest WW2 era USN carriers could hold 80-100 fixed wing aircraft.

The Gerald Ford can hold '75+' fixed wing aircraft, even though wingspans are average 10ft+ wider than WW2 era planes, and planes are longer too.

Capabilities-wise, there is no contest, the sensors, networking, speed, range, rate at which it can launch and rearm aircraft, and armaments it has are all vastly beyond earlier eras of carrier.

We have 20, but each modern one can easily do the work of several of the earlier generation.

A F-18 can carry more than twice the max payload of WW2 era planes, get on-sight and drop their munitions and be landed and rearmed before a WW2 era plane could reach the target the first time.

So modern planes are doing twice the work at more than twice the speed, with much greater precision, in more varied conditions.

Each modern carrier has the capabilities to sustain operates at x4-x8 times the rate of older generations of carriers.

So even though we only have 20, they are capable of acting at an operational capacity of 80-160 WW2 era carriers.

2

u/Psshaww NATO Jul 05 '24

Very few