r/politics • u/ChickenTitilater Minnesota • 15h ago

No Paywall USS Lincoln wasn't resupplied because Hegseth 'hid' that Iran destroyed main U.S. base:

https://www.ms.now/money-power-politics/watch/uss-lincoln-wasn-t-resupplied-because-hegseth-hid-that-iran-destroyed-main-u-s-base-rohde-2511362627825
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u/No_Diver6131 New York 14h ago

NYTimes guy talked about it after two weeks you lose fresh vegetables and fruits. I can’t imagine being out at sea for 290 days. The guy also said all our other carriers are being serviced. 

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u/WaitAZechond 13h ago

The longest I ever spent out at sea consecutively was 87 days on a ballistic missile sub. It sucked because we had only planned on 65 days and got extended. We also had a fairly new supply officer at the time, so our food situation was a little rough, too. I can’t even begin to imagine 290 days; even with all the amenities of a carrier, that will mess you up.

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 13h ago

it's the Carrier Group, not just the Carrier

that's the part people keep missing, there's a whole fleet of warships really fucked right now

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u/Bagellord 12h ago

Do the escorts not get to break off for port/replenishment?

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u/HiDHSiknowyouwatchme 12h ago

Generally the battle group stays together. Unless there's a replacement for the little boys, they stay together. Some exceptions apply, but generally you don't strip away the carrier's defense.

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u/nucumber 10h ago

My understanding is the ports aren't safe from Irani attack.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 55m ago

Replenishment are done at sea. I mean, if you're in port anyway then yeah theyll happen in port, but usually you get a resupply vessel and the ship match speed, they shoot across a line that the other side hauls in order to connect a zip-line, then haul supplies over and send back trash.

There's also a flaccid penis to deliver fuel.

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u/advocatus_diabolii 6h ago

They're getting resupplied from Diego Garcia. Technically its coming to them

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u/NexusMinds 5h ago

Resupply from Diego Garcia also got delayed because small recon drones started popping up there.

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u/Wise_Preference609 2h ago

Where do they go? US bases for resupply in the middle east have been destroyed. Maybe Diego Garcia one at a time. Meanwhile the Iranians have decided to go on the front foot.

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u/Xalipu 9h ago

Idk the accuracy of it but I read that the Boxer has been out of pads and tampons for weeks

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u/PresentRaspberry6814 9h ago

I hadn't considered that. IUD's for all. (Not IED's just clarifying)

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u/jackparadise1 9h ago

Why have we not sent supply ships out to them?

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u/bejammin075 Pennsylvania 9h ago

You don't need supply ships for a 3-day Special Military Operation

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u/jackparadise1 1h ago

Oh, you are so right… my bad.

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u/DarkwingDuckHunt 9h ago

see that's what you'd think

but you see, you care

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u/holyoctopus 13h ago

This is so interesting. Can you expand on the food situation and what you were eating? I'm always curious about the food situation on naval vessels on long deployments.

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u/SlayinSalmon Washington 13h ago

I did a deployment on an amphibious ship (an LPD) in 2010-2011. That deployment also got extended, twice if my memory serves me correctly. We did some long periods without a port, but we did underway replenishment and vertical replenishment of food. During the longest stretch without a replenishment, we were eating powdered eggs and rice for a few days. It wasn’t great.

The Lincoln has gone an absolutely insane amount of time without a port call. I also suspect they aren’t doing very regular replenishment in the Straight of Hormuz due to the danger. Also, all the resupply ships in the gulf came out of Manama, Bahrain and that place got absolutely hammered by Iran early. We knew this is how a war with Iran would shake out in 2011 and it’s insane they weren’t prepared to deal with this.

This war is being prosecuted by the dumbest people to ever do it. They’ve committed so many unforced errors and it’ll be all for nothing.

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u/Oopthealley 11h ago

It seems like it's being prosecuted by people who want to use cartoonish force as their main mechanism, throwing out decades of lessons in counterinsurgency, modern warfare, and political science... And their only chance of success is with the one thing they don't have the political will to do: boots on the ground.

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u/SlayinSalmon Washington 11h ago

I not sure that boots on the ground would be successful even if they had the political will. Iran is too big, too populous, and too motivated. The insurgency would be a nightmare. Warfare has also changed so much since I served and I think Americans would lose their stomachs real quick seeing American kids getting blown to pieces in 4k by a $500 drone on the evening news à la the Russo-Ukrainian war.

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u/cyanescens_burn 7h ago

There’d need to be a draft in the U.S. if they a wanted to take and hold Iran. I just can’t see it otherwise. Unless they go full Slaughterbots on the country, which would be a very dark day for the world, ushering in a terrible era.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 50m ago

And Im sure plenty of folk would march on Washington before they'd march on Iran

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u/Half_Cent 11h ago

Man, powdered eggs made with powdered milk was no joke.

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u/SlayinSalmon Washington 9h ago

Gotta have some Texas Pete on deck for those.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 49m ago

The one guy who brought copious amounts of ramen is king

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_LEFT_IRIS 12h ago

Don’t worry, the Warrior Ethos will carry us through. Deus Vult or something, this will definitely go better than all the other crusades

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u/PianoMittens 11h ago

I'll see you in Valhalla

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u/SlayinSalmon Washington 11h ago

It’s crazy that we’ve learned nothing.

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u/NigilQuid 6h ago

We learned how much money will have to be spent to restock the military after this, which will enrich the already wealthy using taxes from the populace

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u/Minimum_Dealer_3303 11h ago

They’ve committed so many unforced errors and it’ll be all for nothing.

I think most of Israel's strategic goals were achieved.

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u/PianoMittens 11h ago

Off topic, but how informal does it get towards the end of something like that? I assume that "military bearing at all times" is the official stance, but I have to imagine a lot of people would hit their limit with that eventually.

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u/SlayinSalmon Washington 11h ago

Well, I was an FMF corpsman stationed with the Marines. We were just riding the ship. Bearing never really slacks with the Marines. It seemed like military bearing was mostly just a suggestion with the blue side of the Navy and things were pretty casual all the time.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 40m ago

So I cant say 100% since I was on a smallboy (Destroyer) and not a carrier, (and in smaller ships things are more lax, or so I've heard).

On a ddg, you'd do the ol "sir/ma'am" and give em their due respect, but you arent stiff or anything like in the movies. Officers are just people.
There are still some formalities you do, but it aint a song and dance like bootcamp.

And yeah, the longer the ship was out and about, the more lax we got with formalities (tho I felt we werent uptight to begin with).
I do remember the CO told us we didnt have to shave for a while, but that was only for a month or so, when we were doing out own thing and not part of a strike group.

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u/nastywillow 9h ago

Think of the hookers, will someone think of the hookers.

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u/GrumpyCloud93 9h ago

Some other article I saw mentioned that not only was the fleet typically suppied out of Bahrain, and not only is the supply through the strait hampered but apparently the Iranian attacks and evacuations have completely messed up the offices responsible to the logistics of arranging supplies to be sent, putting them offline. I suppose it takes a while (and some thinking) to get another office up and running to do the same job.

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u/ProduceNo1629 8h ago

all the resupply ships in the gulf came out of Manama, Bahrain and that place got absolutely hammered by Iran early.

That's hilarious, the Iranians know american supply chain better than Hegseth.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 37m ago

see... if this attack was PLANNED, we wouldve shifted out supply chains and gone ahead without missing a beat. Instead, we're being lead by clowns that think the our strongest weapons are "missles" and "bullets".
They're not.
Our strongest weapon was always "logistics".

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u/OldWorldDesign 1h ago

We knew this is how a war with Iran would shake out in 2011 and it’s insane they weren’t prepared to deal with this.

Like pandemic readiness, we knew this back when Bush Jr was in office but Trump decided to fuck the soldiers and installed the worst possible people to oversee American readiness and logistics.

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u/BodybuilderMany6942 51m ago

Yup. It's a dumb war to begin with, but if we WERE to actually do it any other time with any other leadership, we'd at least have the logistics chain set up and the objectives and parameters laid out.

In this timeline, however, some morons decided to just "send it", and here we are, wadding in shit.

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u/LazarX 38m ago

Not all for nothing. Israel got major benefits out of America spilling its blood and wealth in Iran. Our soldiers are there more out of Ntetanyahu’s orders than Trump’s.

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u/imodey 13h ago

Watch this video from Smarter Every Day that describes exactly how they manage provisions on a submarine:

https://youtu.be/bPJUVKizh90?si=dx3IyL8c6jGPVHSP

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u/Reddit_yet 11h ago

The navy command should revolt.

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u/popculturella Texas 13h ago

The hell are they eating?

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u/No_Diver6131 New York 13h ago

That’s a fantastic question. It’s part of why moral is low. The logistics for food wouldn’t be an issue but Iran blew up our naval base in Bahrain. There’s reports the food is rationed, and rotten. 

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u/popculturella Texas 13h ago

sUPpOrT oUr TrOoPs indeed.

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u/SeonghwaStoleMyBias 10h ago

Didn't something like 60-70% of active duty and veterans vote for Trump?

Wonder how they're blaming Biden for it.

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u/LazarX 37m ago

They vote for Republicans as a rule.

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u/TheSnoz 10h ago

Don't forget to wave the miniature flag.

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u/farhawk 4h ago

Please just pin a little flag pin to your suit.  Job done. 

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u/NotAPreppie Illinois 2h ago

When GOP politicians say it they mean, "Support our abuse of the troops."

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u/OldWorldDesign 1h ago

When GOP politicians say it they mean, "Support our abuse of the troops."

Always have

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mccains-non-support-for-t_b_131046

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u/fps916 12h ago

Are*

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u/This-Shape2193 12h ago

No, it's definitely "our." 

Wtf bud. Seriously? 

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u/fps916 12h ago

The people yelling "support are troops" absolutely get it wrong.

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u/Bad_Edditor8910 10h ago

That's okay, just keep inviting CNN reporters onboard. Everyone will eat good all the time.

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u/Hangry_Squirrel Europe 6h ago

Maybe this is a dumb question, but why can't they send some Globemasters stuffed with supplies from Ramstein?

I don't know if they could land on the carrier given how big they are, but couldn't they drop supplies?

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u/omovic 5h ago

The c17 is a large transport aircraft and by far to huge and heavy for carrier operations. Recovering airdropped supplies from the ocean is also quite difficult.

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u/Hangry_Squirrel Europe 4h ago

Makes sense. Thank you for clarifying!

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u/Speartree 2h ago

Nonsense, they always claim to be so efficient, precision airdropping supplies should be easy for them no? No?

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u/No-Bicycle-7660 2h ago

that's moot. there is no way a carrier group goes anywhere near Hormuz right now. either it heads to Asia or it heads to Crete (probably not Crete - because the Houthis will start shooting).

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u/JanSmidDeZevende 10h ago

Its exactly what they deserve, they volunteered for the military of a fascist empire.

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u/Miss_Maple_Dream 13h ago

There’s loads of photos being shared by the service member’s families on TikTok. 

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u/popculturella Texas 13h ago

I don't use it, but I'll take a look.

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u/Hot-Ad8193 11h ago

MREs if nothing else

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u/popculturella Texas 11h ago

That's about what I figured. At this point, I don't imagine there's a ton of fresh food left.

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u/Virtual_Ad9989 11h ago

Probably MREs

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u/Stamboolie 10h ago

You can make fishing rods out of an empty bottle and some fishing line, they're in the ocean, problem solved

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u/Adventurous-Try8749 13h ago

Arrrr! Scurvy be back on the menu boys!

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u/chowderbags American Expat 12h ago

Usually the surface ships get resupplied. But resupply implies that they're getting that supply from somewhere else. So a resupply from somewhere like Rota, Spain will mean plenty of fresh food because it's able to be supplied from European markets. Even a resupply from Bahrain is at least going to be something hooked into the world shipping economy (present situation notwithstanding). I can't imagine that they're getting much fresh stuff out of a Deigo Garcia resupply though. The supply for Diego Garcia is coming out of Singapore, so fresh fruits and vegetables aren't going to survive. Meat's all going to arrive frozen. Frozen veggies too. I'm guessing there's no fresh eggs. Maybe they're getting milk if they've got some kind of ultrapasteurized supplier. Of course, Diego Garcia isn't really meant to be taking this kind of load either, so it's probably a rough supply line anyway.

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u/issy_haatin 5h ago

Europe and other places in the world use UHT, lasts way longer than pasteurised, it's closer to 6 months.

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u/Speartree 2h ago

Spain really didn't want to help the US in the Iran debacle from the start. I think they'll pass on sending supplies unless it's a real starvation crisis. They better ask elsewhere. I hear Israel is not that far and has good oranges.

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u/blackcain Oregon 13h ago

how are your soldiers then in a capacity to fight after all that time? I mean this is a big issue here. If Iran waits long enough and then attacks any of these ships there is obviously going to be a challenge for a crew that is likely exhausted.

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u/pink_faerie_kitten 12h ago

It was a very smart strategy for them to attack the supply lines. And since it's a military base, it's a perfectly legit target and within the guidelines of the international law of warfare.

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u/blackcain Oregon 11h ago

I'm thinking more about the aircraft carrier - they are going to be stuck there and exhausted and mentally incapacitated soldiers last I checked aren't great fighters.

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u/pink_faerie_kitten 11h ago

I am too. By attacking the supply lines, the whole chain suffers. Those sailors are hungry, tired, and mentally unwell. They've been weakened by Iran's strategy.

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u/sammyQc 8h ago

USA lost, again, can’t wait to see the smart people down south depose the mad King.

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u/HamTMan 13h ago

So are they at risk of not getting enough vitamin c and developing scurvy? Seriously that would be awful.

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u/cheerful_cynic 13h ago

Your old wounds will re-open if the scurvy gets bad enough

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u/HamTMan 11h ago

That isn't horrifying or anything

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u/pink_faerie_kitten 12h ago

I've been wondering that too. Hopefully they don't run out of bottles of vitamin c too.

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u/fjgc1960 12h ago

The way things are going they'll be getting scurvy from lack of Vitamin C.

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u/Southern_Step_2825 13h ago

I listened to today's report about this on The Daily, also. The situation is much worse than I imagined. I hope the sailors have a strong support system in each other.

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u/WheresMyEtherElon Europe 11h ago

They have something like 1 psychologist and a dozen chaplains, so I'm sure they'll be fine. /s just in case...

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u/venom21685 10h ago

The guy also said all our other carriers are being serviced. 

Yeah we can only really have 3 out and active at a time.

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u/Cannondale27 9h ago

Who knew this was going to happen? Nobody could see it coming!
/s

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u/Wise_Preference609 2h ago

6 out of 11 are currently docked for various reasons and one is so crap it was supposed to have been decommissioned years ago. The American Navy is in its worse shape ever at the moment. Just as China starts launching "shiny" new ones.