2/23/2013 Naval Interest

ITS LIKE DEJA-VU ALL OVER AGAIN- Yogi Berra

This past Christmas there were Nine Flattops In Norfolk 5 Super Carriers and 4  Amphibious warfare ships plus a host of smaller combatants. Our recent cruising of the Internet indicates that this kind of concentration of naval power in one tight grouping is in fact quite common these days. Back in the 80s the Navy and Congress were discussing a "Home Port Program" that would spread out these concentrations over a much broader geographic area. Naval management and leadership back then seemed to remember the lesson of Pearl Harbor and so did much of Congress. Then a budget crisis followed by a demand for a "peace dividend" killed the home porting program. We first noticed the problem recently and published the observations below. We just thought that this second picture was worth posting, just to support our observation that there are a lot of pictures of this sort floating around the Internet screaming at our enemies that we never learned the lesson of Pearl Harbor. No we don't expect a Russian or Chinese carrier based air attack on Norfolk any time soon, but are we sure there are no terrorist in speed boats about? If the Congress could ever manage to tend to real business we need to have a second look at "home porting" and "fleet dispersal". The time and place to concentrate naval force is at sea en route to the operating area, not in port.

You can learn a lot just by watching-Yogi Berra

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER (CVN 69), USS GEORGE H W BUSH (CVN-77) ,USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65), USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN- 75), USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN-72) at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia Recently.

 What's wrong with this picture? To a landlubber probably nothing, but to a naval historian it is chillingly reminiscent of this picture.

This is an aerial view of Battleship Row, Pearl harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941 taken from an attacking Japanese aircraft. The plume of white smoke in the center of the picture is rising from the USS OKLAHOMA from a torpedo strike. 

We really have to ask who is responsible for this concentration of half our aircraft carrier fleet in one nice compact location? Why are they there? Well obviously the USS ENTERPRISE is there because she is being decommissioned. So it should not be surprising to see an additional carrier there while she is in, she is going to occupy a berth at Norfolk for a long time. It might be acceptable to see a second carrier there with the one additional to the ENTERPRISE for a brief period as one is finishing up and the other just starting a repair, replenishment. But after December 7, 1941 we should never have half our centerpiece capital ships within a stone's throw of each other. 

 Do we really believe that Russia or China are about to attack Norfolk? No, but then in 1941 there was only a tiny group of naval intelligence professionals who thought the Japanese were about to attack Pearl Harbor, no one listened. However we are at war with a host of non state organizations who fear and loath our carrier fleet. In a tight grouping like that a walk up terrorist attack could put half the carrier fleet out for more than a year. How hard is it for terrorist to know when the fleet is in like this. Well, we discovered it from open Internet sources that we monitor daily, but a terrorist scout wouldn't have to go to that much trouble. The situation may be readily viewed on an excursion boat ride open to the public. 

WANTED ANOTHER REVOLT OF THE ADMIRALS

  To us this picture demonstrates that we are past due for another "Revolt of the Admirals".  After WW II a Congress about half as irresponsible as the present one wanted a "peace dividend" and was busily going about the dismantlement of the U.S. Navy. The Navy's senior military leadership marched up Capital Hill and told the Congress what the dangers were if they proceeded with their foolishness unchecked. It cost every one of them their career. Politicians don't take kindly to being publicly corrected. But it was necessary and as a result when the Cold War broke out we had the naval lead. The Admirals, their careers ruined retired to private life. 

 Notice "retired", when you are an admiral you don't get thrown out on the street because some politician demands your head on a plate. Admirals by very definition are retirement eligible before they put the stars on their collars. In the periodic officer reviews admirals get reviewed too and most get passed over and must retire, the air is thin at this level. Every admiral in fact lives on the verge of retirement. Is it expecting so much of the present generation that they stop jockeying for position for another star and tell this President and the squabbling Congress the facts of naval life. Who is responsible for this classic and totally ill advised concentration of Air Craft Carriers? Just what kind of admirals do we have today anyway?

EDITOR:  WILL WE EVER LEARN?

"I wish I had an answer to that because I'm tired of answering the question". Yogi Berra