Subject: SMML VOL 3031 Date: Mon, 26 Dec 2005 23:56:44 +1100 The Ship Modelling Mailing List (SMML) is proudly sponsored by SANDLE http//sandlehobbies.com For infomation on how to Post to SMML and Unsubscribe from SMML http//smmlonline.com/aboutsmml/rules.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS INDEX 1 Re Iowas (16" Monitor) 2 Re Iowas/De-Commisioned Fleet ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- MODELLERS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) From Rick Lundin Subject Re Iowas (16" Monitor) While any help the Navy can provide to the Marines and their Corpsmen is most welcome one must wonder if the days of Marines storming ashore into a hail of enemy gunfire are over. Prior to the advent of the LCAC hovercraft only about 15% of the shoreline in the world was accessible to positive displacement landing craft. Possible points where a landing might be attempted were predictable allowing the enemy to concentrate his forces accordingly. The LCAC increases that to about 80%. Combine that with the Marine-invented Vertical Envelopment that means is that an enemy will have to stretch his resources over much more territory if a Marine incursion is to be successfully met. Marine flexibility in maneuver and mobility equals increased enemy weakness at any given point which in turn leads to the ability of the Marines to concentrate their forces against more critical (c3) targets inland. While the USMC has a well deserved reputation for their fierceness in the face of the enemy - these guys are also very well trained to maximize their advantage in battlefield mobility. The word "finesse" is not usually found in the same sentence as "USMC" but they do take the maneuver part of their mission statement ("To close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver") very seriously indeed. When the mobility of Marine ground and helo-borne units is considered the probability of the Marines penetrating beyond the 16"/50's 23 mile range should be considered. While it is possible to use rocket assisted projectiles to increase gunfire range (at the expense of payload) the war in Afganistan demonstrated just how effective modern laser and GPS guided air support (sometimes all the way from the CONUS) can be. In addition the Marines reverted from the M-109 SP 155's to towed 155mm howitzers years ago to facilitiate the deployment of their organic artillery by helicopter across the beach, to bring them to action quicker that would be the case with the M-109's. While the 16" Monitor sounds good it's effectiveness decreases rapidly as the Marines success increases and soon becomes useless. The possiblity should be considered that resources expended on a 16" Monitor would be better directed toward increasing the Marine's ability to bring down fear and devistation on the enemy regardless of how far they might be from the shoreline. Rick Lundin ex-HM-2 USN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2) From "Lompe, Keith H. OS2" Subject Re Iowas/De-Commisioned Fleet Hello, I am new to the mailing list so I don't know exactly where to reply to some of the postings. The first one is Leslie D. Foran she was writing about the USS Iowa and putting it in its home state. A lot of people think that is a grand idea however there are several other options you have to look at. Is the state willing to put up the money to transport huge sections of this massive ship to put it on display then on top of that making a memorial for it. So you are talking about billions of dollars. Not to mention they do have to bid on it to purchase it from the Navy. And you have almost every state that would love to have a battleship memorial so you would have to look at that as well. I do agree with you though. Being from Texas I am proud to have that memorial in our state. The second person is CVRC78@webtv.net (Tim Carrier) he was writing about the decommissioned fleet and using those to respond to disasters or using them as homes. I do see the governments standpoint on NOT using the decomed fleet. I served in the Navy for 4 years and I am currently in the Coast Guard. And there is a lot of information that is not considered when thinking of the "mothballed Navy" These older ships have asbestos and rust and who knows how many other health issues. They have been sealed up for who knows how long so you have to ask yourself is it worth your health for them to open one of those up for you to sleep in? or would you rather have the cruise ship? Not to mention for them to bring one, just one, of the decommed ships back to use you are looking at almost as much as it was to pay for the cruise ships. I know that seems odd but they have to pay people to unweld all the doors, then it has to undergo tests and more tests just for it to be thought to bring back. Then after the tests they have to clean it out and update it. And once they get it running again you have to look at the old machinery and the old equipment and then ask yourself is it worth all that money or should we just put these people up in a cruise ship??? Plus I think that the Coast Guard did an outstanding job! Because 90% of the Coast Guardsmen and women down there helping out they all went through the same. We had service men and women going to work in "civilian clothes" because they lost everything as well and yet they did not blink to go to work and help. They were so many solicitations around the US of other service men and women wanting to go down and help that they finally said no more. So with the Technology, equipment and personnell that we have right now what is the point in spending trillions of dollars to bring old and outdated ships back??? You have to ask yourself about that. Thank you for reading this I hope I didn't step on anyones toes. I just think there are a lot more sides then what might be explored not because people don't care, but because people don't know the other sides. Keith Lompe, OS2 USCG ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Check out the SMML site for the List Rules, Reviews, Articles, Backissues, Member's models & Reference Pictures at http//smmlonline.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End of Volume