Don't get me wrong - this is a sweet picture...
081006-N-9911M-146 PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 6, 2008) The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) fires a 5-Inch/54-caliber (Mk 45) gun mounted on the ship's foc'sle during a sinking exercise on the ex-USS O'Bannon (DD 987). The exercise demonstrated the ability for multiple strike group units to operate together effectively with precision in an operationally realistic exercise environment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd class Zachary Martin (Released)
It's just what they're doing - I would think any gunner on a Navy ship would love the chance to send rounds downrange at a sinkable target.
But might feel a little frisson of angst at sinking one of his own - heck, could be a ship he served on!
Click here to see the USS O'Bannon on a better day late in her career, as she pulls into port in Souda Bay, Crete, in January 2005.
Heh. The Navy didn't post any pictures of what she looked like when they were done... probably because we don't want to show what missiles and gunfire do to a relatively modern-built destroyer.
I understand the utility of a SINKEX, still, it just feels like an execution... without the toothsome controversy that surrounded something like Breaker Morant. Heh. I guess this is more analogous to shooting Old Yeller.
I poked around a bit - they do post the occasional pic of a SINKEX vessel on its way to becoming a reef...
Heh. We can't save 'em all, and it's been a while since the Navy has been in the kind of shooting war that generates famous ships that people will try to save as museum ships.
And that's a good thing. A war in which the Navy finds itself in serious surface actions is a war of a magnitude we don't need.
081006-N-9911M-146 PACIFIC OCEAN (Oct. 6, 2008) The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) fires a 5-Inch/54-caliber (Mk 45) gun mounted on the ship's foc'sle during a sinking exercise on the ex-USS O'Bannon (DD 987). The exercise demonstrated the ability for multiple strike group units to operate together effectively with precision in an operationally realistic exercise environment. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd class Zachary Martin (Released)
It's just what they're doing - I would think any gunner on a Navy ship would love the chance to send rounds downrange at a sinkable target.
But might feel a little frisson of angst at sinking one of his own - heck, could be a ship he served on!
Click here to see the USS O'Bannon on a better day late in her career, as she pulls into port in Souda Bay, Crete, in January 2005.
Heh. The Navy didn't post any pictures of what she looked like when they were done... probably because we don't want to show what missiles and gunfire do to a relatively modern-built destroyer.
I understand the utility of a SINKEX, still, it just feels like an execution... without the toothsome controversy that surrounded something like Breaker Morant. Heh. I guess this is more analogous to shooting Old Yeller.
I poked around a bit - they do post the occasional pic of a SINKEX vessel on its way to becoming a reef...
Heh. We can't save 'em all, and it's been a while since the Navy has been in the kind of shooting war that generates famous ships that people will try to save as museum ships.
And that's a good thing. A war in which the Navy finds itself in serious surface actions is a war of a magnitude we don't need.
~V5
Of my previous 8 ships only two remain afloat and in service. Believe all the others have shared O'Bannon's fate....trained their Sailors well and rest now with Davey Jones!!
Argggghhhhh....indeed.
As for the only ship I was on, CGN-38, she's sitting in Bremerton (I think) rusting away. Probably too many residual zoomies to do much else with her.
That shot of the Towers going down, I see that Mk11 on the fantail. Glad I never had to deal with one of those, the 26 was my gig.
Did you know that a blue weinie training sabot round can light up a 49C? Learned that on Rodrigez Range back when the only building out there was a plywood range tower hanging off the top of a hill.
I just said it was sad, to me.
Y'all can revel in yer orgies of destruction of old warriors.
I just feel sad to see them fade away.
Good golly yer a buncha heartless hardasses.
FOUL!
The SINKEX target is one of the "NEW" ships just coming on line when I retired (shortly after the invention of the steam engine, I think). All my ships are scrapped now.
I am amazed at the haste to get rid of the DD-963 class. While no longer top of the line, they are certainly valuable assets with many years left in them. However, the infinitesimal wisdom of the leadership seems to be that if they scrap these they can use the savings in manpower of operating costs to build sexy new LCS and DDX ships which cost exorbitant amounts, and cannot be built on time or on cost. This leaves us with a fleet with literally more admirals than ships.
Don't think that potential adversaries from the Persian Gulf, to Korea or China have not noticed our self imposed naval cutbacks.
If Obamessiah and his Demonrat pals gain full control, the last "peace dividend" which gutted our forces will seem miniscule, and what little is left will be pitiful indeed.
I definitly felt the same way about the Virginia Class. What was it, 1976, I think, and they even changed the class to make them fit, upgrading them during building. While we couldn't carry the seemingly infinite loads of 'Hawks like the new(to me, at least) VLS could, the VA could be anywhere in the world within one week with the throttle maxed, and could stay on station completely unsupported for about 2 months. No refuels every 2 days, the only thing we'd have to worry about is resupplying ammo. And the best part, IMHO, was she LOOKED like a warship, not a hull with boxes on it. But that's just me.
It was very sad to me in late 93 (? sometimes the years get confused), during our DeCom ceremony, that NavSea was almost literally watching on the pier with crescent wrenches ready to take what they needed. To scrap an entire ship class "only" 20 years old, that had proven itself, < shaking head>
I surved on the OB from 93 to 98. She was a fine ship with a solid crew. I had heard she was sold to the Turks. I am happier to hear that she gave her all for training our guys than steaming under another flag.
I remember the days when the ability of multiple units to "operate together effectively with precision" was a *given*...
Only the USSR running out of moolah in other systems kept Russia from having an unbeatable bomber fleet of their own right now. They only built 3 Blackjacks.
A fleet of orbiting B-52s with bomb bays and wings laden with cruise missiles or smart bombs can put pause for thought into any dictator's plans, and each bomber can orbit for literally days if it has to and is refuelled (I've flown practice missions of 25 hours in them).
But no, we had to slice them all up except a few of the H-models.
GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!
I just said it was sad, to me.</a>
Nostalgia in the old guard?