November 5, 2011

The Grace Of God, Mathematically Speaking

God's grace fills His creation. It is manifested in everything conceived by man.

November 4, 2011

Triumph The Occupy Dog

I really wanted to see Triumph poop on the Occupiers, but it probably wouldn't have made much of an impact on their personal hygiene.

Occupy This

None of these self-absorbed, shiftless "Occupy" wankers can hold a candle to generations past. Sadly, the generation that fought so nobly and suffered such horrific loses are almost all gone.

November 2, 2011

In Uncertain Times, Size Does Matter

We recently learned that, due to budget cuts,  the British Navy is not able to deploy a surface warship to provide a 24 hour emergency response capability. Of course England is not at war right now even though her forces are involved in Afghanistan and, until recently on a limited basis in Libya.

But how much is enough in so-called peace time?

Truth be told, the US did not have a modern  battleship until 1895 when three were added to the fleet: the USS Maine, USS Indiana and the USS Texas. The USS Massachusetts and the USS Oregon came on line a year later. Of course we lost one of them, the Maine, on 15 FEB 1898 which brought us into conflict with Spain. The cause of the explosion that sank the Maine is now questioned. In any event, the Maine was re-floated and then scuttled at sea in 1912.

From the following site, Naval History and Heritage Command, we see the US Navy increase it's capacity for surface warfare dramatically after the loss of the Maine and the declaration of war. Of course this involves the cooperation of Congress to approve the funds necessary to build these war craft. Look at the increase in size of the "Steel" Navy.

                                Date     Dec 1896    Dec 1898           Change
Battleship 5 6 20%
Cruiser 16 18 13%
Monitor 6 14 133%
Torpedo Boats 1 12 1100%
Steel Gunboats 11 34 209%
Auxiliaries 1 30 2900%
Screw Steamer 7 16 129%
Screw Sloops 6 4 -33%
Gunboats 5 25 400%
Sailing vessels 1 1 0%
Steel Navy 40 114 185%
Old Navy 19 46 142%
                    Total Active 59 160 171%

The Great White Fleet - 1907

For a decade after the end of the Spanish American War, the fleet grew to about 175-180 ships. Uncertain political conditions in Europe saw the fleet increase to 245 vessels prior to the commencement of WWI hostilities. Look at the difference in the number of battleships, destroyers and cruisers from the prior war against Spain. By Armistice Day our fleet had increased by over 200%. But this was nothing compared to what would happen to our Navy less than three decades later.

                                Date    Dec 1916    Nov 1918          Change
Battleships 36 39 8%
Cruisers 30 31 3%
Monitor 3 7 133%
Destroyers 61 110 80%
Torpedo Boats/Frigates 18 17 -6%
Submarines 44 80 82%
Auxiliaries# 25 87 248%
Gunboats/Patrol 28 350 1150%
                    Total Active 245 774 216%

By 1924 the fleet had been reduced down to 137 surface warships and 376 total active vessels.  However, the biggest decrease was in the number of gunboats, from 350 to only 37. The number of battleships and cruisers were reduced by almost a half.  When the Great Depression hit, it got worse. Nothing changed much until the late 30's and then - 1940 when even the doves and isolationists in Congress saw the handwriting on the wall.

                               Date    Jun 1940    Aug 1945           Change
Battleships 15 23 53%
Carriers, Fleet 6 28 367%
Carriers, Escort                 0 71                 n/a
Cruisers 37 72 95%
Destroyers 185 377 104%
Frigates                 0 361                 n/a
Submarines 64 232 263%
Mine Warfare 36 586 1528%
Patrol 19 1204 6237%
Amphibious                 0 2547                 n/a
Auxiliary 116 1267 992%
Surface Warships* 237 833 251%
                   Total Active 478 6768 1316%

*Surface warfare ship totals do not include submarines, mine warfare, patrol or auxiliaries

By 1943 the US Navy had more ships than all other combatant nations combined - that includes allied and enemy navies - the Brits, the Canadians, the Fwench, the Germans, the Japanese, the Italians, everyone.

The end of WWII saw peace dividends realized through the shrinking of our armed forces.  By 1950 we were down to 634 warships, less than a tenth of our WWII levels.  But as the Cold War heated up, our Navy increased again.  By 1968, during the peak of the Vietnam War, we were at 932 warships

                                Date Jun 1950  Jun 1968            Change
Battleships 1 1 0%
Carriers 15 23 53%
Cruisers 13 35 169%
Destroyers 137 219 60%
Frigates 10 50 400%
Submarines 72 148 106%
Mine Warfare 56 83 48%
Patrol 33 3 -91%
Amphibious 79 162 105%
Auxiliary 218 216 -1%
Surface Warships 161 296 84%
                    Total Active 634 932 47%

This didn't last long.  As the Vietnam War ended and our nation transitioned to an all volunteer force (1973), our Navy shrunk by 44%; from 932 in 1968 to 523 by 1977.  From then on, our highest level of active warships was under President Reagan - in 1987 we deployed 594 warships.  It has been all downhill since then.  In 2007 we are at our lowest naval strength since 1916; we were down to 278 ships.  When President Bush took office, the Navy was at 318 ships; when he left it was 282.  We are now at 285.

                                Date    Sep 2007    Sep 2011           Change
Carriers 11 11 0%
Cruisers 22 22 0%
Destroyers 52 61 17%
Frigates 30 26 -13%
LCS * 0 2                  n/a
Submarines 53 53 0%
SSBN 14 14 0%
SSGN 4 4 0%
Mine Warfare 14 14 0%
Amphibious 33 31 -6%
Auxiliary 46 47 2%
Surface Warships 115 122 6%
                    Total Active 278 285 3%

The question still remains before us.  How much is enough? Naval technology has come a long ways to be sure and the capabilities of our warships has changed accordingly.  But it seems that our conflicts are not-state-of-the-art affairs, but more along the lines of combating low-tech thuggish cretins armed with AK-47's and butcher knives.

So if I'm wise I had better leave this question in the hands of military professionals who are vastly more qualified than I to render judgement.  I know they are obsolete and expensive as all get out to man, but I'd sure feel better if we had an Iowa class battleship or three or six floating off the shores of Egypt,  Palestine, Somalia, Iran and Venezuela.  Just to piss them off.

November 1, 2011

Sad, Very Sad

Whatever happened to the cry,"Millions for defense but not a penny for tribute!" that served to straighten the backbone of many a right minded citizen?

Oh, that was the United States - uttered by Robert Harper in1797 after the fwench demanded a bribe to stop attacking our ships - not the British.

Apparently the Brits were not listening either then or now as their run-away social spending to keep the wogs and white trash happy (tribute) has stripped them of their ability to maintain simple, single ship coverage of their island in the event of an emergency.
No warships left defending Britain after Defence cutbacks

Defence cuts have left the stretched Royal Navy unable to provide an emergency standby ship to protect British waters for a month.

The Navy normally provides a minimum coverage of a frigate or destroyer fulfilling the role of Fleet Ready Escort (FRE) in order to be able to respond quickly to a potential threat at home or abroad.

However, slashed Defence budgets and the war in Libya has meant there hasn't been a vessel available since the start of October.

The last ship to fill the role, called the FRE, was HMS Portland but that left for war games off the coast of Scotland in October, and it is now having a rest period in Plymouth on the south coast.

Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord Alan West said: "I would hardly say it is a luxury. If there was a terrorism incident in UK waters, this would historically be the ship sent in to deal with it.
