InchHigh wrote:
And the gross federal debt exploded under Reagan, it was clearly not a sustainable politics, which was rescued by the timely collapse of the Soviet Union.
The debt was considered preferable to war with the Soviet Union, which was a strong possibility at the time. The spending paid off, the Soviet Union collapsed and the military threat was greatly reduced for a time. Money well spent.
100% agree. I'll take debt over death any day.
InchHigh wrote:
I served during the Reagan years on a ship which was reactivated from the mothball fleet - the USS Missouri (BB 63). We were told that the Phase I reactivation of the BBs was being completed for ~$400 million, which was the cost of a new build Perry. Again, money well spent.
So you see, there is some empirical support for modernizing and reactivating reserve ships when the mission requires it. If you consider time or money as factors it becomes a very attractive part of the total solution.
BBs were a perfect example of when it should be done - to gain a capability you could not otherwise have achieved in less than 10 years (design, build...add politics to that and you may be at 15-20 years to get something like that built).
I had orders to Whiskey before they got changed to language school.
Lehman also took a look at some Essex class, and the condition was far to poor. The BBs were put up in good condition and maintained in good condition - neither of which are true of any of the Perry's once decommissioned.
Perry's are a good design, always did more than what was asked of them. But honestly I think you could build a new modified Perry if you needed immediate hulls and get better bang for your buck considering the conditions they were in on decom. Delayed maint, low priority for parts, etc.
For smaller vessels, new is the better way to go.
So after catch up on the current fleet (fully trained and manned ships, catch up all maint items), and building new Frigates to get the numbers and capabilities we need, we need a replacement for the CGs.
That's how we get to an effective fleet.
The money, personnel, and repair yard capacity to bring back Perry's is better spent on the current active fleet and new hulls.
Everyone has an opinion, and that is mine based on experience across US and RN ships from PC to Frigate to Destroyer to CG and CGNs.