Text 4202, 49 rader
Skriven 2012-09-23 20:58:00 av Paul Quinn (3:640/384)
   Kommentar till text 4201 av Ward Dossche (2:292/854)
Ärende: Re: Love those USAians
==============================
Hi! Ward,

On Sun, 23 Sep 12, you wrote to me:

 PQ>> I think I erred.  22 years isn't the lifetime.  It's the period
 PQ>> between refuelling the two nuke reactors on board.

 WD> I figured they could "not" be refueled but had to be decommissioned
 WD> once they were spent.

I don't know anything about the technology but I would very surprised to learn
that they cannot be swapped out & swapped in, modular-style.  The process would
be a lengthy one for sure, and the cycle would allow the other ships' systems
to evolve in step with the rest of fleet (although they do that after every
cruise as well).  When the Navy is faced with budgetary constraints, which
option do you think would no longer really be an option: decommissioning one of
their big sticks (quite a resource drain in itself) and wait for the build &
commissioning cycle of a new carrier (roughly four years), or, swap out the old
cores for new ones.  :)

 WD> Am I mistaken?

I dunno.  I ain't no naval literate but I do like to vege out in front of a
Discovery show now & then.

 PQ>> Brits were on the pointy-end of the dilema at that time: do we need
 PQ>> them or not. It's the ages-old maxim, all over again: it's best to
 PQ>> have them and not have a need than to have the need, and not have
 PQ>> them.

 WD> Their single carrier was about to be sold then. I think in the
 WD> meantime it was turned into razor-blades.

They seem to have an entire 'class' of jump-ramp carriers now.  The Wiki
happysnap of the USS John C. Stennis & HMS Illustrious belies some difference
in operating budget of the two navies, and technologies also.

 WD> Still better than the Belgrano.

That was a torpedo attack, wasn't it?  The only one in 'modern' times using a
guided fish, and the last time the Jolly Roger was hoisted by the Brit Navy
upon their return... IIRC.

Cheers,
Paul.

... Memory parity interrupt at 367A:64DF Self-Destruct in 5 sec...
--- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox
 * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)