Mittens unveils his foreign policy vision today

[Josephus]

Mittens and Ryan have been getting daily security briefings since the week before the convention;  maybe not to the level of the POTUS, but all candidates get them once they receive the nomination.

REally? Why?

So any joke candidate gets daily security briefings? 

[Viking]

Are even the rest of the world's navies combined building more than that number of ''quality' ships a year ?

China is building pretty fast, although that raises the question of how you define "quality ship"

Any ship, which when in contact with the enemy does not provoke anybody serving on her to utter any variant of

Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.

well, either that or

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111111oneoneoenoen

[jimmy olsen]

Am I missing it? How does he suggest that we show our strength? Is he talking about more troops in the Middle East? If so, how do we pay for that and balance the budget?

.....

+ "Build 15 ships per year, including three submarines" - presumably included in above.  -  This proposal appears to come from John Lehman (now a Romney defense advisor).  For comparison the plan for 2013 is 2 subs and 8 surface ships of various types, for a total of 10.  The five year plan is rougly 2 subs per year and 7 other ships per year.  The merits are difficult to evaluate without some insight into the specific additional ships proposed.

......

Are even the rest of the world's navies combined building more than that number of ''quality' ships a year ?

The Japs are building three more "helicopter" carriers to counter the Chinese. The Chinese are building a ton of submarines.

[Viking]

The Japs are building three more "helicopter" carriers to counter the Chinese. The Chinese are building a ton of submarines.

I also suspect they are carpeting the East and South China Seas with modern SOSUS as well.

[The Minsky Moment]

Would be curious if the languishista navalists have a view as to the feasibility or advisibility of basing carrier strike groups "permanently" in the Gulf region.

To the extent it requires pulling a group or more out of the Pacific, seems like not such a great idea.

Re feasibility - are the basing facilities in the region (Bahrain?  Diego Garcia?) sufficiently stocked and secure to supply carrier groups on permanent station?  Would it be feabile to supply via air or sea replenishment?

[mongers]

Are even the rest of the world's navies combined building more than that number of ''quality' ships a year ?

China is building pretty fast, although that raises the question of how you define "quality ship"

Hence its inclusion in my sentence; proof in the pudding and so forth.

[MadImmortalMan]

Mittens and Ryan have been getting daily security briefings since the week before the convention;  maybe not to the level of the POTUS, but all candidates get them once they receive the nomination.

REally? Why?

So any joke candidate gets daily security briefings? 

I'm sure it's only the other major party candidate. Not just anybody. Think of them like the shadow govt.

[mongers]

Would be curious if the languishista navalists have a view as to the feasibility or advisibility of basing carrier strike groups "permanently" in the Gulf region.

To the extent it requires pulling a group or more out of the Pacific, seems like not such a great idea.

Re feasibility - are the basing facilities in the region (Bahrain?  Diego Garcia?) sufficiently stocked and secure to supply carrier groups on permanent station?  Would it be feabile to supply via air or sea replenishment?

Not being a languishista navalists, but Bahrain itself seems to resemble an aircraft carrier, if push came to shove it might be able to perform that role, without the need to risk 90,000 tons of steel in confined waters.
Oh that's assuming the base perimeter could be protected.

[Eddie Teach]

The number 15 must have done well in focus groups.  Like Obama's 100,000 math & science teachers (which btw I guess social studies teachers can bugger off ).

Korea is welcome to them.

[garbon]

Mittens and Ryan have been getting daily security briefings since the week before the convention;  maybe not to the level of the POTUS, but all candidates get them once they receive the nomination.

REally? Why?

So any joke candidate gets daily security briefings? 

Here's a detailed history.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/cia-briefings-of-presidential-candidates/cia-5.htm

[derspiess]

Don't know why that would get a from you;  falls right in line with the GOP's desire in reducing civic participation. 

Then I guess you can call me a *maverick*.  Science was sometimes interesting but I could take it or leave it.  Math was pretty easy but I hated it with a passion.  It was history, geography, etc. that always held my interest.  Unfortunately the school system had no interest in offering anything but the bare minimum in those areas. 

I tried to take college history classes when I was a high school senior but my principal doubted it would be worth the time (which was otherwise spent in office practice & study halls).

[Neil]

Would be curious if the languishista navalists have a view as to the feasibility or advisibility of basing carrier strike groups "permanently" in the Gulf region.

To the extent it requires pulling a group or more out of the Pacific, seems like not such a great idea.

Re feasibility - are the basing facilities in the region (Bahrain?  Diego Garcia?) sufficiently stocked and secure to supply carrier groups on permanent station?  Would it be feabile to supply via air or sea replenishment?

The USN has been heavily expanding their base in Bahrain for a couple of years, so I would say that the Superior Service has been planning ahead for basing a second carrier group for a while.

Honestly, I don't think that losing a carrier group in the Pacific is especially important.  I mean, you'll miss the Aegis cruisers and whatnot, but when it comes to the ability to put aircraft in the air around China, you can't sink Taiwan, Luzon or Okinawa.  There's still the rest of the Seventh Fleet to show the flag and hunt Chinese subs.

[CountDeMoney]

Would be curious if the languishista navalists have a view as to the feasibility or advisibility of basing carrier strike groups "permanently" in the Gulf region.

I think it's an incredibly bad idea.  Grumbler thinks they're all safe inside the Gulf since they're not dealing with swarms from the Soviet Naval Air Arm anymore.  I believe they don't even belong in there.

Re feasibility - are the basing facilities in the region (Bahrain?  Diego Garcia?) sufficiently stocked and secure to supply carrier groups on permanent station?  Would it be feabile to supply via air or sea replenishment?

Even though Bahrain is home of the 5th Fleet now and has a pretty big base, has been an important hub for military activity and projection, and the USN may very well have the capability to make it a permanent home port for an entire forward-deployed carrier battle group if they made it big enough, but it isn't now--it's not a San Diego or Yokosuka, and I don't trust the permanency or stability of an island nation smaller than metropolitan Baltimore run by a royal family with a proven track record of head-bashing its people, all under the range of Iranian SSMs. 
It's just a bad place to set up camp, politically and militarily.

[Neil]

On the other hand, where's a good place to base them in the Indian Ocean?  It would be better if the fleet had easy acccess to the open ocean, but then again supporting Kuwait and the Saudis is why they're there in the first place.

[CountDeMoney]

On the other hand, where's a good place to base them in the Indian Ocean?

We never had a problem with them steaming on their own in the Indian Ocean before;  IIRC, the 7th Fleet usually had one somewhere on station in the Indian Ocean, always a couple days' away or closer to the Gulf if necessary.  Worked very well for many years before GW1.   I'd prefer the old way we did things:  that the Indian Ocean and Gulf was an extended area of operations split between the 7th and 6th Fleets, as needs and deployments dictated.  But the ground wars in the area have made Bahrain necessary.

It would be cool, but I don't think the Indians would be open to the idea of a major USN presence on their soil    Not with them having visions of their own naval ascendency now.   Too bad we pissed on that relationship decades ago making hot monkey love with Pakistani strongmen instead, or things could look different today. 

It would be better if the fleet had easy acccess to the open ocean, but then again supporting Kuwait and the Saudis is why they're there in the first place.

Yeah, and I don't like it.  I'd rather we not have any permanent naval bases in Arabia or East Africa, and if so, they should be just enough for berthing and resupply of surface combat groups.