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| USS ELEANOR ROOSEVELT puts to sea to avoid getting wet and melting, ahead of a rapidly weakening tropical hiccup so mild that no damage was recorded anywhere in San Diego Bay. |
And that about covers that.
I can guaran-fucking-tee that 2000 Marine recruits at MCRD watching the TR flee this cloudburst were even less impressed yesterday, probably doing PT and close order drill out in the rain.
As noted in Comments:
I get the underlying rationale.
But it's only sound if you accept that they couldn't tell the difference between Chicken Little's inflated doomporn, and actual actionable weather intelligence.
It's like launching nuclear missiles because someone's radar detected a squadron of pelicans incoming.
They still look like idiots, obviously they don't have any better intel than Joe Schmuck, and they fell for the vastly inflated hype, rather than actual accurate weather reports.
If they did this as a readiness exercise, they're just stupid. If they did it because they couldn't tell the difference, they're stupid morons.
They look like not just pussies, but incompetent and gullible pussies.
There's no way to salvage this for them, and they wasted metric fucktons of fuel and money for no good reason, while sharing with near-peer adversaries their total inability to tell a real threat from a fake one.
You can bet Russia and China were taking notes.
Honestly, they had to get as many ships out of port as possible to avoid possible damage to ships that are (supposedly) sea and battle worthy. There's already a backlog of ships getting and waiting on repairs in our limited shipyards. Was it overreaction? Probably. Always better though to have ships tossed in rough waters at sea rather than when tied up alongside the piers.
ReplyDeleteBesides, good exercise for the Navy to have to throw off lines and depart port in a hurry...like they are supposed to be able to accomplish.
There’s also the real possibility of sending the carriers to help the Mexicans in Baja California. The initial reports of damage on the 18th (24 hours before they left port) were bad enough, so having the carrier available to assist should things deteriorate further was quite reasonable. The Navy does this all the time in the Caribbean.
DeleteI was at the san diego USN bootcamp (which I understand there is little left of but the USS Recruit) back in 1990. they wanted us to "volunteer" to fight wildfires up in the hills. apparently it would cut time off our bootcamp. none of us went. later we found out that if we had gotten hurt or killed, it wouldn't be "service related" so no death benefits and no medical coverage.
ReplyDelete@June,
ReplyDeleteI get the underlying rationale.
But it's only sound if you accept that they couldn't tell the difference between Chicken Little's inflated doomporn, and actual actionable weather intelligence.
It's like launching nuclear missiles because someone's radar detected a squadron of pelicans incoming.
They still look like idiots, obviously they don't have any better intel than Joe Schmuck, and fell for the vastly inflated hype, rather than actual weather reports. If they did this as a readiness exercise, they're just stupid. If they did it because they couldn't tell the difference, they're stupid morons.
They thus look like not just pussies, but incompetent and gullible pussies.
There's no way to salvage this for them, and they wasted metric fucktons of fuel and money for no good reason, while sharing with near-peer adversaries their total inability to tell a real threat from a fake one.
You can bet China and Russia were taking notes.
So now you are a weathered man of the sea? Got them sea legs do ya?
ReplyDeleteShips are better off at sea than in a port for a storm. Having ridden out both scenarios, a typhoon at sea in Sept 73 and a nasty storm tied up at 32nd street in San Diego, I would rather be at sea.
You would think they would have better weather info but I think they errored on the safe side.
Besides, how often are the weather fucks wrong?
Two cruises, sport, one at sea on the fringe of an actual Atlantic hurricane.
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't a hurricane, or even a tropical storm. It was a bellyflop from a fat kid.
Winds under 20MPH, moderate rain. The surf is bigger at Splash Mountain at Disneyland, FFS.
As noted, if this had been an actual hurricane, it might have been a prudent move.
It wasn't even within 100 miles of being a hurricane.
The proof of the pudding is hundreds of pleasure boats under 30', all riding out the light rainstorm in San Diego Bay without so much as a scratch.
1) NOAA posted tropical-storm warnings, FNMOC agreed on the *possible* winds.
ReplyDelete2) Better to be at sea than in port with possibly snapped mooring lines.
"Incompetent, gullible pussies." Pretty sure that's the plan, not a bug.
ReplyDeleteThe "Left" has infiltrated every institution and perverted it.
I'm probably the only one to notice. s/off
Keep in mind this is the same Navy that lost a ship being burned into the water, and collided with another ship because the female Captain and Navigation weren't on speaking terms. They'd be embarrassed to lose one just because it rained.
ReplyDelete@TGreen,
ReplyDeleteNice try. Then there's reality.
The storm was moving north at 10MPH.
60 mi. south of San Diego (that would be six hours away, for Common Core grads), it had already decreased to a nothingburger, with winds of <40MPH. Locally, that's called a "stiff breeze".
This thing couldn't have snapped mooring lines if they'd been made of Christmas tree tinsel.
And with only a six hour head start, and moving 4x faster than the storm, a nuclear carrier could have sailed rings around it had that proven necessary.
US Navy pretending that San Diego was in Bahia Tortuga, 370 mi. south, FTW.
I guess their GPS was knocked out by the storm too, along with their common sense.
The NWS overhyping this like they did just scoops a shit-ton heap of incompetence on their heads too.
It doesn't let the squid admirals off the hook for being a bunch of panicky twats.
Which they're going to find out on Channel 16 from every pleasure craft in SD Bay that rode the storm out docked without so much as a hiccup, when they come slinking back.
The ship should be renamed the Eleanor Roosevelt. They've earned it.
"The ship should be renamed the Eleanor Roosevelt. They've earned it."
ReplyDeleteIt would have been a nice touch if a couple of 60' CG coastal patrol boats went along as the screening force. Somebody has to protect the Navy from the Cartels.
doesn't the USCG "Hurricane Hunters" fly into this type of shit? Isn't that what they're for? And then, couldn't the squids get WX info from them? Maybe there's no Hurricane Hunters anywhere but Florida... but seems like a C130 could make the trip west... WT actual F do we pay for all this stuff for? Shit.
DeleteOriginal Grandpa
Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers don’t “burn a metric fuckton of fuel” when they move. This isn’t a diesel-powered ship; they only stop burning fuel when they shut the engine off (something they do once every 25 years).
ReplyDeleteThanks for that brilliant observation, Captain Obvious, but I was referring to the fuel used by the flotilla of tugboats necessary to push TR off, along with the fuel used by the fleet of conventionally-powered cruisers, destroyers, etc., that were flushed out of their SD homeport at the same time. Which measures out to one metric fuckton. You could look it up.
ReplyDeletePointlessly pedantic and stupid is no way to go through life, boy.
For the laugh -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQAe-xpff1g -- effective propaganda is all about timing and this ain't it.
ReplyDeleteExcept they weren't doing that this time.
ReplyDeleteThey were fleeing a mousephart storm, and made that quite clear when they did it.
Everyone wants to white knight for Big Blue, but the simple fact is their entire leadership is a wholly incompetent clusterfuck, and has been for years.
Shave this with Occam's Razor, FFS, and stop trying to grow roses on a pasture patty.