[Legbreaker]

I've been reading through a book lately on the worlds naval vessels from aircraft carriers right down to small patrol craft. Written as at June 1984 and extremely detailed in weapons, electronics, range, and a dozen other statistics.

What I've found very interesting is the age of most vessels. Many smaller countries, and a large number of the larger ones were still operating ships built and commissioned in 1943-1945, many of which were transfered from the US and UK navies in the 60's and 70's.

What I find even MORE interesting is that roughly 60-70% of the US naval strength was of 1940's and 50's vintage with upgrades consisting of little more than the addition of a newer radar and fire control systems and often replacement of a gun turret with a missile system of some type.

It's also interesting to note that on average, missile frigates, destroyers and even the larger cruisers usually only carry about eight (8) missiles for each launcher. Therefore, resupply ships are absolutely VITAL to ongoing operations.

At the same time, it appears the Soviets were going through a massive expansion and replacement program of their naval assets (while also retaining many of the older vessels).

So, on paper the US navy (and others) might appear to have been very strong, but in reality they were on the whole operating with seriously obsolete equipment. It's a bit like a modern army of today being equiped with M47 and M48 tanks, M3 Halftracks and bolt action rifles - they'll still kill you, but put up against say T-72's, BMPs, and AK-74s and you've got a real problem.