[Targan]

Originally Posted by Olefin

Or you could have Tarawa not sunken but have taken significant damage to where she wouldnt be useful for the command ship - i.e. her radios, sensors, etc.. could be out and she is basically unable to exercise command functions outside of using signal flags.

Fair point.

Originally Posted by Olefin

There are no details on who commanded the effort - and if there wasnt a seperate task force commander present then the senior naval officer present would take over as Task Force Commander - so if its the Captain of the Hancock then he is it. (all it takes is for him to be one day senior to everyone else and he would have command fall to him)

All true but seriously, given the enormous importance of the operation, MilGov couldn't come up with a single admiral or rear admiral to command the fleet? It just beggars belief.

Originally Posted by Olefin

Plus having Tarawa present allows the US to evac helicopters and other equipment that divisions have been hauling around per canon and does it without any disruption of the canon.

Again, all true but not having the Tarawa present doesn't mean the US can't evac helicopters and other equipment with the Omega fleet. There would definitely be one or more (almost certainly more) ro-ro vessels in the fleet, and many cargo vessels are fully capable of having helicopters landed on them (many have one or more of their cargo hold hatches specially reinforced for exactly that purpose). And you'll note from other posts I've made that I'm not opposed to the Tarawa being once again in operation with the USN post-Omega. I just regard it has highly unlikely that the Tarawa was with the Omega fleet and didn't rate a single mention in Going Home.

Originally Posted by Olefin

and you would think if Tarawa had been lost or grounded, given how the handbooks were written, it would have mentioned her loss so soon after the picture was taken

You would think that if the Tarawa was among the ships sailing with the Omega fleet it would have been mentioned in Going Home. Seriously, specifically naming the John Hancock as being present and casually omitting any mention of the Tarawa being in the same fleet? I don't buy it.

Originally Posted by Olefin

thus no matter how much Legbreaker wants her sunk, she most likely was part of Omega

I'm happy to admit that Leg and I have quite similar views in many areas of T2K. I'm also happy that you've joined the forum, Olefin, you have already stimulated much interesting discussion since joining. But I'd advise against buying into some of the old disputes that caused a great deal of pain around here (and led to the departure from active participation of the creator, founder and administrator of this forum). I don't think it's a fair characterisation of Leg's views to suggest that he vehemently advocates the sinking of the Tarawa. As I recall, the idea that the Tarawa was beached or grounded somewhere along the Polish coast during 2000 was widely accepted as a reasonable possibility by many members of this forum. As it happens, Leg and I subscribed to that view. Long story short, I disagree that the Tarawa being part of the Omega fleet was "most likely". I agree that it's possible though.

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

With regards to canon, wasn't at least one US Coast Guard ship mentioned in Rifle River? (Yes, I know technically that wouldn't be part of the US Navy )

That would be the Chilula, WMEC-153, a Cherokee class medium endurance cutter. And for all intents and purposes, during the Twilight War most USCG ships were USN ships. Those USCG assets listed in Rifle River as being under the direct command of Rear Admiral Nils Holsgirder are examples of USCG vessels that basically aren't USN vessels by 2000.

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

Also it's been years since I read Satellite Down so I can't remember if the USS Virginia was on its own or was part of a small group of ships? Didn't they get into a fight with some Soviet warships? Is the Virginia listed as the only survivor?

All of the other vessels in the USS Virginia's battle group were sunk in combat.

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

I'm not convinced about Korea...there would certainly have been a task force there at some point in time, but how much of it would be left by 2000 is probably debatable.

I agree.

Originally Posted by Rainbow Six

Targan, I could be mistaken here (I'm at work at the moment so all of the above is from memory) but I think the US personnel in the UK were uplifted at the same time as the main Omega evacuation - I think there is reference in the Survivor's Guide to the UK to one or more of the Omega ships making a stop off in the UK to pick up US personnel.

Now that you mention it I think I recall that too. I don't think the whole Omega fleet made a stopover though. Perhaps the Omega Fleet split at that point, with the main TF crossing directly and several sub-fleets sailing separately, one to pick up US troops in the UK, another sailing for the Med and on to the RDF and another heading to Africa to reinforce US forces there.