[Legbreaker]

I do tend to agree, but even one surviving through to late November 1997 would have probably been enough for updating targets.
Spies on the ground would have been just as useful too.
The internet may have been in it's infancy at the time, however I'm sure there'd have been plenty of BBS's around for "trainspotter" types. This information would have been very useful (after checking for accuracy of course) to those making the targeting decisions. Internet and general computer security was (and still is so I understand) VERY inadequate at the time although I'm sure there'd have been at lease some attempts to minimise publication of such information. The problem is of course that the internet is global, any one country alone can do little.

Getting back to the original purpose of this thread, I do see the older vessels which were still maintained and in use being acquired by the military. Landing craft of almost any age would be handy to have when planning operations near water (if only to assist in logistics freeing up more modern designs for combat type roles). Unfortunately it's unlikely that there'd have been any great move to requisition these vessels until relatively late in the game - say mid to late 1997. Getting them, especially the smaller vessels unsuited to ocean travel, from the US to where they're needed (Europe, the middle east and Korea) might prove difficult.

If they were collected on the west coast ready for transport to Korea, I can see somebody realising they weren't going to make it across the Pacific and instead sending them up towards Alaska. Who knows, maybe the plan may have been to send them around via the coast anyway but they get sidetracked when the Soviets invade across the strait?

These old vessels could be very useful for transporting military units and material up and down the coastline.