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Old 07-15-2020, 03:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Olefin View Post
The argument is that the USN was still operating such a task force off the Pacific as late as 1999 - thus the chances that the USN has ships available for escorting the MilGov and CivGov reinforcements to Europe and not just a “ramshackle destroyer” as was previously said is pretty high. Ie the USN isn’t completely down and out. And per the RDF and the notes that I used that Frank Frey posted there were definitely active US task forces still operational off the Persian Gulf and Kenya in 2001. And by heavily damaged I mean a USN that couldn’t even provide a single escort ship for three divisions heading for Europe thru the Med.
OK, so the reality of the canon is actually that it accounts for what, maybe twenty to twenty five ships? There’s seven in the RDF Sourcebook, five in the Korean Sourcebook, the John Hancock is mentioned in Going Home, there’s a reference to Tarawa in the V2 Nautical Guide, the destroyers mentioned in Challenge magazine, and the Corpus Christi plus however many you put in Kenya (I haven’t read that so I don’t know the exact figure).

That’s out of a US Navy that peaked at 594 vessels in 1987 according to Wikipedia. So we’re missing 569 vessels give or take a few. I just wanted to make sure that there was nothing in canon that I didn’t know about that accounted for at least some of that number given your earlier statement, but it appears that there isn’t, so the reality of canon doesn’t really support anything (one could argue that if anything it supports the opposite view as something like over 95 % of the US Navy’s strength is unaccounted for. That’s a pretty big number).

That’s fine, it’s obviously up to each individual how they want to interpret what might have happened to those missing ships. FWIW I’d be inclined to agree with the view put forward by several people that there are still sufficient ships out there not specifically mentioned to carry out escort tasks and what not (I don't know who used the phrase “ramshackle destroyer” but it wasn't me), although again you need to pay attention to timing - FYI the Civgov reinforcement mission to Yugoslavia took place in probably 1998, maybe 1999 (there’s a likely discrepancy in the US Army Vehicle Guide - the 76th and 80th Divisions are quoted as deploying to Yugoslavia in October 1998, at which point they came under the command of IV Corps. Same source states the 42nd Division deployed in the autumn of 1999, together with IV Corps HQ. So unless IV Corps operated without its HQ for a year that’s probably a typo and the three Divisions deployed in October 1998. Having enough ships to provide an escort force in October 1998 doesn’t really prove anything one way or the other if you’re talking about Summer 2000 as your game point.
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