USS Saratoga Fate

[RN7]

Originally Posted by schnickelfritz

Can someone point me where I could get a rundown on the fate of the USS Saratoga? Is there something that might show the fates of the various capital ships (aircraft carriers, Kirov and Iowa class, Des Moins class CA)?

Thanks!
Dave

http://www.topbb.com/forum/viewtopic...m=twilight2000

[Rainbow Six]

Hi Dave,

With a few notable exceptions (the USS Corpus Christi obviously, the cruiser in Satellite Down - USS Virginia iirc?), published material is fairly sparse on details of specific ships, although there are a few fairly sweeping generalisations (I don't have the exact quote but possibly the most well known one is the reference to the "last major fleet" being destroyed sometime in 1997).

Beyond that there's a few snippets here and there - the USS John Hancock is the flagship of the Omega fleet, the RDF sourcebook lists what's in the Gulf (at least for the US, can't recall for the others), the USS Tarawa is mentioned in the V2 aviation guide as still being afloat in 2000 (in the Baltic I think?). The Last Sub trilogy has a few more references (istr a largish US warship is quoted as going down off Cyprus), and there are probably a few others here and there, but it is hunting needles in haystacks...

Cheers

Dave

[Legbreaker]

Besides those RS has mentioned, and those listed in the RDF Sourcebook as being in the middle east, there are no other ships anywhere in canon.
But the world's a big place. There might be one or two more in Virgina's conditon being used in a similar manner. It's extremely unlikely any would be undamaged though, or even have more than a skeleton crew and minimal ammunition.

[schnickelfritz]

In at least one thread, the USS Saratoga was stated as having been beached somewhere on the Flodida coast. Can anyone provide details on how she ended up in that state?
Thanks!
Dave

[Legbreaker]

It's likely that is simply somebodies individual opinion - it's certainly not backed up by any of the canon material.
Chances are, if that is where you would like to place the vessel in your T2K world, it was heavily damaged by submarine or sea mines while close to the shore. Rather than have it sink to the bottom of the ocean, the captain may have chosen to beach and hope something could be salvaged.
It's also possible it (and other ships in the area) were subject to nuclear attack.

[helbent4]

Originally Posted by schnickelfritz

In at least one thread, the USS Saratoga was stated as having been beached somewhere on the Flodida coast. Can anyone provide details on how she ended up in that state?

Dave,

Yes, that was RaketenJagdpanzer's personal Florida campaign:

The strikes happen pretty much as in the 1.0 background. Kennedy gets spared slightly by its bursts hitting out to sea and going off underwater due to malfunction. Patrick AFB is unharmed and becomes the keys to recovery in the area.

The I-4 corridor is pretty hosed, but Tampa/CENTCOM fallout went more southeast than northwest. Orlando and locations north and northwest did "OK", with MCO and SFB being key points for relief (what little has come).

As explained in 1.0-relevant sourcebooks, though, the Sunshine State has given rise to a lot of separatist elements which will be a problem for years to come. As I pointed out, the USS Saratoga is grounded of Port Richie, in a "maybe-someday" recoverable state. The chief concern is whether or not her reactor is safe and stable.

FL ANG units out of Jacksonville and USMC Reserve, Army Reserve and NTSC Orlando trainees are the bulk of the military presence in Florida, totaling around 2800 personnel. The Transportatiton and Paymaster reservists based out of Orlando provide the bulk of the mobility to units in Central Florida with their small number of HEMTTs, and the link between Central Florida and other regions is tenuous at best. Some transport aircraft remain, bolstered by rotary-wing and prop a/c from the USS Saratoga, and 3 functional, stored F15Ds also remain (but essentially grounded since a mere few hours' flying time worth of JP-8 remain).

SFB (Sanford International Airport) and to a lesser degree MCO (Orlando International Airport) have taken the bulk of relief flights; the surrounding environs near both airports are heavily patrolled by local militia (consisting of a great number of retired middle-aged veterans of Vietnam and Korea) aligned with both MilGov and CivGov. Unlike other areas of the country these two groups conflicts rarely involve more than catcalls, showing the international bird of peace to one another, and so on.

St. Augustine's civil government relocated to the near-indestructible fortress located in the old town. Nothing short of a demolition nuclear charge could bring the complex down and it is now the nerve center for recovery and civil government on Florida's northeast coast.

The chief damage done to Florida has been the repeated "surprise" hurricanes, although the judicious use of E2C Hawkeyes from the beached Saratoga, combined with the meteorological skills of NASA and Patrick AFB personnel have gone a long, long way to mitigating the damage by warning the remaining population centers as best they can...

The post doesn't reference how it got there, you can PM RakJgpz on how it gets there in his opinion.

Tony

[Olefin]

Troubled Waters - John Hancock and three Forest Sherman DD

Frank Frey's Kenya module of which he has posted details here saying one CG and several destroyers and frigates

Tarawa as already mentioned

The RDF fleet including a Des Moines, an assault carrier and a missile

Assumptions from canon

1) At least some escorts for the 6000 men who transited the Med to get to the RDF in Dec of 2000- the Med is a very dangerous place as per Med Cruise - and there is no way else they got to Saudi from Europe on a collection of old ships in six weeks any other way than thru the Med (RDF module)

2) the guys in Korea didnt get there by swimming (general timeline, US Army Vehicle Guide)

3) Alaska - there were US troops in the Aleutians and who raided into Russia over the Bering Strait - again they didnt swim so that means a USN presence of some sort (same as 2)

4) Yugoslavia - most likely at least a minor USN presence there to support ops (same as 2)

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Olefin

4) Yugoslavia - most likely at least a minor USN presence there to support ops (same as 2)

Well, not strictly USN. USN assets under CivGov command maybe, and maybe they refer to themselves as USN but the bulk of the USN would view them as renegades. Remember, as far as US forces go the Yugoslavia AO is a CivGov show.