The aircraft carrier, a majestic and grand symbol of American naval might... susceptible to swarming small-boat assault and weak against ballistic missiles, nevermind an anti-ship ballistic missile. Is it time to reevaluate the role of the aircraft carrier in a modern naval strategy?
posted by Keter on May 27, 2009 - 58 comments

TED does it again. See you in Monterey. What happens when the war machine goes improv?
posted by MapGuy on Jun 20, 2007 - 49 comments

The largest gathering of Navy ships in the Pacific since the Vietnam war is happening right now, off the coast of Guam. Valiant Shield 06, the first in a series of proposed biennial joint war-games, is a massive military training exercise involving three Carrier Strike groups, more than 300 air craft, and 22,000 personnel. While primarily an ASW event, all branches of the military are there practicing one thing or another. The Department of Defense has invited a number of other counties to watch the games, including China for the first time ever. Some believe the game was just designed to put a scare into North Korea (Not true, it's been in planning for a year).

But how does one run a massive war simulation? Well, you just find yourself a copy of OneSAF [FAQ] or JSAF (uh, among others [.ppt-to-html]) and you're good to go. (Previously on Metafilter: MC '02 [2])
posted by Fidel Cashflow on Jun 22, 2006 - 25 comments

As if things weren't tense enough between Taiwan and China. By the way, the standards for ship designations have inflated over the years. These "destroyers" would have been considered light cruisers in WWII.
posted by Steven Den Beste on Dec 3, 2000 - 2 comments