Armed merchant Marine vessels and/or commerce raiders...

Call them what you want, they're stiiring the pot and their now hiding it.


Separate thread because this isn't purely Taiwan related.

This is a problem….can put a hundred of these all over the coasts and we'd never know.

Just wish we had some of these as opposed to a bajillion dollar battleship.

anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

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Ran that as a secondary red team for the Norks, screwed up a lot of people's day when the EMP hit the west coast and the controller adminstratively killed 75 million people from lack of services.

Our complete failure to maintain a ship building industry will bite us in the ass hard.

fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

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Well that would require the US to have a robust Merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

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And - put decoys on shore and ships all over the world so the chicoms don't know what to shoot at…until it's too late.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

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Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

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We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

Aren't we getting "free" tankers with Venezuelan oil in them recently?

rab79 said:

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Aren't we getting "free" tankers with Venezuelan oil in them recently?

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there you go, put some launchers in a specialty hull of a tanker, no one would even know its down there if you design the top to look the same ... 80% tanker, 20% launcher!

fullback44 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

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We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

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We shouldn't have to though. Neglect of this sector by us is a disaster. We barely even have the capability to build ships like this anymore.

rab79 said:

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Aren't we getting "free" tankers with Venezuelan oil in them recently?

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Those tankers would be more valuable to be pressed into service for moving stuff in the Pacific should we need them. And the oil in those tankers be put straight into the SPR. But that's just my opinion.

YouBet said:

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fullback44 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

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We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

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We shouldn't have to though. Neglect of this sector by us is a disaster. We barely even have the capability to build ships like this anymore.

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The Emergency Ship Building Program didn't come about in WW2 until late 1940. Even if we did or could do something similar today, I don't think we have the skilled labor to do so.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would require the US to have a robust Merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

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You can buy a foreign built, foreign flagged vessel and operate it with a domestic or foreign shell corporation. There is no need to have the capacity when you can buy the product and obfuscate the ownership.

We did the same with titanium for the SR-71. The Soviets hasd massive reserves. We didn't have any. The CIA set up tons of international shell corporations in third world countries to buy literal tons of titanium from the Soviets to build a fleet of spy planes to fly over them.

jabberwalkie09 said:

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YouBet said:

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fullback44 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

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We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

---

We shouldn't have to though. Neglect of this sector by us is a disaster. We barely even have the capability to build ships like this anymore.

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The Emergency Ship Building Program didn't come about in WW2 until late 1940. Even if we did or could do something similar today, I don't think we have the skilled labor to do so.

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We taught broads how to rivet airplanes. I think we can muster up some incels to build ships. No?

Problem is our CIA has been focused on Catholics, PTAs, and organizations who dare fly the American flag.

If we could get back to protecting and defending our freedoms, we have a chance.

flown-the-coop said:

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jabberwalkie09 said:

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YouBet said:

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fullback44 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

---

We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

---

We shouldn't have to though. Neglect of this sector by us is a disaster. We barely even have the capability to build ships like this anymore.

---

The Emergency Ship Building Program didn't come about in WW2 until late 1940. Even if we did or could do something similar today, I don't think we have the skilled labor to do so.

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We taught broads how to rivet airplanes. I think we can muster up some incels to build ships. No?

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That was scaling and cross training of resident capabilities. The entire supply chain existed domestically - it was merely a change in form factor.

Modern weapon supply chains are orders of magnitude more complex, and huge chunks of those chains have been off-shored.

It's not just teaching incels to rivet - it's rebuilding entire industries for which we have almost no domestic practical knowledge.

flown-the-coop said:

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jabberwalkie09 said:

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YouBet said:

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fullback44 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

---

We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

---

We shouldn't have to though. Neglect of this sector by us is a disaster. We barely even have the capability to build ships like this anymore.

---

The Emergency Ship Building Program didn't come about in WW2 until late 1940. Even if we did or could do something similar today, I don't think we have the skilled labor to do so.

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We taught broads how to rivet airplanes. I think we can muster up some incels to build ships. No?

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Riveting isn't welding but even if you could capture that the training and lead time still remains problematic not to mention things like pay. Wartime production in WW2 took into account manufacturing limitations of the converted lines being used for production which meant simplified designs using equipment limitations and standard knowledge of assembly. Submarine and armored vehicle welding is pretty specialized afaik.

I believe the currently active shipyards in the US specialize in certain designs and products. If we're going to start putting out a bunch ships of common design, as I understand it we would need to get yards in place and running before we could start cutting steel on those designs assuming we could get the necessary workforce trained while the yards are being done. If not, that would increase the time to getting ships in the water.

Kenneth_2003 said:

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Armed merchant Marine vessels and/or commerce raiders...

Call them what you want, they're stiiring the pot and their now hiding it.


Separate thread because this isn't purely Taiwan related.

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AFAIK...

THAT is against international maritime law.

So, now there's a LEGAL way to sanction them prior to any invasion...

jabberwalkie09 said:

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flown-the-coop said:

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jabberwalkie09 said:

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YouBet said:

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fullback44 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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fullback44 said:

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anyone can do this these days.... just put your launchers on a merchant vessel, you could even hide them in the cargo bay of many ships that no one would see. I dont doubt we have them already and its just not known

---

Well that would take the US to have a robust merchant Marine fleet and domestic ship building capability. Which we don't. So, no we don't have those.

---

We can buy ships all over the world, or work deals with US or other countries that own them, I can promise you we have this capability, it doesn't need to be a US military owned ship at all, hell, just go buy some ships tomorrow and do it. its not that hard to find some ships to put launchers on. ****, go seize fishing vessels, what ever you want.

---

We shouldn't have to though. Neglect of this sector by us is a disaster. We barely even have the capability to build ships like this anymore.

---

The Emergency Ship Building Program didn't come about in WW2 until late 1940. Even if we did or could do something similar today, I don't think we have the skilled labor to do so.

---

We taught broads how to rivet airplanes. I think we can muster up some incels to build ships. No?

---

Riveting isn't welding but even if you could capture that the training and lead time still remains problematic not to mention things like pay. Wartime production in WW2 took into account manufacturing limitations of the converted lines being used for production which meant simplified designs using equipment limitations and standard knowledge of assembly. Submarine and armored vehicle welding is pretty specialized afaik.

I believe the currently active shipyards in the US specialize in certain designs and products. If we're going to start putting out a bunch ships of common design, as I understand it we would need to get yards in place and running before we could start cutting steel on those designs assuming we could get the necessary workforce trained while the yards are being done. If not, that would increase the time to getting ships in the water.

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Just like WWII, our economy has a MUCH better ability to swiftly pivot and change manufacturing....

None of our sub-peers do...