the last Light Aircraft Carrier

[rcaf_777]

The American equivalent was ARAPAHO

Actually no it was not ARAPAHO Army Pre-positioned Sustainment Maintenance Facility. Was a concept convinced by Naval Air Systems Command for a portable, modularized aviation facility intended for installation aboard container ships.

The differences are

1. It be installed in less than twenty-four hours and included all components necessary for V/STOL aircraft operations: flight deck, hangar, fuel, and crew accommodations.

2. ARAPAHO was designed be taken off a ship, and moved shore, to be set up as a complete self-sustaining facility to do Aviation Unit Maintenance (AVUM), Aviation Intermediate Maintenance (AVIM), and selected depot work.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/arapaho.htm

[rcaf_777]

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/arapaho.htm

Copied from the above link in case you can't get it to work

ARAPAHO Army Pre-positioned Sustainment Maintenance Facility

In the Arapaho program, the Naval Air Systems Command developed a portable, modularized aviation facility intended for installation aboard container ships. It can be installed in less than twenty-four hours and included all components necessary for V/STOL aircraft operations: flight deck, hangar, fuel, and crew accommodations. It was estimated to cost less than $20 million per set.

ARAPAHO was a research and development project to demonstrate the feasibility of equipping merchant ships with emergency aviation support in wartime and of operating ASW helicopters and other combatant aircraft from these vessels. ARAPAHO at-sea testing was completed 07 October 1982 at the Norfolk International Terminal, Norfolk, Va., when the 18,000-ton container ship Export Leader - configured with a portable modular aviation facility - returned to port after having logged 178 day and 45 night helicopter landings.

The history of the floating maintenance facility goes back to World War II. There was a big fight between the Army Air Force and the Navy over the need for a floating aircraft repair facility. After a great deal of debating among themselves, they came up with three ships. These ships were used in the Pacific when the Americans were island hopping. Before troops could get a facility ashore, they were going to another island. So they put these repair facilities aboard these small ships that were converted for it and they would island hop with the invasion force and were very successful.

After the end of World War II, there was no need for them and they were all dismantled and done away with because no one saw the need for that type of thing in the future. In Korea, there was not a need for them; or if there was, it had such a low priority that no one ever resurrected the concept. In the early 1960s the AV-5 Albemarle, a WWII seaplane tender, was taken out of the James River Fleet off of Fort Eustis and taken down to Charleston. She was converted and renamed ARVH-1 Corpus Christi Bay [ARVH = Aircraft Repair Ship, Helicopter].

Then there was a plan in the late 1960s and early 1970s for a floating aircraft maintenance facility which would have consisted of a small aircraft carrier [an escort carrier] with a hanger built on the flight deck. That was considered to be cost prohibitive at the time and the idea was dropped.

By the mid-1980s there was a plan to resurrect this capability with the project Arapaho, building a modular facility aboard a container ship. The advantage of the Arapaho over the floating aircraft maintenance facility such as the Corpus Christi Bay is that it could be taken off the ship, moved shore, and set up as a complete self-sustaining facility to do Aviation Unit Maintenance (AVUM), Aviation Intermediate Maintenance (AVIM), and selected depot work.

The ability to support the planned force development in all of its potential roles was essential to accomplishment of the Army's missions under the National Security and National Military Strategies. During 1992 the Army took several steps to improve its ability to support its forces in combat and in operations other than war. These covered a wide spectrum of logistical issues such as war reserves; repair parts; tactical water; petroleum, oil, and lubricants; and the industrial base. In the process, the Army leadership had to balance considerations of force structure design, mobility, and personnel end strength with the available resources to properly sustain its forces.

To provide non divisional Aviation Intermediate Maintenance (AVIM) and limited depot support in an operational area, the Army established its Pre-positioned Sustainment Maintenance Facility (ARAPAHO) program. Operating as either a sea-based or land-based facility, ARAPAHO consisted of a designated non divisional AVIM unit's personnel with equipment installed in shelters. Logisticians designed the unit for loading on board a C-5 Seawitch class or larger container ship within twenty-four to thirty-six hours of receiving movement orders, and they envisioned deployment at sea within six days. The unit can use on-board Operational Ready Float (ORF) and Forward Repair Activities (FRA) and will use extended prescribed load list/authorized stockage list (PLL/ASL). ARAPAHO's ability to deploy rapidly would hopefully save forces from waiting sixty days for a ground-based AVIM unit. As a self-transportable unit, ARAPAHO can also quickly redeploy after completing its initial mission.

[rcaf_777]

Other Ideas

Here is a link for pictures and stats for RFA Reliance (A131), already talked about there is a really good picture here too

http://www.navypedia.org/ships/uk/brit_cv_astronomer.htm

Other examples of ships like this are:

RFA Argus (A135) of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary which began her career as container ship. The ship was requisitioned in 1982 for service in the Falklands War and purchased outright in 1984 for use as an Aviation Training Ship

RFA Engadine (K08) was a helicopter support ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The need for Engadine was seen in the mid-1960s as more and more helicopters were deployed from Royal Navy aircraft carriers and surface combatants. She was decommissioned in 1989 and sold to new owners in Greece and left the UK in 1990. Broken up in India in 1996

[unkated]

Now, there's an interesting possibility -

Sale of the Cabot, operational if disarmed, into private hands, who turn out to be New America, who load up say 500 well-armed troops, half a dozen helicopters, and go William Walker on Jamaica in 1998/9, in order to provide a safe secure home base...

It isn't going far, and some refill fuel an be raided from the Dutch ABC islands...

Uncle Ted

[Olefin]

Now, there's an interesting possibility -

Sale of the Cabot, operational if disarmed, into private hands, who turn out to be New America, who load up say 500 well-armed troops, half a dozen helicopters, and go William Walker on Jamaica in 1998/9, in order to provide a safe secure home base...

It isn't going far, and some refill fuel an be raided from the Dutch ABC islands...

Uncle Ted

Or another may be that it ends up docked at Jacksonville after it runs short of fuel and it becomes part of the Sea Lord of Jacksonville's forces - having a carrier would make him much more formidable even if its just for show - after all most of the world's carriers are either out of action due to damage, out of fuel for either the ship or their planes or sunk

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Per canon, as in, printed by GDW, how much of the US Navy is left as fleet-in-being

Matt Weiser wrote a pretty good "fanon" writeup in GLYOYO #1; just wondering where the GDW pubs outline what ships are left.

USS City of Corpus Christi, SSGN-981 an Ohio-class SSBN (The Last Sub)

USS John Hancock, DD981, Spruance class (Going Home)

USS Nashville, LPD-13, Austin-class transport dock (The RDF Sourcebook)
USS Bellau Wood, LHA-3, Tarawa-class (The RDF Sourcebook)
USS Clark, FFG-11, Oliver Hazard Perry class (The RDF Sourcebook)
USS Boone, FFG-25*, Oliver Hazard Perry class (The RDF Sourcebook)
USS Copeland, FFG-28*, Oliver Hazard Perry class (The RDF Sourcebook)
USS Salem, CA-139**, Des Moines class heavy cruiser (The RDF Sourcebook)
USS Yorktown, CG-45, Ticonderoga class (The RDF Sourcebook)

...

*=the ship registry numbers are flipped, Boone is FFG-28 and Copeland is FFG-25.

** = now, this is interesting. Salem was decomissioned in 1954. Per Wikipeida:

The ship was surveyed in 1981 for possible reactivation as part of the 600 ship navy project, and while the inspection results showed she was in excellent condition, funding to reactivate Salem and her sister Des Moines could not be secured from Congress.

So, even by Twilight:2000's timeline, she wasn't put back in service. However, at some point, she was. She wasn't made into a museum ship until 1994, so that means she sat in the reserve fleet after the 1981 examination. But, again, "she was in excellent condition", so by the T2k timeline, she must have been returned to Naval service rather than given over to museum caretakers in the 1990s. Either that or she was brought back into service to bolster the Navy after losses. I lean towards the former, since finding personnel qualified and gathering the resources to re-tool and make fully combat-worthy a ship of that age would be at best very difficult after even a limited nuclear war...

[unkated]

Or another may be that it ends up docked at Jacksonville after it runs short of fuel and it becomes part of the Sea Lord of Jacksonville's forces - having a carrier would make him much more formidable even if its just for show - after all most of the world's carriers are either out of action due to damage, out of fuel for either the ship or their planes or sunk

By canon (Urban Guerilla), Jacksonville was victimized by a nuclear near-miss that went off in the waters a few miles off shore and drenched the area in radioactive mud, steam and seawater. This led to most of the population fleeing or dying.

Uncle Ted

[Olefin]

By canon (Urban Guerilla), Jacksonville was victimized by a nuclear near-miss that went off in the waters a few miles off shore and drenched the area in radioactive mud, steam and seawater. This led to most of the population fleeing or dying.

Uncle Ted

And that shows one of the inconsistencies of the modules - if you had a near miss that close that produced that effect then how do you have the Sea-Lord of Jacksonville in 2001 - he is referred to quite clearly in the letters that were intercepted in Urban Guerilla - i.e that the NA had already infiltrated his organization and was working to be able to take over his organization

Jacksonville and Mayport are separated by several miles so that near miss may have devastated the areas along the coast but may have spared a lot of Jacksonville itself - also was the miss in a direct line to Mayport or was it also the south - if that is where it hit then Jacksonville Beach and places like that could have been nailed but must of the city could have been spared

and not sure if the nuke was a surface detonation or airburst

FYI - the idea that a nuke could have caused a wave effect is faulty - https://www.realcleardefense.com/art...s__107709.html - if it was a surface burst you can get lots of water and mud shot up in the air but not a wave - it takes a hell of a lot more energy than one megaton to create any kind of appreciable wave

[raketenjagdpanzer]

And that shows one of the inconsistencies of the modules - if you had a near miss that close that produced that effect then how do you have the Sea-Lord of Jacksonville in 2001 - he is referred to quite clearly in the letters that were intercepted in Urban Guerilla - i.e that the NA had already infiltrated his organization and was working to be able to take over his organization

Jacksonville and Mayport are separated by several miles so that near miss may have devastated the areas along the coast but may have spared a lot of Jacksonville itself - also was the miss in a direct line to Mayport or was it also the south - if that is where it hit then Jacksonville Beach and places like that could have been nailed but must of the city could have been spared

and not sure if the nuke was a surface detonation or airburst

FYI - the idea that a nuke could have caused a wave effect is faulty - https://www.realcleardefense.com/art...s__107709.html - if it was a surface burst you can get lots of water and mud shot up in the air but not a wave - it takes a hell of a lot more energy than one megaton to create any kind of appreciable wave

My memory could be faulty but wasn't the strike list "Air-burst unless otherwise noted"

[Olefin]

I think you are right there - if I remember right the list actually said surface when it was a surface burst - i.e. that part at least it didnt leave to chance

Keep in mind however that the list in Howling Wilderness DID NOT exactly match the actual attacks - and before I get the usual rap in the mouth for saying that I mean that the details of the actual attacks varied from the simple list in HW versus for instance Urban Guerilla

Pointed that out last night in another thread - i.e. the attack on Cape Canaveral wasnt a simple one megaton surface burst attack - it was a series of ten 0.1MT surface bursts that added up to one megaton - but if all you had was HW you would think it was a single one megaton bomb

[raketenjagdpanzer]

That "10 hits" thing is ridiculous overkill. I mean, it's canon, so whatcha gonna do, but seriously that's just beyond silly. It's like shooting a lego building eight times with a .22 :P

Anyway, for myself, I'd take the strike list, dial it into Nukemap, and get your best estimate effects from there (but this is wandering far afield, my apologies).

Back to carriers...I could swear to God there was another one mentioned as being in the Gulf, stuck in port (in Kuwait) due to damage...grr what WAS it...I've discussed the very thing myself.

[Olefin]

Matt mentioned the carrier stuck in the Gulf - but it wasnt canon - but the canon really didnt mention ships very much - and it would make sense that there are ships stuck in various ports all over the world due to damage of various types - that is why the Korean Sourcebook and the East African one actually started detailing out more of what is left of the USN in those areas

and I agree its overkill - I used to work at NASA - and there is no way in hell you need 10 0.1MT nukes to take the place out - heck one was on the VAB building itself - the building is big but you dont need that much of a bomb to take it out - and nuking the pads themselves is MASSIVE OVERKILL - I can see hitting the air force base that way because its so spread out and there are so many targets there - but NASA can be taken out pretty easily with one or two nukes - you dont need ten spread out all over the place - hell just an EMP bomb would have done the job - not going to be doing much if you fry the shuttles and the launch computers

[raketenjagdpanzer]

Well, there are shelters between the SSPF and ONC buildings. I'm sure the Soviets would've tried to fry anyone in those, too. But yeah 10 100kt warheads is massive overkill.

It does lend some credence to the idea that the reason the TDM wasn't as bad as it might have been was because we had a working SDI/Missile Shield, and coming from launches at the Cape, the Soviets might've been making sure there'd be no future missions from there (spiteful, but, eh.)

EDIT:

Anyway, to bring this back around, yes, there's a light aircraft carrier in the USN inventory, along with the aircraft, the fuel to fly them, the personnel to man them, etc. as outlined in the RDF Sourcebook, and it's keeping POL flowing to the US (well, trickling) as the flagship in a protective convoy...

[The Dark]

Per canon, as in, printed by GDW, how much of the US Navy is left as fleet-in-being

A debatable one: in 2000, USS Tarawa is still in service in the Atlantic per Nautical/Aviation Handbook, page 57. However, that Handbook was primarily intended for use with Merc, so I could see this one being argued either way.

[Olefin]

A debatable one: in 2000, USS Tarawa is still in service in the Atlantic per Nautical/Aviation Handbook, page 57. However, that Handbook was primarily intended for use with Merc, so I could see this one being argued either way.

The Tarawa is really more for the Nautical Aviation Handbook - and I agree that is for Merc not for Twilight 2000

Now that doesnt mean she isnt still around - but I always look at that resource as being one for that version of the game