World War 2 era landing craft

[pmulcahy11b]

So yes there may have been time to move some resources around, but the manpower is likely to have been lacking. Also, where are you going to move them to From one potential nuke site to another... Soviet spies and satellites are sure to have been providing updated target information.

I've always felt that blinding those spy satellites would have been a priority for the US, NATO, Russia, and China. All those ASAT programs that "really don't exist" would be unwrapped in short order. I don't think anyone would have blinked at extending the war into space.

[Legbreaker]

I do tend to agree, but even one surviving through to late November 1997 would have probably been enough for updating targets.
Spies on the ground would have been just as useful too.
The internet may have been in it's infancy at the time, however I'm sure there'd have been plenty of BBS's around for "trainspotter" types. This information would have been very useful (after checking for accuracy of course) to those making the targeting decisions. Internet and general computer security was (and still is so I understand) VERY inadequate at the time although I'm sure there'd have been at lease some attempts to minimise publication of such information. The problem is of course that the internet is global, any one country alone can do little.

Getting back to the original purpose of this thread, I do see the older vessels which were still maintained and in use being acquired by the military. Landing craft of almost any age would be handy to have when planning operations near water (if only to assist in logistics freeing up more modern designs for combat type roles). Unfortunately it's unlikely that there'd have been any great move to requisition these vessels until relatively late in the game - say mid to late 1997. Getting them, especially the smaller vessels unsuited to ocean travel, from the US to where they're needed (Europe, the middle east and Korea) might prove difficult.

If they were collected on the west coast ready for transport to Korea, I can see somebody realising they weren't going to make it across the Pacific and instead sending them up towards Alaska. Who knows, maybe the plan may have been to send them around via the coast anyway but they get sidetracked when the Soviets invade across the strait

These old vessels could be very useful for transporting military units and material up and down the coastline.

[Targan]

I've always felt that blinding those spy satellites would have been a priority for the US, NATO, Russia, and China. All those ASAT programs that "really don't exist" would be unwrapped in short order. I don't think anyone would have blinked at extending the war into space.

In my campaign one of the prominent NPCs in the PCs' group was a USAF pilot who had fired an ASAT missile from an F-15 early in the war. The ASAT phase ended quickly and he ended up in a USAF fighter wing before eventually ending up way behind enemy lines in Poland in 1998 after his Eagle suffered some kind of catastrophic mechanical failure and fell out of the sky. When the PCs found him he was working as a tinker and technician in a reasonably secure and well fortified village. I liked running Lt John Truman Johnson, callsign "Renegade", he was a good guy. Made a nice moral counterbalance to the generally anti-hero (ok, lets be honest, war criminal) PCs.

If they were collected on the west coast ready for transport to Korea, I can see somebody realising they weren't going to make it across the Pacific and instead sending them up towards Alaska. Who knows, maybe the plan may have been to send them around via the coast anyway but they get sidetracked when the Soviets invade across the strait

These old vessels could be very useful for transporting military units and material up and down the coastline.

I very much agree with this.

[Canadian Army]

i know for a fact that a few of the Tour bouts used around New York are actually ww2 LCI's (2 have still have patched bullet holes from the war and were used evacuate people from Manhattan on 9/11)

Landing Craft Infantry Large (LCI (L))

M/V Circle Line VII (ex-LCI (L)-191)
Tour Boat for Circle Line Sightseeing

M/V Circle Line VIII (ex-LCI (L)-179)
Tour Boat for Circle Line Sightseeing

M/V Circle Line X (ex-LCI (L)-758)
Tour Boat for Circle Line Sightseeing

some of the old WW2 ships have found new life.

Landing Ship Tank (LST)

M/V Cape Henlopen(ex-USS Buncombe County (LST-510))
Auto Ferry for Cross Sound Ferry Services Inc.; Orient Point, New York (Long Island)

Landing Craft Tank (LCT)

Outer Island (ex-LCT-203)
Dredge and Construction Barge, Bayfield, WI

[Legbreaker]

Landing Ship Tank (LST)

M/V Cape Henlopen(ex-USS Buncombe County (LST-510))
Auto Ferry for Cross Sound Ferry Services Inc.; Orient Point, New York (Long Island)

The others I can see being snapped up in about three seconds once the need was established, but this one I think would stay where it is for a while. The arguement would be made by it's owner/operator that it's a vital transportation link for the area. The others are nothing more than tour boats and a dredge (the latter being important, but not enough I would think to save it from requisition unless it had undergone major reworking for it's new role).

[pmulcahy11b]

In my campaign one of the prominent NPCs in the PCs' group was a USAF pilot who had fired an ASAT missile from an F-15 early in the war. The ASAT phase ended quickly and he ended up in a USAF fighter wing before eventually ending up way behind enemy lines in Poland in 1998 after his Eagle suffered some kind of catastrophic mechanical failure and fell out of the sky. When the PCs found him he was working as a tinker and technician in a reasonably secure and well fortified village. I liked running Lt John Truman Johnson, callsign "Renegade", he was a good guy. Made a nice moral counterbalance to the generally anti-hero (ok, lets be honest, war criminal) PCs.

Here's a little spiel on ASATs from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon

One of my favorite NPCs was also a downed fighter pilot -- USAF Captain Pamela Wagner, the Twilight War's top-scoring ace with 42 kills. She flew an F-16F Scamp (the version that was in reality only an experimental version of the F-16, with the cranked-arrow wings). The players had been told a lot of stories by the locals about her bravery and intelligence, and they they had heard of Captain Wagner -- they expected to meet some sort of Amazon. She turned out to be a short, pixieish (but tough) blond with short hair and barely over 5 feet tall. She almost got word out about the PC's whereabouts to friendlies after the group managed to steal a functioning A-37, but she got blown out of the sky by a ZSU-30-6 -- she didn't get out that time.

[Dog 6]

Here's a little spiel on ASATs from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon

One of my favorite NPCs was also a downed fighter pilot -- USAF Captain Pamela Wagner, the Twilight War's top-scoring ace with 42 kills. She flew an F-16F Scamp (the version that was in reality only an experimental version of the F-16, with the cranked-arrow wings). The players had been told a lot of stories by the locals about her bravery and intelligence, and they they had heard of Captain Wagner -- they expected to meet some sort of Amazon. She turned out to be a short, pixieish (but tough) blond with short hair and barely over 5 feet tall. She almost got word out about the PC's whereabouts to friendlies after the group managed to steal a functioning A-37, but she got blown out of the sky by a ZSU-30-6 -- she didn't get out that time.

very nice.....