Great Lakes vs Mississippi Usefullness

[.45cultist]

If you're talking about the most recent incident, that would be the Freedom Class LCS-9 USS Little Rock while she was undergoing pre-commissioning sea trials on Lake Superior. She was finally able to commission and actually made an appearance at the Naval Museum in Buffalo NY for that ceremony.

I think you got it, I was on break and in a rush....

[Olefin]

The generators may still be there, but the distribution network isn't exactly in prime condition. Also need maintenance on the generators, even if it's just removing logs and other debris from the inlet screens and lubricating various moving parts.
Provided EMP didn't screw things up too much, it shouldn't take TOO much effort though, provided a few basic parts and machines (cranes, perhaps a few boats, etc) are available, along with the necessary fuel to run them. Not a completely insurmountable obstacle, but certainly one to keep a few score people busy for a while.

As for agriculture, the big issue is moving the water for irrigation. Without fuel many pumps will be useless, and without electricity, the rest won't be any good either.
That said, there's been ways of shifting bulk amounts of water for nearly as long as organised agriculture has existed. The more modern methods are just a lot more efficient than a chain of buckets or windmills.
Certainly some areas would have to be abandoned at least in the short term for crops, although may still see some use as pasture, provided water could be provided for stock. Establishing a low elevation stock watering point is definitely a lot easier though than irrigating the entire field.

Realistically, it doesn't take much to work out what the Lakes would look like post nuke - only have to look back to the first half of the 20th century.
I'd imagine there wouldn't be too many refugee camps in the area either - all able bodied people would quickly find work tilling fields, digging irrigation ditches or refurbishing/making old style farm equipment. Many may even be put to use pulling plows and other equipment given the limited number of suitable draft animals compared to even the 1950's.

The big problem is feeding and housing the influx of people in the first twelve months or so.

FYI I was born and raised in Western New York and I have family members there still who have friends who work at those power plants - and EMP basically would have left those plants almost untouched - the turbines and almost all the control equipment in the mid-90's was very old fashioned - we arent talking banks of computers that were vulnerable to EMP

Also that whole area is very well watered - there are even what we call "mucklands" that are close to swamps that most likely would still be fine no matter what the drought conditions. And if there is anywhere in the Northeast that could take an influx of people and be able to feed them its there.

and there are a lot of hunters and veterans in the area that would be assisting in keeping order

It is mentioned in Challenge magazine as well - the module about the oil in PA talks about the area in some length

[swaghauler]

I can honestly say that your first part "So I am sure most of us have thought that the Ole Miss will be a great resource to repair/control during the rebuilding process." had never crossed my mind before you brought it up. Being a life long West Coasty it was entirely out of sight out of mind. But having taken some time to read what others have said and thought about it now interesting. One of the things that did stick out to me I used to work at Grand Coulee Dam (one of the largest in the world) taking out the Dams is not that easy, but taking out the power grid is much easier (EMP would do it very well). And very few is any Dam has the parts needed to bring even the local power grid back up. So even if the dam is not damaged (very likely) the power grid is likely to be ruined.

The "Ol Miss" and the Great Lakes are actually part of a cruiser's (as in Sailing Cruisers who travel the World) Rite of Passage...
There is a thing called The Great Loop which is a 6,000-mile circuit of the Eastern US. You sail from the Great Lakes in the summer and either enter the Mississippi or exit the Great Lakes via the ST. Lawrence Seaway in the fall. You then sail towards either the Gulf of Mexico or the Intracoastal Waterway south of NY. If you sail the IC, you exit it in Florida and head west. You complete the Loop by returning to your start point from the opposite direction from which you started (making a giant loop).

I can see a group of players grabbing a sailboat (I'd grab a CAT) and heading down the IC to Florida for the Urban Gorilla module. I'd cross Lake Okeechobee and approach Tampa from the South. Mooring offshore would also provide an added layer of security for the team.

[swaghauler]

FYI I was born and raised in Western New York and I have family members there still who have friends who work at those power plants - and EMP basically would have left those plants almost untouched - the turbines and almost all the control equipment in the mid-90's was very old fashioned - we arent talking banks of computers that were vulnerable to EMP

Also that whole area is very well watered - there are even what we call "mucklands" that are close to swamps that most likely would still be fine no matter what the drought conditions. And if there is anywhere in the Northeast that could take an influx of people and be able to feed them its there.

and there are a lot of hunters and veterans in the area that would be assisting in keeping order

It is mentioned in Challenge magazine as well - the module about the oil in PA talks about the area in some length

I haven't seen a true drought here in my 50 years (this Saturday) of living here (minus the time I served with The 10th). In fact, I think that the nuke strikes at Chicago (on both the East and West sides) would cause just the OPPOSITE. The strikes (which would destroy BOTH canals that connect the Mississippi & the Great Lakes) would bring a cloud of debris that would INCREASE the snowfall for that winter and drive summer temps down. This would require all the OH, PA and NY farmers in the lee shores of Lake Erie to switch to cold weather crops like winter wheat, potatoes, and alfalfa in order to prevent crop loss. This would persist all the way down to I80 West where the drought would start (because you enter a different climatic region there).

This is a result of the region along the lake being in the "Lake Effect Zone" where the Lakes have a big effect on weather. We get some of the highest snow totals in the US and have only an average of 6 direct sunlight hours per day throughout the year (A reason I use to argue with "West Coasties" who claim solar is the energy solution for the whole US). Our temps range from 100 F in the summer to -30 F in the winter. We can get snow as early as September and as late as May. Our winds are on average MUCH HIGHER than the rest of PA or NY. This is why there are so many sailboats on the Great Lakes. I highly doubt that any drought would reach the North Shore of PA or the Southern Tier of NY. In fact, I think we would be more likely to experience a "Year Without Summer" like when Krakatoa erupted.

[Olefin]

I haven't seen a true drought here in my 50 years (this Saturday) of living here (minus the time I served with The 10th). In fact, I think that the nuke strikes at Chicago (on both the East and West sides) would cause just the OPPOSITE. The strikes (which would destroy BOTH canals that connect the Mississippi & the Great Lakes) would bring a cloud of debris that would INCREASE the snowfall for that winter and drive summer temps down. This would require all the OH, PA and NY farmers in the lee shores of Lake Erie to switch to cold weather crops like winter wheat, potatoes, and alfalfa in order to prevent crop loss. This would persist all the way down to I80 West where the drought would start (because you enter a different climatic region there).

This is a result of the region along the lake is in the "Lake Effect Zone" where the Lakes have a big effect on weather. We get some of the highest snow totals in the US and have only an average of 6 direct sunlight hours per day throughout the year (A reason I use to argue with "West Coasties" who claim solar is the energy solution for the whole US). Our temps range from 100 F in the summer to -30 F in the winter. We can get snow as early as September and as late as May. Our winds are on average MUCH HIGHER than the rest of PA or NY. This is why there are so many sailboats on the Great Lakes. I highly doubt that any drought would reach the North Shore of PA or the Southern Tier of NY. In fact, I think we would be more likely to experience a "Year Without Summer" like when Krakatoa erupted.

Nice to see a fellow veteran of the fun winters we used to get in Western NY - 21 inches of snow and the schools open on time - and I was a paper boy growing up and can attest to both the bitter cold and the early and late snow we used to get

[swaghauler]

As for agriculture, the big issue is moving the water for irrigation. Without fuel many pumps will be useless, and without electricity, the rest won't be any good either.
That said, there's been ways of shifting bulk amounts of water for nearly as long as organised agriculture has existed. The more modern methods are just a lot more efficient than a chain of buckets or windmills.
Certainly some areas would have to be abandoned at least in the short term for crops, although may still see some use as pasture, provided water could be provided for stock. Establishing a low elevation stock watering point is definitely a lot easier though than irrigating the entire field.

Realistically, it doesn't take much to work out what the Lakes would look like post nuke - only have to look back to the first half of the 20th century.
I'd imagine there wouldn't be too many refugee camps in the area either - all able bodied people would quickly find work tilling fields, digging irrigation ditches or refurbishing/making old style farm equipment. Many may even be put to use pulling plows and other equipment given the limited number of suitable draft animals compared to even the 1950's.

The big problem is feeding and housing the influx of people in the first twelve months or so.

You really need to look at Northeastern Ohio and Northwestern PA and you will see that NO issues with water exist. In Crawford County where I live, there are FIVE large (miles in length) freshwater lakes and THREE Creeks with a size ranging from 20 to 30 feet across and depths of lows in the 3 foot range to more than 30 feet deep depending on the time of year. We AVERAGE 100 INCHES of snow every winter. We are 50 miles from Lake Erie and are subject to "Lake Effect" weather. Water is NO ISSUE here (except when there's TOO MUCH of it... like last week).

Crawford County is also home to nearly 18 THOUSAND Amish Farmers across 7 distinct "Churches/Congregations" (which is how Amish Communities identify themselves). Many of the survival skills I have talked about here like my posts on tanning and rendering fat were learned from my Amish neighbors. The manufacture of "old style" farming equipment is ALIVE AND WELL here. The Amish have plenty of draft animals and so do their "English" neighbors. This is because some things are just easier to do using large animals like draft horses. Forest logging comes to mind immediately. So does plowing wetlands where a tractor would just bog down. There is NO SHORTAGE of "old school" farm equipment in this region.

Our farms are also divergent from the large farms seen in the midwestern US. The average farm is less than 500 acres and is farmed by a single family. These "hobby farms," as the US dept. of Agriculture calls them, often use older equipment that was handed down to them. When I farmed, I used a 6-cylinder diesel Cockshutt (made in Canada) and a 2-cylinder gas Farmall both from the 1950's (a 1956 and a 1958). They were easy to fix with screws and baling wire and ran just fine since the days when my GRANDFATHER bought them. All of my equipment was from the 50's and 60's and it was NOT THE EXCEPTION in the county. Those old two-strokes will burn ANYTHING (including fuel oil). Most of our residents don't have access to cable TV (which is why Dish and Direct TV figure prominently here) or internet beyond the likes of Hughesnet or Windstream Dial-up. I'm lucky to have Armstrong Cable (I'm at the end of their line) and my neighbors come here IF they need broadband. The Gas company STOPS three houses down from me and most of my neighbors use Fuel Oil or Propane to cook and heat with. Almost ALL of us have wood burning stoves to heat our houses (because other fuels are too expensive to use all winter). Our power fails during the winter storms and it can take DAYS to restore so we all have generators. Most of them are multi-fuel, running on propane but switchable to diesel in a pinch. Mine is Natural Gas with Propane Backup.

If you consider all of these things, you can see that we will fare better than the average during the Twilight War.

[Olefin]

Completely agree with you about the areas around the Lakes - there is no way on earth there will be drought in those area - there is just too much water in the Great Lakes and too much lake effect snow to have the "Howling Wilderness winter drought" occur at all in those areas - basically Northeastern Ohio, Northwestern PA and Western and Central NY from the Lakes to the mountains between NY and PA is going to be its usual buried in snow and well watered no matter what happens in the rest of the country - ditto a lot of Michigan as well.

And there was a lot of industry in Western NY even into the late 90's - my hometown had a very large machine shop for instance that supplied Ford with parts that just has "hey lets make mortars and mortar shells" written all over it

[swaghauler]

There is no standing US Navy presence on the Great Lakes are there Canadian Navy

I know there are a few USCG Ice Breakers but thats all I know of...

The only boo I have seen on Canada after 2000 shows Quebec being separatist and under France influence so that might get dicey on the tail end of the Saint Lawrence.

There is ONE warship homeported on Lake Erie. The Brigg Niagra, a veteran of the War of 1812 is ported at the Erie PA Maritime Museum. She currently only sports TWO of her original EIGHTEEN 32-pound Carronade (a short barrelled lighter weight artillery piece) and NEITHER of her TWO 12-Pound Long Barrel Cannon. Both Cannon and half a dozen of her Carronades are located in the maritime museum and COULD be loaded back on board. Her Draft of 10.5ft/3.2m would enable her to travel everywhere on the Great Lakes and she is FULLY modernized and Coast Guard Certified.

Check her out for yourself:

https://www.flagshipniagra.org

Swag

[Legbreaker]

www.flagshipniagra.org

You're missing an "a" from the link...

[rcaf_777]

There is no standing US Navy presence on the Great Lakes are there Canadian Navy

Both the Canadian and US Navies are restricted by the Rush-Bagot agreement which restricts the size and armaments of vessels on the Great Lakes. Which was signed at the end of War of 1812.

However the Canadian Navy dose have a fair number of Naval Reserve Divisions in the great lakes and along the Saint Lawrence. They are

In the Great Lakes

HMCS Cataraqui Kingston Ontario
HMCS Griffon Thunder Bay Ontario
HMCS Hunter - Windsor Ontario
HMCS Prevost London Ontario
HMCS Star Hamilton Ontario
HMCS York Toronto Ontario

Along the Saint Lawrence

HMCS d'Iberville Rimouski Quebec
HMCS Jolliet - Sept-Zles Quebec
HMCS Montcalm - Quebec City Quebec
HMCS Queen Charlotte Charlottetown Prince Edward Island
HMCS Radisson - Trois-Rivires Quebec

[swaghauler]

You're missing an "a" from the link...

Thanks for the heads up Leg. The one damned time I don't test the link!

Let's try this again.

https://www.flagshipniagara.org

Ok, the link works now.

Swag.

[swaghauler]

Both the Canadian and US Navies are restricted by the Rush-Bagot agreement which restricts the size and armaments of vessels on the Great Lakes. Which was signed at the end of War of 1812.

However the Canadian Navy dose have a fair number of Naval Reserve Divisions in the great lakes and along the Saint Lawrence. They are

In the Great Lakes

HMCS Cataraqui Kingston Ontario
HMCS Griffon Thunder Bay Ontario
HMCS Hunter - Windsor Ontario
HMCS Prevost London Ontario
HMCS Star Hamilton Ontario
HMCS York Toronto Ontario

Along the Saint Lawrence

HMCS d'Iberville Rimouski Quebec
HMCS Jolliet - Sept-Zles Quebec
HMCS Montcalm - Quebec City Quebec
HMCS Queen Charlotte Charlottetown Prince Edward Island
HMCS Radisson - Trois-Rivires Quebec

I have seen some of these ships on the lake. You guys use them like Coast Guard Cutters on occasion. They'd still be a major force on the lakes armed with heavy MGs and light autocannon.

I could see someone taking the two "non-demilled" 20mm autocannon off the USS Little Rock and the 40mm Cannons off the USS The Sullivans (at the Buffalo Naval Museum) and putting them on a larger fishing boat.

[swaghauler]

Completely agree with you about the areas around the Lakes - there is no way on earth there will be drought in those area - there is just too much water in the Great Lakes and too much lake effect snow to have the "Howling Wilderness winter drought" occur at all in those areas - basically Northeastern Ohio, Northwestern PA and Western and Central NY from the Lakes to the mountains between NY and PA is going to be its usual buried in snow and well watered no matter what happens in the rest of the country - ditto a lot of Michigan as well.

And there was a lot of industry in Western NY even into the late 90's - my hometown had a very large machine shop for instance that supplied Ford with parts that just has "hey lets make mortars and mortar shells" written all over it

I too think that the Great Lakes and Canada East of the Chicago strikes would really suffer from an extended "nuclear winter" instead of a drought. Initially, the survivors of Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo would face starvation as food shipments stopped (due to a lack of trucking). After the power goes out and no natural gas is flowing to those places, the next issue becomes freezing to death in the extreme cold of the nuclear winter. I think the urban centers will "depopulate" fairly quickly.

[Legbreaker]

I too think that the Great Lakes and Canada East of the Chicago strikes would really suffer from an extended "nuclear winter" instead of a drought. Initially, the survivors of Cleveland, Erie, and Buffalo would face starvation as food shipments stopped (due to a lack of trucking). After the power goes out and no natural gas is flowing to those places, the next issue becomes freezing to death in the extreme cold of the nuclear winter. I think the urban centers will "depopulate" fairly quickly.

Very plausible, even probable. Local supplies of gas, etc will only last so long. Once they're exhausted....

[rcaf_777]

I have seen some of these ships on the lake. You guys use them like Coast Guard Cutters on occasion. They'd still be a major force on the lakes armed with heavy MGs and light autocannon.

Naval Reserve Divisions are what they call Stone Frigates they have no ship assigned to them. Some of these division do have jetties and are located near boat/sailing clubs.

Those vessels you see are the Kingston-class coastal defence vessels which are used occasionally for naval reserve training on the great lakes. They were built from 1994-1999 their homeports are Halifax, Nova Scotia and Victoria Brtish Columbia. Not sure what would happen to them in TW. Possibly used as minesweeper or for training.

However, you could see the older Porte Class Gate Vessels or Bay Class Minesweepers, both were replaced by the Kingston Class. Both could be used in the great lakes for Naval Training using a Naval Divison as a homeport.

Also, it should be noted that the Canadian Coast Guard has a further 21 research and rescue boats on the great lakes. These are all unarmed as Coast Guard is not a classified as a Law enforcement agency as USCG is. Their main duties include s marine search and rescue, communication, navigation aids, marine pollution response and icebreaking.

The RCMP has a two marine craft in great lakes and St Lawerance too.