Comments by "Sar Jim" (@sarjim4381) on "'Armoured' and 'Unarmoured' Carriers - Survivability vs Strike Power" video.

I'd also add that the Americans had faith in their overwhelming industrial capacity to turn out more than enough carriers to replace any that were lost, something amply proved by the production and launching of 23 of 24 Essex class carrier during WWII, not mention the nine Independence class light carriers and vast numbers of escort carriers produced for the USN and RN. The number of ships of all types produced during WWII was so breathtaking that I wonder if the Americans could ever do it again.
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@andrewszigeti2174 Who exactly do you think is the largest industrial power in the world then? It's certainly not China, which is just now working up its first domestically produced conventional fuelf aircraft carrier. The US produced three of the largest nuclear powered carriers in the world during same time period the Chinese were struggling to restore an old Soviet era carrier to operation. The US is still a $20.4 trillion economy compared to China's $14.4 trillion, with all other economies magnitudes of order less. Don't confuse outsourcing with a company not still being a US corporation. As the Chinese are seeing now, outsourcing as a basis for an economy can be disrupted almost overnight. The nature of a corporation is to maximize profit so they can pay shareholders and stay in business. If they can make more profit producing in the US, they will. In a time of national emergency or war, the whole concept of outsourcing become moot. I don't have a lot of faith we could ever reproduce the production miracle of WWII, but another WWII is just as unlikely.
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@andrewszigeti2174 Corporations are only loyal to their shareholders. They produce products in whatever locations maximize their profits, some of which they return to shareholders. Do you think the tens of thousands to millions of shareholders of large manufacturing companies would be happy with the idea that won't get the dividend check this quarter because they had to produce at loss to remain loyal to a country? A nation needs to have conditions that allow companies to function without being overwhelmed by costs not directly associated with their product. The US is finally getting that idea now, and some manufacturing is returning. Tariffs that punish countries like China for dumping product below coat to expand their market share are long overdue. American manufacturing can compete with any country as long a we have a level playing field.
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@Jurassic Aviator In the event of war, China's lack of carriers will be a tremendous handicap. Even as they build more carriers, it will take decades to reach the USN's level of proficiency when it comes to carrier and flight operations. The PLAN is building a second carrier now and has a goal of commissioning six carriers by 2030. They apparently don't have better things to spend their money on.
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@Jurassic Aviator You know that carriers have other roles than anti shipping, right? Those missiles don't do you much good when you have troops on the ground and they need close air support. And what do you think is the longest range shipborne anti shipping missile in active Chinese service? Control of the South China Sea will require carrier task forces, and the PLAN is nowhere near ready to work those up. They need carriers at least as good as what India has, and they are starting to build up their force. They face threats from Japan, with two 27,000 ton helicopter carriers being converted to operate the F-35. Their historical enemy Russia now has one carrier in service with plans to build at least one more. China has more than the US to worry about..
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Another factor that influenced the US Navy's decision not to armor the deck was the belief that their damage control procedures and training were so good that most damage to a carrier could be fought with non-fatal results. Given that only four fleet carriers were sunk in WWII, there was reason to believe that the damage control theory worked The Yorktown may have repairable if not sunk by the U-168 while under tow, so it may have been just three fleet carriers lost with some luck.
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@Jurassic Aviator Look, you can't just keep moving the goalposts to have things come out the way you want. You were just mentioning anti shipping roles. Now you say the PLAN has the ability to attack land targets from ships while surviving in hostile airspace? You should just sit this one out until you do some more reading and research into PLAN capabilities.
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@Jurassic Aviator You keep jumping from one subject to another when you never wrote about the first subject. You're making a lot of rash assumptions on how the US would fight China. Any shooting war would involve strike aircraft and missiles with nuclear bombs and warheads. The US has the ability destroy any Chinese air or naval base within 1500 miles of the coast while lying 800 to 1,000 miles off the coast. Assuming any Chinese aircraft survived the first strike, the combined PLAAF and PLANAF could only strike back with obsolescent bombers that have enough range to make it to the fleet. It would be a suicide mission for those pilots. This wouldn't be WWII 2.0. It would be WWIII.
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@blueeyeswhitedragon9839 I've seen these kinds of figures before and wonder where they come from. China and and Japan own about an equal amount of our foreign debt at $1.1 trillion each. Our entire national debt is about $22 trillion, of which about 70% is owned by US nationals. China's foreign debt is only about $6.8, about half of which we own. As shown by recent trade talks, we have much more leverage over China than vice versa.
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@Jurassic Aviator Sure, okay. A navy that doesn't need carriers has two in service and another on the ways. I'm done with you.
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@ScienceChap You are correct. This was a typo on my part.
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@rickslingerland1155 I've read Shattered Swords, and it's a great book about the details of Midway. I think it really came down to Japan's infection with "Victory Disease". It made them sloppy about planning overly complicated operations and sloppy in their execution. What they couldn't have known was how thoroughly their code had been broken, and how the now famous water distillation hoax message sent from Midway sealed any chance they had for a surprise attack on the US fleet and Midway.
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@blueeyeswhitedragon9839 You tend not to trust US debt figures? Even though calculating US debt within a few percent is possible using using public domain data? Chinese debt is a black hole, and only government data gives us a glimmer what it might be. For full disclosure, I'm an American. What horse are you riding in this game? Personal debt of Americans may affect each individually, but it has nothing to do with foreign debt. Public debt includes foreign debt so I'm missing your point with that.
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@blueeyeswhitedragon9839 Okay, but those activities increase their domestic debt as a percent of GDP. Those "unsinkable" aircraft carriers also can't run away. Those kinds of fixed fortifications don't have a good record in battle.
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@blueeyeswhitedragon9839 Certainly being in a place like China, Russia, Cuba, or Venezuela will give different answers than if you are doing the search from an area with less censorship. Again, what country are you from, so I have a frame of reference?
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@blueeyeswhitedragon9839 Once again, what country are you from and where do live now? The is conversation isn't going to continue without some answers from you.
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