The Navy Is Doubling its Carriers
Back during the Lehman Navy of the Regan era, the 600-ship navy built around an incredible 15-Carrier Battle Groups was the pipe-dream that came very very close by 1989.
The Navy, down to about 240-ish ships now, is lamenting that they Only have 11 of the largest warships (Nimitz and Enterprise class CVNs) ever built and in the next few years this may shrink to 9 as the Enterprise is looking at retirement after 50-years of service and another carrier is down for an 18-month refueling period.
However, the Navy may soon be able to add 8 new carriers at the stroke of a pen, with another 2-12 on the drawing board.
The USS Wasp (remember the WWII Aircraft carrier of the same name?) LHD-8, officially an amphibious warfare ship, is returning to port after spending 18-days with two early F-35 Lightning aircraft on board.
http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=63444
The first F-35B landed on WASP’s flight deck Oct. 3, beginning an 18-day test period for the aircraft. During the testing, two F-35B Marine Corps test jets (BF-2 and BF-4) accomplished vertical landings and short take-offs under various conditions.
While underway, the world’s first supersonic short take-off, vertical landing (STOVL) fighter logged more than 28 hours of flight time and completed 72 short take-offs and 72 vertical landings. Wasp crew members worked around the clock with pilots, engineers, mechanics and a wide-array of aeronautical professionals, both military and civilian to meet the mission of the F-35B sea trials.
While the US Navy had for the past twenty years had almost a dozen LHA/LHD hulls to carry out the task of “Sea Control” with a fleet of 190 Marine AV8 Harriers, the Harrier by and large is a daylight only, subsonic strike aircraft, not a dogfighter. The vaunted 3rd Generation F-35 is supposed to be everything the Harrier was not in a V/STOL platform.
The fact that the Wasp is the same size as the new French De Gaulle class carrier, as well as the same size as the WWII-era Essex class carriers that served in the US Navy until 1989 (see the USS Lexington) in one role or another is a valid point. With 2-3 squadrons of F35’s aboard along with a detachment of SH-60s as plane guards the 8 LHDs on the USNs payroll can earn their keep as emergency aircraft carriers if things ever get hot in the China Sea…. Looks like the Navy finally may have 15-carrier (or more) battlegroups in the works…