Good, bad, and ugly are coming to the fore…
An F/A-18 fighter jet landing on the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea went overboard, forcing its two pilots to eject, a defense official told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The incident Tuesday marks the latest mishap to mar the deployment of the Truman, which has been essential in the airstrike campaign by the United States against Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Full article, HERE from Military Times.
Soooo, an ‘arrestment failure’ could either be a wire breaking, or the ‘foot’ on the F-18s hook could have broken off. The good is both the pilot and RIO were able to eject and survived! This is the third F-18 lost off the Truman this cruise. One shot down (blue on blue), one over the side due to a sharp defensive turn by the ship, and now this one…
In other news, round one of the Conclave didn’t make a decision on a new pope. Personally, I think this is gonna take a while.
And a bit of startling history… We’ve talked before about ‘secrets’ coming out from WWII that would change the history books, and this is one of them, and not in a good way…
This is a tale of unexpected lost opportunities and equally unexpected decrypts that changed the course of many battles in World War II. The unexpected opportunities went to the Germans and Japanese.
Full article, HERE from the Strategy Page.
Personally, I don’t think this is the ‘last’ thing we’re going to find out that upsets a bunch of applecarts, but this one is also rather sad that apparently none of our intel folks had a clue about this.
It does call into question whether or not things might have been different if MacArthur and Nimitz had a better relationship and worked together rather than being at odds…
Of course the other thing is how much crypto and equipment ‘we’ lost that we never heard about in both the Pacific and ETO. One wonders when/if that was reported to higher, and why the crypto wasn’t changed.
I know we did that after Walker… sigh…
Another interesting tidbit from WW II crypto history. The Chicago Tribune (whose owner hated Roosevelt with a burning passion) outed the Navy having broken Japanese codes after Midway. Fortunately, the Japanese thought the story was disinformation…
https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence/2017-10-25/secrecy-leaks-when-us-government-prosecuted-chicago-tribune
MacArthur was a grandstanding incompetent immoral Yesman, and a traitor to his oath to uphold the Constitution and his duty to attend to the welfare of his fellow servicemen. The SWPac theatre was only useful in defeating Imperial Japan by acting as a magnet to draw resources across the submarine and aircraft attrition battlespace. Many thousands died needlessly for Dougie’s ego and his masters’ greed. The crushing of the Bonus Army by means of armour, chemical weapons and bayonets is one of the most shameful and blatant crimes in modern history. The bloviating fool Patton also features in that horror. When, if ever, will the Norteamericanos wake up and realise that the Republic died in 1861 and the demon in the skinsuit of America has been instrumental in all the global military and economic crimes ever since? The demonic ultrarich cabal wears The USA as a glove and is very successful in allowing just enough crumbs to drizzle off the side of the table to keep the helots obedient and thankful. E pluribus unum, Annuit coeptus, Novo Ordo Seclorum. Do you see? The centre of man’s rebellious world power will return to the place it first planted its flag….Babylon.
I am no Airedale , but isn’t the purpose of endless touch and go’s (practice) to become accustomed and second natured in response to not catching the wire ?
And another question , the F18 that fell off the hangar bay , is that bad reporting , I would think it was on one of the elevators more likely. It was a sudden turn , a CARRIER will lean in a hard turn , a lot .
You know what else a carrier will do ? Haul Ass , fastest ship I have ever been on was Nimitz when the LaSalle was being attacked in the north end of the Gulf , and we boogied north moving balls to the wall the whole ship was cavitating , I know the Janes book says 40+ knots , I lean towards the plus . It was something to behold.
And you know what , the crew of the Truman have got to be extremely tired , all of them , not to go all Tom Clancy , but the OPTEMPO is accelerated and ongoing . Helluva deployment , started with a crash in the Med up by Egypt into a cargo ship , and an impromptu change of command , missile attacks , plane crashes , think about that shit, assuming they make it home , just one helluva deployment for a big ol birdfarm . Actually the whole Battle Group . Hat tip and Hand Salute !!
John- Yes, I was aware of that… sigh
Stefan- Sadly true…
Boats- Agreed! The problem is a bolter is ‘easy’ compared to a wire break or foot(shoe) breaking mid-arrest. That slows the bird to the poinit it cannot get airborne.
Makes sense.