>>2318752 (lb)
I believe we are. Have been for years, and losing under Obama. All the ships I've been on we've been hounded by the Chinese and Russians in WESTPAC with little help from Washington in giving us the ability to push back. We were basically turned into flag waving Frenchmen because of what Obama was doing. Just to give you an example.
With Trump at the helm, I'm confident in our military's ability to push back and have leadership back them up.
Bullshit they wouldn't know. From my last post:
First, every missile brought onboard is cataloged to the nth degree. Serial numbers, canister numbers, and so forth. This is to ensure that we don't go missing a missile. There is always a chain of ownership, and tons of people involved in the onloading, offloading, transfer, and storage of missiles. Simply put, you cannot lose a missile unless you have a team of people in on it.
Which brings up my second point. Expending a missile (ie. Shooting one off) is NOT a simple task. Missiles are a critical asset, meaning you don’t get to use them for target practice unless you conducting live fire shoots or missile testing for a defense contractor (my ship helped test the SM6, that’s how I know). If you are going to fire a missile, you have to notify some Admirals back on shore; there are official classified Navy messages sent to and from the ship for orders to fire all the way to reporting completion of shoot and results. As an Ordnance Officer, I’d have to send a separate classified message generated from the ROLMS system (in short, that’s the ordnance log and database for a ship) detailing what missile was shot, when, how many, and then inventory the empty canister for offload purposes when we return to port. Again, more fucking paperwork and tons of people knowing when a missile is fired off.
This doesn’t even get into the fact that when a missile is fired, everyone on the ship knows. It’s loud enough to be heard throughout the ship (minus the deeper engineering spaces where the engines and other machinery are running). As a matter of safety protocol, messages to stand clear of the missile launch areas are put out over the 1MC. There’s a launch alarm just before the missile launches.
And if that wasn’t enough, you don’t fire missiles blindly. If you’re shooting any kind of a surface to air missile (which is likely what this was) you need radar contact with the target, a clear air range so civilian and other contacts aren’t accidentally targeted, and a clear ocean so debris doesn’t drop on a passing vessel and cause damage. Granted, submarines are different than surface ships, but the protocols remain the same because they’re actual Navy Instructions. In the submarines case, because they do not have the sophisticated surface/air radars the surface fleet has, they cannot do surface to air combat by themselves. Tomahawks and nukes require GPS coordinates, not radar. Anyway, the point is once again tons of people are involved in the launch sequence to maintain safety so we don’t accidentally shoot down something we didn’t intend to.
Oh, and there is a two person permission required to launch a missile. Usually CO and XO, with one in combat monitoring the radars and the other providing clearance from the bridge.
So I’m finding this whole Crimson Tide angle not believable. With all the people that would be involved in the launching of a missile, there would have been an immediate investigation of any unauthorized or hacked launch. The fact that there hasn’t been anything leaked about this (and we sailors love our sea stories) strikes me as not just odd, but leads me to believe that it wasn’t us.
Possible. Again, there'd have to be a paper trail to make it look official so the crew wouldn't suspect anything. Dicey for the DS operatives, because they'd be exposing themselves. But they may have been that desperate.
I was referring to the Navy. See above response. Not backtracking, but open to the possibility that a DS Admiral could send an official looking message to get the crew to launch. Still, very, very difficult to launch it and have almost zero leaks from the crew afterwards.
Doubtful. If this incident happened on a ship, you can be assured they'd be ordered back into port with NCIS and other federal agencies ready to crawl over every part of the ship. Every message, every email, every computer terminal, every piece of equipment every sailor would be examined, interviewed, with testimony and evidence carefully cataloged and put into an official report.
We had a rape on our ship one time. You should have seen what NCIS was doing to gather evidence. Same thing happened when we had a serial arsonist going around starting fires on the ship to keep us from leaving port for deployment. Any serious fuckery happens on the ship, the captain and crew gets a microscope shoved up their asses.
Comms depend on rank/job. Barring few exceptions, most crew members have access to email (monitored, of course) at the least. Maybe a phone call depending on River City condition (ie. accessibility to electronic comms) and proximity to shore.
In serious incidents, the CO has full authority to set River City One (if I remember correctly) which means no communications on or off the ship, except those to and from the CO/XO. Meaning no email, no phones, nothing. Total isolation from the outside world. He/She could keep this in place as long as needed.
Back on shore, they would have to confine every sailor to the ship to prevent them from talking out in town.
I know bubbleheads are known for secrecy. Doesn't always mean they don't talk. I've spoken with quite a few. Interesting sea stories.
Semper Fi, Marine.
I won't dispute that possibility. The problem you have is that people rotate in and out of ships. Unless the CIA controls the detailers that cut orders so that only their assets get on board, you're going to have non-CIA sailors stationed there. So while this is possible, I don't really find it plausible.
Now, if the CIA had their own submarine, separate from the Navy, then definitely possible.