It's time for our regular open thread. Talk about whatever you want, so long as it isn't culture war.
A few items of business. First, if you're interested in going to Miramar, please RSVP on the stickied post. Second, Johan Larson is setting up a military reading group on DSL, and for the first month, the book is the excellent Blind Man's Bluff, about submarine espionage during the Cold War. If anyone has been looking for an excuse to read it, now is the time. Third, I'm at 113,000 words on the book, currently working on the technical sections for the treaty battleships, and starting work on the Iowa chapter.
2018 overhauls are The 15" Battleships, Museum Ships - United States, LA Fleet Week 2016, Information, Communication and Naval Warfare Part 1, SYWTBAMN - Aviation Part 3 and The OIC. 2019 overhauls are Lion and Vanguard, Wolverine and Sable, Italian Battleships in WWII, SYWTBABB - Trials and Commissioning, How to Build a Battleship - 1942 and The Maximum Battleship. 2020 overhauls are NWAS ASW Parts one and two, Coastal Defenses Part 5 and Spotting. 2021 overhauls are The Under Siege Review, Pictures - Iowa Turret One, NWAS Nuclear SAMs and Confederate Raiding Part 5.
Comments
Do you think they'll take a second look at nuclear power on the replacement for the Burkes? I know they had nuclear-powered cruisers and eventually ditched because they were so much more expensive, but all that extra electrical power would be nice. But on the third hand, it would limit the ports they could visit.
I wouldn't have thought it was possible, but Tom Friedman has found a way to lower my already rock bottom opinion of him, in one of the worst takes on anything I've read all year. There's something wrong in almost every paragraph.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/opinion/nancy-pelosi-taiwan-china.html
@Brett
Legally, they're required to. Personally, I'd be very happy if they did, because the advantages are substantial. In practice, I don't expect it to get much of a look-in because of the general belief that they're too expensive. But I have no clue what's going on with the LSC/DDG(X)/CG(X)/Whatever it is this week. They keep talking about the Zumwalt hull, which is not a particularly good sign.
Unfortunately I won't be getting to Miramar this year; got some family events that week. Sorry to miss it!
Book recommendation: I recently finished reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheRiddleoftheSands which I hadn't known existed before I picked it up at a used book sale. The back cover sells it as an early, pioneering spy thriller but it would be more accurately described as "grown-up Swallows and Amazons" or "Treasure Island if the treasure map was replaced with The Influence of Sea Power upon History". It was written in 1903 and tells the story of two friends who become suspicious of a German naval build-up while on a sailing holiday along its North Sea coast. The spy plot is a slow burn and not too exciting by modern standards, but sailing and naval strategy are front and center here and well depicted, which should interest Naval Gazing readers. (The passages about a coming naval conflict with Germany focused on the Heligoland Bight region are quite prophetic.)
Have the Chinese displayed anything we did not know they had or were capable of during their show of force near Taiwan these past few days? Or was it rather all what we knew and expected?
Interesting dichotomy...the U.S. government is showing its commitment to Taiwan (and I would argue even more to the Quad) while U.S.companies and organizations such as Apple, Nike, the NBA, etc., are scrambling to not anger China.
I fully understand that the U.S. commercial sector is not responsible for defense or foreign policy, but I have never found fawning and obsequious cowtowing to be an attractive trait. Invertebrates are interesting biological specimens to study in the proper context but this does not seem to be one of them.
@Evan
Sorry you won't be able to make it.
@hnau
It's been on my list for a while, although said list is a bit full. May give it another try at some point.
@Neal
Haven't heard of anything new, just rattling the old saber a bit harder. And very much with you re US companies.
What should I name my next dog?
My first dog was Temeraire, at first after the Turner painting; at some point I decided she was named after the dreadnought. My second was Bellerophon (her sister ship.) Sadly, they're both dead... And I'm starting to plan my next dog. But not many of the remaining dreadnoughts have good dog names! Perhaps Agincourt ("Aggie") for a bitch? Orion isn't awful? The other pickings are slim.
I'm committed to a ship name, and strongly prefer one from the Royal Navy. I'm not totally opposed to a non-dreadnought.
Suggestions?
@hnau: available here, as are many old books (fiction and non-).
@Andrew
There's a book, Ships of the Royal Navy, that has a list of every ship name used by the RN since the 15th century. Beyond that, I can't help too much.
Obviously, you should name your dog after the Happy Entrance, a real name for a real ship.
Doggie McDogFace should be close enough to being named after a ship.
:-p
@Andrew:
The list of Royal Navy dreadnaughts looks to me like it has some reasonable options. "Duke" (for HMS Iron Duke) is a very common dog name, and "Ajax" and "Hercules" are also in common usage, though all of these sound like large-dog names. For interest, these are respectively ranked #34, #206 and #248 on pupnames.com.
Or if you're looking for something more unusual, perhaps - for a more energetic breed - take "Audacious", and shorten it to "Dash"?
There are enough options that, in your position, I'd be inclined to find the dog first, then choose a name to suit.
Does it have to be a dreadnought, specifically? What about Nelson, or Rodney? Orion could be good too. If it's a female, what about Elizabeth? Lion would be a fun name, just for the irony.
Not seeing any reason not to name a dog "Dreadnought"
If you'll take sub names, Shark would do nicely: short, recognizable, fairly rare and great fun at the beach.
Lance, Fury, Blossom, Hebe and Stubborn are RN vessels that are also Xenophon-approved dog names, as per his treatise 'on Hunting'.
The Russian Navy just published some new photos of their perpetually-undergoing-refit project ship, the Admiral Kuznetsov.