Murphy's Law: July 2, 2002

Archives

The U.S. Navy is getting nervous about current plans for an invasion of Iraq. If there are not enough air bases available for the operation, more carriers will have to be sent into the Persian Gulf. If none of our NATO allies participate, we won't have as much mine clearing capability (NATO has always had more mine warfare ships than the United States). If Iraq has smuggled in some modern anti-ship missiles we don't know about, plus modern naval mines, things could get ugly. On the positive side, the Persian Gulf is so shallow that if an American carrier were sunk, in most places it would settle on the bottom with portions of the upperworks still above water. At the same time, a nuclear powered carrier in a situation like that would make for a unique navigation hazard in one of the busiest sea lanes in the world. 

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close