Thread by @peterwsinger

The Bonhomme Richard fire raises concerns over whether the Navy can repair ships damaged in war taskandpurpose.com/pentagon-run-d… via @JeffSchogol

Short summary: not enough for a major #ghostfleet style war

We would be massively stretched to do battle repair at a scale needed, not just of ships, but also key systems like aircraft. And that is if the adversary was kind and not throwing cybersecurity and supply chain issues at the repair yards (which any thinking adversary would do)

We also wouldn't be able to surge out replacements in any number or timeframe like you saw in World War II. Both the technology and fundamentally different.

We began WWII with less aircraft carriers than today (8), but built 151 aircraft carriers of every size during the war itself.

Not a typo: 151.

24 Essex class fleet aircraft carriers, 45 Casablanca escort carriers, etc.. So every time we lost a carrier, we literally had one in the pipeline not just to replace it, but even to give it the same name a little over a year later. Lose the USS Yorktown? Get a better, newer one.

Where would that happen now?

It is another reason why future war will see trend towards greater use of smaller and unmanned systems.