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The F-22 took way longer than 4 months to build.....We took parts delivery many months before being loaded into jigs. Shipping the fuselage sections to Georgia for final assembly took most of a week by itself. Even at the height of high rate production, an F-16 took over a year from first metal cut to delivery.In WW2 the U.S. was able to produce ships at astonishing speed. Liberty ships were built on average every 42 days. One was built in a record 4 1/2 days. I think destroyers were built in about 10 months (I may be wrong on that). So how fast do you think the U.S. could build navy ships today if the need was dire compared to how long it normally takes?
What about aircraft? The U.S. was producing about 90 aircraft a day at its peak. The F-22 takes 2-4 months to make according to websites I see. How fast could those be turned around under the same scenario?
The Liberty ship build time is a bit of a myth. Large assemblies were fabricated off site. The actual time from raw steel to completed fit out was much longer. It actually required more total man hours than the traditional methods used by the British to produce the same ship. What prefabrication did do was free up slips much more quickly.In WW2 the U.S. was able to produce ships at astonishing speed. Liberty ships were built on average every 42 days. One was built in a record 4 1/2 days. I think destroyers were built in about 10 months (I may be wrong on that). So how fast do you think the U.S. could build navy ships today if the need was dire compared to how long it normally takes?
What about aircraft? The U.S. was producing about 90 aircraft a day at its peak. The F-22 takes 2-4 months to make according to websites I see. How fast could those be turned around under the same scenario?
You can go to 3 shifts but 3 shifts do not actually produce 3 times the product.In WW2 the U.S. was able to produce ships at astonishing speed. Liberty ships were built on average every 42 days. One was built in a record 4 1/2 days. I think destroyers were built in about 10 months (I may be wrong on that). So how fast do you think the U.S. could build navy ships today if the need was dire compared to how long it normally takes?
What about aircraft? The U.S. was producing about 90 aircraft a day at its peak. The F-22 takes 2-4 months to make according to websites I see. How fast could those be turned around under the same scenario?
One other thing, is that some of the very specialized machinery is flat gone. One machine that really help production in the 50's all the way thru the 70's, were the ultra heavy presses.....We're talking 50,000 ton presses with a bed as big as a Class 8 truck. There is only one left in the US, and it's scheduled years out on parts runs. When it was discovered to have some major problems, there was a scramble to get new parts made and the press rebuilt.Thanks for the input. True that a lot of the industries required have closed down and the laborers just don't exist in numbers. Time to get up to speed would be years.
Beat me to it. This is a fact that concerns me about China's intentions towards Taiwan. I once asked about any remaining Forrestal class carriers. Not to modernize into a more capable ship as that would require too much for too little in return. Those ships are tired. I was thinking as an emergency landing strip behind the lines. If there is one, is it even on the right coast (or left coastOn top of that regarding ships, nowadays we have far fewer foundries, fewer shipyards, and a smaller industrial workforce.
Beat me to it. This is a fact that concerns me about China's intentions towards Taiwan. I once asked about any remaining Forrestal class carriers. Not to modernize into a more capable ship as that would require too much for too little in return. Those ships are tired. I was thinking as an emergency landing strip behind the lines. If there is one, is it even on the right coast (or left coast)? The Panama Canal couldn't handle one. The PLAN has way too many ship killing missiles for my taste. Some are going to get through. It takes a long time to build a CVN. There's a lack of shipways in the US. We have to order smaller warships and commercial ships from foreign suppliers.
These continuous drills the Chinese are carrying out worry me. They may lead to a bit of complacency. The next one, possibly cutting off Taiwan from resupply, would be a test of the Democracies will. With our current involvement with Ukraine (I'm for it, in case anyone is wondering) would we have the consensus to do what is necessary?
China is having economic difficulties at home. Isn't it a tried and true tactic of dictatorships to start a war to distract and rally the masses?
I'm paranoid. Am I paranoid enough?
We still have a ton of airstrips on islands in the Pacific region - several are inactive or nature preserves, but they are there.I did see the that scenario. That's what got me thinking about emergency flight decks. The ship building capacity ain't there and hauling out USS Lexington from museum status ain't never gonna cut it.
I agree that standing by Ukraine is not only correct but imperative. Xi must be really honked at Putin. The armaments factories are gearing up in the NATO countries.