NationStates Jolt Archive

OK. I thought I could start a thread where you can post any, ahem, innovative tactics (which you might not be quite sure about) to get feedback.

As I am currently occupied with other things, you may not see me much, but...

Unusual Tactic #1: The Camoflauged Carrier

Build a ship.
Make it look like a typical tanker-supertanker, but install two decks hidden in the area which would normally hold liquids, like so:

Deck A (top)
-------
Deck B
-------
Deck C
-------




Deck D (hull)
-------

Then, outfit decks B and C as carrier decks. 2 catapults each.
Rig the bow with removable panels, rigged to blast themselves off the bow so that the aircraft on B and C can launch.
Deck A will be outfitted with phony pipes and pump fittings, which can be removed, so you can use Deck A as a landing field. You might even be able to hide AA turrets in the phony fittings.
Elevators could be disguised as tank covers, etc.

Sneak it near the enemy port of your choice, disguised as a friendly tanker. Then, when they request permission for the customs authorities to board, blow the panels and launch!

So... is this practical? Should it have only one launch deck? How many aircraft could it carry?

If you use it as a V/STOL carrier, yes. A supertanker is very narrow, plus your little deck fittings would hamper the movement and launch of large, conventional aircraft, namely there would be no room for moving them around, much less deck park or landing. And even if you did, aircraft movement would be hampered due to lack of deck space for when you're moving the aircraft up and down from main deck down to the hangars.

A "supertanker", even built to military standards, is extremely long and could not maneuvre. A submarine would fire blindly and have 80%, if not all its torpedo volleys hitting. And nothing could save a ship if that happened.

Conclusion being, you can probably make a Harrier Carrier out of it, but a smaller ship would do the exact same thing, cheaper.

I was thinking of it as a one-time trick. The basic idea is you get a large number of aircraft into enemy territory, unexpectedly. (They don't know it's an aircraft carrier!)

As for the aircraft, you can just line em' up behind the catapults,
and launch them as fast as possible when you need to.
If you do it fast enough, you might even get them all off
before the enemy can respond and attack the carrier.

Well if you're going to do it a one time trick, use cruise missiles instead (like the Tomahawk). Faster and cheaper. With aircraft, you'd need to train pilots and maintenance staff, which would then need to be replaced. Not to mention the cost of catapults, aircraft carriers and rebuilding a ship (or building a ship from scratch). With a cruise missile boat, you'd just need to put people aboard to press the button and get the ship there.

It seems a bit expensive for a one-off.

Bubber Duckies

explanations, bomb with bombs that look like rubber duckies, people wouldn't know a thing, and after a couple of hours....BOOM!!!

Heh. Where would I be without you guys to point out flaws and make me feel stupid?

Anyway, you're right. Cruise missiles would be better.

Farfetched prospect: That's just silly.