In military circles a frequent complaint is our military is always fighting the last war, not thinking far enough ahead to see how warfare is changing, and making necessary corrections only when it’s almost too late. Such failures are always at the unnecessary cost of our service member’s lives. Then there’s the “don’t give a damn” approach to present and future war fighting, made most terrifyingly obvious by Joe Biden’s handler’s headlong retreat from Afghanistan, and particularly, their determination to leave huge amounts of the some of the most sophisticated military equipment available behind. Equipment like:
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Graphic: Twitter/X Screenshot
Our terrorist enemies used to have poor comms and transportation. Not anymore. We used to own the night. Now terrorists around the globe have current generation night vision gear. They may not be able to maintain the more complex gear for long but they have it, our other enemies will surely help them maintain it, and they’re providing it to their fellow jihadis. We can also be sure our other enemies have been given examples of our current technology to reverse engineer and to figure out how to counter. What the graph doesn’t mention is the ammo left behind. We can be sure there was mountains of it, and it’s going to be coming back at us.
I’m certainly no expert at naval warfare, but Commander Salamander helps out:
On the long list of things I will keep repeating until I am sick of saying it, because that is when I’m sure people are actually starting to listen, is if you are wondering what you need to equip and prepare your forces for when the next big war comes along, look at the small and medium-sized wars that happen in between.
When it comes to war at sea, we get few opportunities to see what works, what does not work. What we need more of, what we can do without. The last 15-months of experience in the Red Sea have been priceless, unscheduled range time.
Yes, we’re probably going to be facing down China in the near future, and they have near- peer or peer weapons and far more and newer ships than we have. Still, near peer warfare isn’t going to be the totality of naval combat in the future:
The U.S. Navy’s surface fleet has fired nearly 400 individual munitions while battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea over the past 15 months. That includes the firing of 120 SM-2 missiles, 80 SM-6 missiles, 160 rounds from destroyers and cruisers’ five-inch main guns, as well as a combined 20 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) and SM-3 missiles.
We haven’t–so far as we know–lost any ships, so those munitions have apparently done their jobs.
All told, Navy ships, aircraft and submarines have engaged more than 400 Houthi aerial drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles since October 2023, when the Yemen-based group began attacking vessels transiting the Red Sea in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
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Graphic: 5-54-Mark-45-firing. Wikimedia commons.org. Public Domain.
Look at those numbers again. What weapon system was used more than any other?
The 5” gun.
What I would like to see is a list of what was shot down by what list…but probably not on this net.
Never forget—you’ve heard me say it 1,000 times over a couple of decades—when war at sea starts one thing becomes very clear, very fast: you don’t have enough guns, and those you have are a size smaller than you really need.
There are always visionaries that think they know the future. Air Force visionaries once believed missiles would make guns on fighters obsolete. With the F-15 and F-16—thank you John Boyd, the real Maverick—guns have once again been standard equipment and some air forces like the Israelis make very good use of them. Some naval visionaries thought surface ships didn’t need guns. Missiles would replace them. But you can’t carry many missiles and they cost as much as middle class California homes. Then there were the visionaries who thought superguns on the new Zumwalt class destroyers would revolutionize naval warfare until they realized each round costs as much as $800,000 dollars. So, the two guns on the foredecks are idle, while standard 5-inch guns get a regular workout, and people a bit less visionary wish they had a larger caliber, longer-ranged gun as reliable–and maybe a couple of them–the Navy could afford to shoot.
Of course, when the ships you have are ready for the breakers and you’re not building nearly enough, and those you are building are being visionaried to death and don’t work as promised, you might have to stick with what you have and what works.
Now if we can only make enough 5-inch gun ammo and recruit enough smart sailors…
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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.
This article was originally published at www.americanthinker.com
