Waiting confirmation from a non-journo (a serious historian with known reputation) that the files actually exist before believing a single word.

I prefer Ludwig von Wolfgang Vulture!

Enterprise officialy decommishioned today 12/1/12 at NOB Norfolk. During the ceremony the Sec Navy announced that CVN-80 will be named Enterprise.

Most hoped the second Ford Class CVN would be named Enterprise. Yet, the Democrats got there way and it will be named John F. Kennedy instead.

Considering the USN recently had a USS John F Kennedy (CV-67). Seems like they would choose another name. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt….Which, they also had but was scraped many years ago.

Well, maybe the 3rd Ford Class Carrier will get the name. We can only hope!

Scooter, where have you been? Not reading the first few posts of this thread we are in, certainly!

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announces CVN-80 will carry the name Enterprise (video)
Announced during the decommissioning ceremony of CVN-65 Enterprise on 1 December 2012.

The glaring exception to that is PdeA, which was supposed to remain in service for at least 8 more years, while her replacement was built.

Now the replacement is in question… they will use Juan Carlos I as her de-facto replacement, and will re-assess the building of a true replacement* a few years down the road.

* Despite being larger, JCI is designed primarily as a troop/vehicle transport with a secondary aviation capability… PdeA, despite being smaller, could carry more aircraft, and had more aviation fuel and munitions stores, as well as better maintenance facilities.

We will see if the latter are transferred to JCI.

It looks like i missed something !
Why this talk now ?
What uncertainty is there about F-35B at this time ?

The uncertainty is due to the US budget situation.

Last year, in order to get Congress to pass a budget, the debt ceiling had to be raised, because Congress could not create a budget that spent the same or less as the money coming in. In order to get the increase passed, an agreement was reached which put into law that, if a new budget that did NOT spend more money than came in was not passed by 1 January 2013, every department of the Government (including the military) would have its budget cut by 10%… no exceptions.

In discussions of how the US military would cut 10%, the possibility of eliminating 1, 2, or even all 3 F-35 variants has been repeatedly raised.

The F-35A is pretty safe… it has the lowest-cost per aircraft and will require less final development, will be bought by the USAF in far larger numbers than the other two variants are to be built combined, and almost all of the foreign sales are to be the F-35A (other than the USMC, the UK & Italy are the only ones committed to buying F-35B, and no one other than the USN is buying F-35C).

The USN has an alternative to the F-35C… they can buy more F/A-18E/Fs, and more than originally planned of the production version of the unmanned X-47B combat drone that has just begun shipboard testing. This makes this the “most endangered” variant.

The USMC would be in more trouble, as they will not have a STOVL replacement for their AV-8B+s, and can only keep them in service until ~2020… but they could just buy F/A-18E/Fs instead and give up operating fighters from the LHD/LHAs.

Therefore, there is the possibility of the F-35B program being canceled… but my personal opinion, supported by statements from high-level Department of Defense officials, is that they will cut whatever else they need to in order to save all 3 variants of F-35.

The engines weren’t all that different, at least in the early models. Compare the F-100C to the F-8A/B, for example (the 1015.428 mph speed record was set in a F-8A, beating the F-100C’s 825 mph record).

Aerodynamic shaping is the complete difference.

F-100A: J57-7; thrust 9,700 lb (14,800 lb)
F-100C>: J57-21; thrust 10,200 lb (16,000 lb)

F-8A/B: J57-4A; thrust 10,000 lb (16,200 lb)
F-8C: J57-14; thrust 10,700 lb (16,900 lb)
F-8D>: J57-20/22; thrust 10,700 lb (18,000 lb)
RF-8: J57-420; thrust 11,650 lb (19,600 lb)

Dude, seriously: no way! USN has NEVER transferred a fleet carrier to any other navy. Only some WW2 escort carriers to France and Spain respectively.

France and Spain each got Independence class light carriers. France 2, Spain 1. France and Holland each got one escort carrier. God I love to nitpick.:D

Unlike the RN, the USN has never gotten confused between fleet carriers and light carriers. They are separate and different classes, as are escort carriers.

So to pluck small insects from your post as well, while some USN carriers transferred were other than escort carriers (thus making Wanshan’s actual statement incorrect), they were still not fleet carriers (thus making his point correct)!