[Arktwo] Lots of facts

[Bruce Beach]

Major US Ships Underway

 USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) CARRIER
 USS Enterprise (CVN 65) CARRIER
 USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) CARRIER
 USS Nimitz (CVN 68) CARRIER
 USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) CARRIER
 USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) CARRIER

 Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):
 USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7)
 USS Nashville (LPD 13)
 USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41)

 Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):
 USS Boxer (LHD 4)
 USS Dubuque (LPD 8)
 USS Comstock (LSD 45)

 Essex Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG):
 USS Essex (LHD 2)
 USS Juneau (LPD 10)
 USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49)

 Amphibious Warfare Ships:
 USS Tarawa (LHA 1)
 USS Saipan (LHA 2)
 USS Wasp (LHD 1)
 USS Bataan (LHD 5)
 USS Ponce (LPD 15)
 USS Ashland (LSD 48)

There are many, many, many more
US ships underway.
Every carrier is surrounded
by many ships that are guarding it
and besides those there are:

Tenders
Supply Ships
Nuclear Armed Subs
Attack submarines
Missile carriers
Mine Sweepers

They carry with them
immense armaments of missiles
immense armaments of shells for guns
tens of thousands of personnel
thousands of aircraft
(either on board or at deployable bases)

In addition,
I told you yesterday,
that on Tuesday, Oct. 17,
guided-missile destroyers USS Cole
guided-missile destroyer USS Bulkeley
guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea,
attack submarine USS Albuquerque
had sailed into the Persian Gulf.

Last week
I told you about the

USS Benfold (DDG 65)
and
USS Howard (DDG 83)
and
Amphibious Squadron 5,
and
the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit,
and
Coast Guard Cutter Midgett (WHEC 726)
and
the destroyer U.S.S. McFaul,
and
the war frigate U.S.S. Nicholas,
and
the battle cruiser U.S.S. Leyte Gulf,
and
the attack submarine U.S.S. Alexandria,
and
and the “fast combat support ship” U.S.N.S. Supply.
	[The U.S.N.S. Supply is not a supply ship -
	 it is an exceptionally fast combat ship.]
and
Marine Strike Fighter Squadron 251,
and
Electronic Attack Squadron 137,
and
Airborne Early Warning Squadron 123.
and
Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 11.
and
Carrier Strike Group 12 (CSG 12)
and
Destroyer Squadron 2 (DESRON 2),
and
Carrier Air Wing 1 (CVW 1)
and
Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7,
and
guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio (CG 68);
and
guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage (DDG 61)
and
guided-missile destroyer USS Mason (DDG 87);
and
fast-attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN 750)

And that is JUST the US Navy.

For the first time in years
joining a US operation
and its command is a
Canadian Frigate
the HMCS Ottawa (FFH 341)

Meanwhile in the Mediterranean
intelligence for the theatre of operations
is being conducted under the command of
US Vice Admiral J. “Boomer” Stufflebeem,
(formally titled
Commander of Joint Task Force Lebanon)
on board the USS Mount Whitney which has
the most sophisticated command and control suite
in the world.
"... the uniquely advanced C41 command and intelligence system through which
he can flash intelligence data to every American commander at
any point between the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf and Iran."

There he exercises direct command
over a task force of
1,800 sailors, Marines, Air force
medical and other personnel serving aboard
the USS Barry,
the USS Trenton,
HSV Swift and
USNS Kanawha

Also in this Mediterranean armada
under his command
are two additional carriers
of other countries with
75 fighter-bombers,
spy planes and helicopters on their decks;

15 warships of various types –
7 French,
5 Italian,
2-3 Green,
3-5 German,
5 American;

thousands of Marines –
French,
Italian and
German, as well as
1,800 US Marines.

One of the carriers is
France’s nuclear-powered 38,000-ton
Charles De Gaulle carrier,
40 Rafale M fighter craft
whose range is 3,340 km and that
can take off at intervals of 30 seconds.

The ship also carries
three E-2C Hawkeye surveillance craft.

The combat control center
of the French carrier
can handle 2,000 simultaneous targets.

The carrier leads a task force of
the above mentioned 7 French warships
carrying 2,800 French Marines.

The Charles De Gaulle is also
a floating logistics center
operating water desalination plants for 15,000 men
and enough food to feed an army for 90 days.

The third carrier joining the other two is the:

Italian aircraft-helicopter carrier Garibaldi,
which has launch pads for vertical takeoff by
16 AV-8B Harrier fighter-bombers
18 Sikorsky SH-3D Seak King sea-choppers
Italian Agusta Bell AB212 helicopters
designed to attack submarines and missile ships.

In addition to these new forces
all under the above mentioned US Command
there are the permanently base Mediterranean forces
such as
the Italian-based American Sixth Fleet,
some 15 small Israeli missile ships
half a dozen submarines and
the NATO fleet of:
Canadian,
British,
Dutch,
German,
Spanish,
Greek and
Turkish warships.

The British also
have permanent air and sea bases in Cyprus.

In a previous newsletter
I provided you with a link to a map
showing how all these locations surround Iran.

What I have listed here
are just the Naval Forces,
that are aligned with the US effort.
I have made no mention
of the Army and the Air Force.

It has taken me many hours
to compile just this list
which is very far from exhaustive.
One of the most time consuming parts
of making and maintaining such a compilation
is trying to assure that I have no redundancies.
Sometimes I will receive ten separate lists
that will include certain ships
that I have already listed
but that will have some that I haven't had before.

Before the addition
of tens of thousands of naval personnel
in the last couple of weeks
from the countries listed here -
I had an estimate that there were over
75,000 naval personnel involved.

We know that there are
hundreds of thousand of army personnel -
(and I am talking just about the US
and its allies)
in the Middle East.

The casualties are mounting continuously
in Iraq.

This week alone -
there were over 300 US casualties
in just one battle alone.
If you support the war in Iraq -
or at least the American soldiers
please take a few minutes
and read down through these three hundred names
and say a prayer for them.

http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a2547.htm#001

And if your vision is broader
you might also say a prayer for
the thousands of Iraqi Police recruits
who take the brunt of much of that battle
and what the UN says are 655,000
mostly civilians
who have been killed in Iraq
in retaliation for less than 3,000 Americans
killed at the WTC on 9/11 -
which in actuality they had nothing to do with
because the terrorist pilots came from
America's ally Saudi Arabia.

But -
I digress.
That is past -
and what I am talking about is
the present.
The current build up
noted in general in some current magazines
but probably not on the front page
of your local paper -
and not in the detailed manner that I have noted above.

There will be readers of this newsletter -
who will say -
"So what."
So - those are facts
but that is irrelevant -
because it is nothing out of the ordinary.
Just the normal everyday carrying on
of the the US Navy.

In my view -
it is a matter of timing.
If Iran had been going to pre-empt
they should have done it -
before the Ike arrived yesterday.

If Israel is going to pre-empt
I would have thought they would do it
at the New Moon last night -
but at least before
the Enterprise is scheduled to depart
at the end of this week.

We can say -
the ball was in Iran's court -
but now it is in Israel's court.
If it leaves Israel's court
then it will be in Iran's court again -
without any factor that I am aware of
that will return it to Israel's court.
It is like watching a tennis or ping pong match.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.

But I think Bush is about to call the match.
Unless all the above build-up
is just to impress the world observers
and to exercise the troops.
There is still time for
an October Surprise.

People read things like the above
and then ask that I send them
some useful information instead.
Okay,
here goes.

When sheltering at home -
people want to know how much protection
different materials will give them.
Here is a little table I have constructed.

Any material will do -
even feathers.
It is the density that counts
and while I have not calculated
the number of feet of feathers you would need -
here are some other equivalents.

6 inches of lead would do but is too expensive
  and there is nothing magical about lead.
  It is only the density that counts.
8 inches of steel is the equivalent
2 feet of concrete will weigh as much
  and is also equivalent.
  That much filled concrete blocks or bricks
  will do about as well
3 feet of earth is the standard and cheapest
4 feet of water would be okay -
  but is generally hard to manage.
  Barrels of it would not be as thick
  on the rounded parts -
  so you would need to stagger
  a couple of rows of barrels.
6 feet of books
10 feet of wood

Just any material that you have around.
The heavier and denser the better.
It could be canned goods -
or bags of wheat, beans, or potatoes.
For any of the latter
you would need about 6 feet of the material.

Distance is also a factor.
The center of the 7th floor
of a fourteen story building
will give good protection.
More floors below and above -
would be even better.

Hope that helps.

One other thing -
and I think this is most important.
Next to understanding fallout
and survival preparation
I think the two next greatest threats
that will occur after a nuclear war -
and which will probably be caused by it
are social breakdown and pandemics
caused by the breakdown of the sanitary systems.

For this reason I have wanted to send out to everyone
a free CD on how to deal with pandemics.
Regrettably it does not appear to me
that I will have the time or resources.
Therefore I am going to direct you to:

http://pandemicreferenceguides.com/

where you can download the information for free.
I feel that the work that has been done there
is one of the greatest contributions to public service
of which I am aware.
I highly commend the author of the site.

Peace and love,
Bruce
DawnSayer@webpal.org