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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2015 11:21:04 GMT 12
NZ asks United States navy to visitUpdated at 9:27 am today A United States navy ship has been invited to visit New Zealand waters for the first time in 30 years. The last visit by a US naval vessel was in 1984, before New Zealand declared itself nuclear-free and its participation in the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security (ANZUS) defence alliance ended. The United States neither confirms nor denies whether its warships are carrying nuclear weapons.  Three decades on, the Defence Force has invited the US navy to visit in November next year, along with the navies of 30 other countries, in time for the New Zealand navy's 75th anniversary. If the US accepts, then under New Zealand's nuclear-free legislation, the Prime Minister would have to certify that the vessel sent is neither nuclear-powered nor carrying nuclear weapons. The Defence Force says the invitation reflects the good bilateral relationship. In late 2012 the United States lifted a ban on visits by New Zealand warships, which led to a thawing in tensions. In 2103, HMNZS Te Mana visited the US port in Guam, the first such visit in 30 years. www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/288464/nz-asks-united-states-navy-to-visit
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Post by thelensofhistory on Oct 31, 2015 11:28:44 GMT 12
If the USN sends a vessel , my prediction is that it will be a LCS . I think such a visit would show the anti nuclear hysteria for the BS that it has always been.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2015 11:34:44 GMT 12
Which Navies have non-nuclear carriers nowadays that might come along?
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Post by thelensofhistory on Oct 31, 2015 11:45:15 GMT 12
Which Navies have non-nuclear carriers nowadays that might come along? Off the top my head India comes to mind. China's flat top is a training vessel so they may not want to take it away from that role. |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2015 11:55:45 GMT 12
Does the US have no non-nuclear carriers now? Or France or Britain?
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Post by thelensofhistory on Oct 31, 2015 12:29:14 GMT 12
Does the US have no non-nuclear carriers now? Or France or Britain? RN has no flat tops in service at the moment , a capability gap will be around until HMS Queen Elizabeth enters service. I think the French Navy's Aircraft Carrier is nuclear powered , same for the USN ones as well. |
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 31, 2015 12:46:49 GMT 12
Does the US have no non-nuclear carriers now? Or France or Britain? No (even the one based in Japan is a nuke), no (currently have none in service), no (just the one nuke). All of these have various conventional STOVL/helicopter carriers for Marines. The US won't say if a particular vessel/aircraft/etc is currently carrying nuclear weapons (we assume that the SSBNs are when on patrol). It has stated that policy is not to have tactical nuclear weapons on deployed ships and aircraft as a matter of course - this is still consistent with moving them around on very rare occasions. There is no more reason to think that a US cruiser (with vertical launch systems for Tomahawk missiles - the nuke versions of these have been retired) is carrying any nuclear warheads than a C-17 visiting Whenuapai is. I don't even think that they have nuclear depth bombs for helicopters in service any more. The US Marine Harriers have previously been cleared to operate B83 bombs - no-one thinks that the ones rotating through Australia have them stored on their ships. The NZ law doesn't require a specific denial from the owning Navy, just that www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0086/latest/DLM115145.html |
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Post by Naki on Oct 31, 2015 14:52:43 GMT 12
Does the US have no non-nuclear carriers now? Or France or Britain? In addition to what has been mentioned, Brazil Spain and Italy have non nuclear aircraft carriers but I can't imagine any of those will make it here |
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Post by Barnsey on Oct 31, 2015 16:57:02 GMT 12
Does the US have no non-nuclear carriers now? Or France or Britain? In addition to what has been mentioned, Brazil Spain and Italy have non nuclear aircraft carriers but I can't imagine any of those will make it here Nor the Royal Thai Navy's carrier (more a very expensive royal yacht). en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTMS_Chakri_Naruebet |
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2015 17:04:32 GMT 12
It would be interesting to know the list of all 31 countries invited. I hope some of our close Allies come along like the UK, Canada, Aussie, etc, but I wonder if any European nations or the likes of South Africa or India would bother sending ships.
Of course some nations may just send official parties and we may see a lot of overseas military aeroplanes bringing them.
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Post by mumbles on Oct 31, 2015 17:32:50 GMT 12
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Post by mumbles on Oct 31, 2015 17:45:33 GMT 12
The US won't say if a particular vessel/aircraft/etc is currently carrying nuclear weapons (we assume that the SSBNs are when on patrol). It has stated that policy is not to have tactical nuclear weapons on deployed ships and aircraft as a matter of course - this is still consistent with moving them around on very rare occasions. There is no more reason to think that a US cruiser (with vertical launch systems for Tomahawk missiles - the nuke versions of these have been retired) is carrying any nuclear warheads than a C-17 visiting Whenuapai is. I don't even think that they have nuclear depth bombs for helicopters in service any more. The latter are long gone. All USN tactical warheads (along with a bunch of US Army and Air Force nuclear weapons) were unilaterally withdrawn in 1991-2 under the Presidential Nuclear Initiative: ndupress.ndu.edu/Portals/68/Documents/casestudies/CSWMD_CaseStudy-5.pdfIt appears that apart from the TLAM-N's (nuclear tomahawk cruise missiles) the withdrawn warheads were scrapped during the 1990's-2000's. The stated position is that the US reserves the right to re-embark tactical weapons on it's ships should the situation demand it but in reality it would appear that the weapons to do so simply aren't around anymore. Another change is that only the submarines and aircraft carriers are nuclear propelled these days. The fact of that withdrawal doesn't seem to be all that well known. Many still seem convinced the entire US Navy is nuclear propelled with every vessel loaded to the gunwales with nuclear weapons. |
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 31, 2015 17:52:30 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 31, 2015 19:55:39 GMT 12
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Post by Ian Warren on Nov 1, 2015 8:55:55 GMT 12
It would be interesting to see what and who turns up.
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Post by ErrolC on Jan 20, 2016 8:51:31 GMT 12
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 20, 2016 9:07:47 GMT 12
It's a good thing we live in a democracy so the 50% outweighs the voice of the 29%.
Most of that 50% may vote differently next year if that muppet Trump gets voted in as President though.
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Post by pjw4118 on Jan 20, 2016 11:37:45 GMT 12
I was at another Legion of Honour presentation yesterday and the French Consul said that there would be regular visits by French navy vessels as patrol of the S Pacific region from Tahiti across to the Solomons was being shared tp prevent duplication of effort and assets . He said that fishing boat monitoring was important but that piracy was becoming more common in the PHG/Solomons region, hence the need for more regular patrols.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Jan 20, 2016 13:08:22 GMT 12
Interesting info Peter. I would never have thought pirates were operating in the South Pacific. Maybe we need to get some more Orions.
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Post by isc on Jan 22, 2016 20:31:50 GMT 12
There is a RN ship HMS Protector is visiting Lyttleton at the moment, it will be open to the public on Sunday.
It's an ice strengthened ship, and has come north from a fisheries patrol down in the ice.
It is the first RN visit in 80 years, 1936. isc
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