Damn telstra and its failure to get ADSL nation wide, missing all the fun, anyway
Seriously what is the current organisation of the USN in the South Pacific ? Since the closure of the Philippino bases I've read of a base in Singapore and of training (but nothing more) in Australia.
Hawaii, Guam and Okinawa being a bit too far north, I guess the USN does need a base in the South Pacific for operations in the eastern part of the Indian Ocean and up to the South China Sea...
The US is already getting a Training station here, and its causing enough Hoo Haa to last the next 20 years, good luck with a Nuclear Carrier and Sub in a port, kinda hard with the Nuke free zones(damn greens)
You want USS... that can be arranged. We will gladly accept your petition for statehood
Oddly enough, some Proffesor of some US University put it to NSW Uni group about Aus becoming a state of the US, he may have gotten into a Uni party and had a little help getting that put across the room.
. The loss of a ship with a royal name might be construed as an added insult to injury. The Falklands campaing refrained from using the Queen Elisabeth 2 - alledgedly for this (a somewhat facile explaniation - but..), instead they used the Canberra - which is a rather rude hint to Australia.
Yeah that would be right, sacrafice Canberra for the queen, hell if the ship is like the city, go for it!
If the US Names a ship Canberra more then happy to name a ship the Chicago, non-history reading "know alls" would spit chips, but in terms of ANZUS and History, would be fantastic to see, especially to the USN/RAN links
I believe that these names still have a place today. It is not about what language they may orginate from. On another the topic, the guys on Nuship Bundberg are already trying to get the Bundy Bear to appear at their commisioning
Cheers
Wow, i feel a little surprised, i can imagine the Coat of Arms having a Drop Bear thrown in it somewhere, more then likely the Sailors just want a couple of bottles of free Bundy, bastards, i gotta get posted there.
Ok so an AWD is not a capital ship, however the RAN are never likely to have one so something has to be used as the Flagship so why not one of a the LPH's or one of the AWD's and bang on the countries name.
The only thing that would not go down well would be using PM's name's!
HMAS Bob Hawke or HMAS John Howard...that would really making them into big floating targets...I shudder at the thought!
The Sirius has been built to house a command Console with Crew, perhaps best for such situations, refuel and re-order all in one. The LPH will have requirments for command and Control, that way it can be designated for Flagship roles. I take it modern Flagships are Carriers for most countries anyway, ie USN and UK Ark Royal
And the HMAS Little Johhny, i Love it! If we told him only carriers can get PMs names, much like USN, then maybe...