Word: fleetly
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Isolated and exposed on the open seas, surface fleets in the 20th century have proved increasingly vulnerable to a succession of ever more sophisticated attacks from the air. In 1921, Army Air Service General Billy Mitchell demonstrated that rudimentary aerial bombardment could scuttle the most heavily armed warships, a lesson Japan put to good use when it nearly destroyed the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. Carriers that could launch swarms of fighter planes became the dominant sea weapon in World War II. Although the Reagan Administration has committed the U.S. to a 600-ship Navy with 15 carriers, some strategists...
After the Sheffield sinking, U.S. Navy brass insisted that newly developed defensive systems would protect the rapidly growing American fleet from the sea skimmers. The Stark disaster has not changed that view. Former Navy Secretary John Lehman points out that although the Sheffield was destroyed by a single Exocet, the Stark, with a more durable superstructure and redundant protective systems, was hit by two missiles and still "sailed home under its own steam." Moreover, since the U.S. frigate was blindsided by a supposedly friendly plane, its defensive systems were never tested. "This is basically a weird exception," says Michael MccGwire...
...linchpin of the Navy's surface fleet is the high-priced ($1 billion apiece) Aegis cruiser, which Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger has called the "most advanced air-defense system in the world today." Named after the mythical shield of Zeus, Aegis cruisers like the Ticonderoga and Yorktown bristle with radars and weaponry capable of tracking and attacking 18 incoming missiles at a time. The Aegis radar is linked to a computerized fire-control system for the ship's antiaircraft guns, depth charges and rocket-launched torpedoes. Just seven of these advanced vessels are in service, but another...
Still, not even the Aegis radar is omniscient enough to deal with every potential challenge from the array of modern missiles deployed against it. Soviet Backfire bombers, for instance, could attack a U.S. fleet with cruise missiles launched from more than 350 miles away. One answer being considered by the Navy is a throwback to the barrage balloons that hovered over U.S. ships in World War II: helium-filled blimps containing enormous radars that could look down and track any intruder. The Navy has solicited bids for a $200 million prototype. Naval strategists also emphasize the critical need...
...switch? Rising sticker prices and the phaseout of income-tax deductions of sales taxes and the interest on consumer car loans are major reasons. Says Bill Willis, fleet and leasing manager for Ford Motor's Ford Division: "Leasing permits people to drive upscale cars, complete with options, without making any initial investment...