• Carmakazi@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    42
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    13 hours ago

    I mean, barring the immense cost, a hospital ship capable of launching an entourage of aircraft for medevac or search and rescue would be invaluable to global humanitarian efforts I would think. Particularly after earthquakes, tsunamis, etc.

    Says something about us where we can justify that expense for war but not helping people.

  • flamingo_pinyata
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    ·
    13 hours ago
    • Be a huge country of 300 million spread around thousands of islands
    • Have centuries long naval tradition
    • Your Navy is shit

    Indonesia 🌈

  • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    10 hours ago

    USA: this is an aircraft carrier. It carries aircraft to destroy enemy ships.

    Japan: this is a helicopter destroyer. It carries helicopters (and some aircraft) to protect our fleet.

    Indonesia: this is a humanitarian vessel. It uhhhh. Shhhhh

    • Teh@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      12 hours ago

      I’m pretty sure that most of these hyper-yachts have helicopter pads. For transporting one person and their mistresses, it takes up a lot less topside real estate. The plebes can spend time on a boat between harbor and yacht if they need to get on or off.

      • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        5 hours ago

        aren’t planes faster than helicopters though? I guess that doesn’t matter as much though as the yachts stupidly spend time near coasts normaly, but I still find it weird that there are AFAIK no privately owned aircraft carriers.

        • MonkeyTown@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 hours ago

          Probably because a skeleton crew for one of those is an absolute shitload of people (Nimitz-class carriers have a standard compliment of 3,200, not including the air division, so pilots and mechanics and such)… and like sure you could probably get rid of some stuff and cut that in half, but it would still require a lot more staff than a super yacht (20-50 crew), including nuclear technicians/engineers and stuff which would probably be expensive.

          Plus you’d be spending a ton to demilitarize and make the below-decks spaces comfortable, as that’s the vast majority of the ship. But in so doing, you may actually alter the ballast of the ship causing it to float higher and become unstable…

          Why bother when you can get a status symbol custom made for you, you know?

  • itslilith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    12 hours ago

    This is good, a peace-focused aircraft carrier can do a lot for disaster relief. Just make it nuclear with onboard large-scale desalination plants, oh my

  • Taokan@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    12 hours ago

    Piracy is still alive and well, especially in the Pacific and around nations with less powerful naval defenses. It’s probably to push back against piracy, especially with much the rest of the world turning towards “me first” attitudes and an island nation’s heavy reliance on trade for prosperity. It may also be that the agreement to purchase an aircraft carrier might extend the willingness of other nations to continue helping to protect the trade routes: like it’s a show of good faith that they’re helping too and not putting all the burden on other countries.