A proposal for Ukraine grain shipments in the Black Sea

[pxmcc]

so i'm thinking maybe we should deploy some American "battleships" to accompany Ukrainian freighters carrying grain to the rest of the world through the Black Sea. i think a single frigate to accompany each grain ship would be sufficient. However, a destroyer would be better, a cruiser would be even more ideal, an amphibious assault ship would be better still, and an entire carrier strike group in battle formation, including some grumpy-ass Seawolf-class subs, would be best of all. as in, hey russia, go fuck yourself and your wannabe naval blockade. we're happy to fire as many shots across your bow as needed to encourage your immediate egress from anywhere near a Ukranian-flagged grain ship, and take your threats anywhere but here to someone else who might actually give a flying fuck. unfortunately for you, you are no match for the U.S. Navy. even Ukraine was able to sink your sorry-ass flagship of the Black Sea..

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/07...a-ukraine-news

what do you all think?

[pxmcc]

i don't think this shit should go uncontested by the U.S. navy. one of our frigates would send this corvette motoring for cover. couple shots across its bow would convey the message adequately, i'd think..

Harried By Drones, A Russian Warship Goes Hunting For Grain Ships
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidax...h=3ba7d5e36fe9

[Trey]

Fuck em all. Just send em weapons, I enjoy watching them people kill each other. Just enough to keep fighting.

[Unique_Carpenter]

US Navy can not access the Black Sea.
The Turks control the Bosporus Straights as an inland waterway and they have a longstanding international recognized right to exclude any warships.
1936 Montreux Convention
which replaced the the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne on same topic

BTW, both of those are somewhat current items regarding the history of the Northeast Med region that involves warfare and civilian economics that date back a few thousand years.

[pxmcc]

^^good shit UC. and turkey is supposedly our Nato ally. would they be like, aww hell naw!? "we always play both sides." signed, turkey..

maybe we could play to their ego. "Carrier Strike Group USS Ronald Reagan requesting permission to pass, and an invite for Turkey to send it's best ships and subs to join our detail on patrol in the Black Sea"..

there is no badder naval formation on the planet to roll with, save a pair of U.S. Carrier Strike groups..

[Unique_Carpenter]

Black sea is to small for a carrier group to adequately maneuver.

[pxmcc]

here's a good article explaining the situation. it not a size thing for a carrier group per se in the Black Sea, but a "max tonnage of a warship permitted" issue.
https://gcaptain.com/us-navy-aircraft-carriers-ukraine/

once you're through the Strait, the Black Sea isn't a small body of water from the looks of it.

we've had cruisers and destroyers there before but carriers are banned by treaty. sounds like it's basically up to Turkey's discretion. obviously, carriers aren't needed to protect a grain ship lol. cruisers, destroyers or frigates would do nicely if we could get Turkey on board, which is a big if. they're one of our flakier NATO allies, to say the least.