Awesome pic of Norfolk

There's a familiar site.
Pier 13 right across from McDonald's, assuming it is still there.

Something I think many forget is the asymmetrical nature of the determined, yet under-hardwared individual.

While flying in ala 1941 is most likely out of the picture, a budget driven set up in the picture is and always will be vulnerable. Some ideas on an otherwise uneventful Xmas Eve day:

1. Those ships need to leave port to be of any use. Block the waterway in and out, and there is no need to action the vessels.

2. There are a lot of personnel work work there. Those ships need them. Dirty bomb the area and you significantly delay their mission.

3. Anything parts or materials needed to service the ships needs to get there. A guess here, most comes in via roadway. That part of Virginia is a mess traffic wise. Screw up a few locations on important thoroughfares....

Any way just a start. I think I have enough to being a new action-thriller book.

reply to post by CaptainBeno


Don't mean to ruin your optimisim, but if they're in-port and moored to a pier, exactly jack will be flying off those flat tops. It takes a couple hours to get them under way with the head of steam needed for cat ops, and that's not even counting if the reactors are "cold".

However there are at least three major air bases right in that region (Norfolk Naval Station, NAS Oceana, Langley AFB), which could scramble a few carriers worth of airpower if it was deemed necessary. And where do you think they keep the planes when the carriers are in port? (Also Andrews and Cherry Point are pretty close too, counting flight time at "full military".)

And in that regard, there's always something flying and patrolling that area of the East Coast, let alone the smaller ships, subs, offshore platforms, and submerged listening arrays that keep a rather good eye on things.

Coast Guard supposedly scans a lot of things before they're allowed to head in to port, but I'd say the biggest threat would still be what might be missed on one of those shipping containers. Considering all the nearby shipping traffic and the volume of it, that would be my main worry.

As for the pic, it's a cool one. I remember my days back there. I don't think they're visibile in this pic (just off the bottom from the view here) but piers 12 & 13 are "best parking" if you like fast food. (Yet when in-port the "roach coach", hangar bay vending machines, and mess decks aren't terrible either.)

Macsonalds is still there. When I got back from deployment I was also amazed to see a Pizza Hut. Here's to duty day large pizzas

There's no air wings on any of those carriers, they fly off before the ship docks, mainly to NAS Oceana, where 6th Fleet carrier air wings have their homeport. (7th fleet it would be NAS Lemoore.)

There's always a carrier task force from either fleet deployed at any given time, you'll never catch ALL carriers in port together.

False. Right now all east coast carriers are in port plus one west coast carrier. Only one out right now is the stennis strike group.