Defence procurement bungles and wins

[DJC]

Fortunately, the USS Missouri was able to dodge and weave around the Taliban’s fleet of cruise and anti-ship missiles.

PS: It was decommissioned before the invasion of Afghanistan. It was involved in the 1st Gulf War. It hasn’t moved under its own power since 1992.

But even in the Gulf War, the ability of the Iraqis to target US ships was pretty much eliminated soon after hostilities began. The USS Missouri would be good to have if we want to declare war on Tonga but it would provoke hilarity rather than shock and awe if it were deployed against a country with a decent military.

My cousin was a petty officer on HMAS Sydney in the Gulf War.  He was on anti-aircraft watch and radar detected 100s of aircraft approaching the allied fleet; the sh1t was about to hit the fan!  Fortunately, the aircraft changed direction and headed for Iran.