Well thanks for the compliment but we guys who ran the Navy's nuclear reactors weren't given any diplomas or academic de
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — The Final Countdown
brifitz1980 — 10 years ago(July 01, 2015 06:41 AM)
Well thanks for the compliment but we guys who ran the Navy's nuclear reactors weren't given any diplomas or academic degrees for completing Navy Nuclear Power School.
My mistake. I'm not a military guy, obviously. I'm a movie guy with an interest in history but I don't have any first hand experience with how the military operates.
I still stand by my assertion that the commander and others could have met with some of the top brass and tell them about upcoming Japanese war plans so that the US would know exactly where/when to strike and cripple the Japanese fleet in the first few months of the war. Also if the Nimitz's planes destroyed all 6 of the Japanese carriers that were attacking it would would already be a pretty crippling blow to the Japanese. -
Cairo-5 — 10 years ago(July 02, 2015 07:04 PM)
Four of those six Japanese carriers were sunk at the Midway battle. Looking at this actual historical fact we see that this loss was a tremendous blow to the Japanese war effort. So there can be no doubt that if they had lost all six carriers half a year earlier, at the very outset of the war, the impact would have been enormous.
And this leads in to the fundamental problem with speculation about time travel. If it really were possible for people and things to go back into the past, and interact with those who were there, and make changes to what had been known to be history at the future point in time that they departed from, how can anybody predict what the new historical reality would be.
Suppose the sailors on the Nimitz really did meet with the top brass of 1941. They could tell them what happened in a history where the Nimitz did not go back in time and change things. But would that still be the way history was going to unfold now that the Nimitz and crew had actually changed things? Would the Nimitz sailors really know what was going to happen next?
Another possibility. What if someone from Japan living in the new historical reality then goes back and talks to their top brass? What if each time someone from one country goes back and changes history, someone from the other country subsequently goes back and makes another change?
American: Japan is going to strike at target A on B date. Be ready for it.
Japanese: The Americans know you are going to strike at target A on B date. Change your plans.
American: Japan knows you know they were planning to strike at target A on B date. So they've changed the plan and will now strike at target C on D date.
Japanese: The Americans know you originally planned to strike target A on B date. They also know you are now planning to strike at target C on D date. So strike at target E on date F instead.
American
We can reach the end of the alphabet but this back and forth action could go on forever.
I think it's a good thing that as far as we are able to understand the laws of physics this kind of time travel does not seem to be possible. It would produce unimaginable complications if it were.
It's easier to be an individual than a god.
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CGSailor — 10 years ago(May 13, 2015 03:49 PM)
The nuclear engineers who run the Nimitz's nuclear reactors could just meet with the Manhattan Project scientists and explain to them how to do stuff that they wouldn't otherwise develop for several years.
Have to agree with Cairo.
You are making an obvious mistake in thinking that those trained on how to operate a plant is equal to those who designed and built the plant and all the underlying physics that had to be developed from scratch in the first place.
An Airplane mechanic knows how to fix a plane, a pilot knows how to fly a plane. That does not mean either of them are fully versed in aerodynamics and can design a plane from theory.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water! -
tngrecuts — 10 years ago(July 30, 2015 01:17 AM)
that Senator would have become President, and we know he's a very trigger happy person (he blew up himself with that helicopter just because he didn't have his way)
so as President he would probably have caused WW3 and the end of humanity.
so it's good that they did not interfere in anything except making him disappear from history.
whoever caused the timestorm might have done it deliberately to prevent WW3 from happening. -
BrotherZed — 10 years ago(February 21, 2016 01:18 PM)
All the Nimitz would have had to do is destroy that Japanese task force to virtually end the war in the Pacific. History showed how the loss of it's carriers crippled the Japanese. Now imagine them starting the war with the loss of those six carriers combined with the entire US fleet being unscathed. The US would have started the war with all of it's carriers, 8 more battleships, 3 more cruisers, assorted smaller ships and 2400 more trained sailors.
At that point, all the Nimitz would have had to do is sail along and provide AWACS supportwe would have owned them. Not to mention all of the assorted intel the Nimitz was carrying. There was a lot of stuff that for some reason took forever to implement, like drop tanks and midair refueling. Imagine if the US started developing carriers with angled decks and catapults in 1941 lol.
Not to mention that the Nimitz was carrying an arsenal of modern small arms. How long would it have taken to get cloned assault rifles in circulation, and how surprised would the military have been to see M2 Brownings still in service.
The existence of Nimitz would have revolutionized our military doctrine inside of a year. -
mhansen-25806 — 9 years ago(June 26, 2016 06:40 PM)
With all consumables (food, jet fuel, etc) on strict ration how long could Nimitz operate without replenishment?
What would be the best way for Captain Yelland to make contact with friendly forces in 1941?
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra -
kurt-2000 — 9 years ago(July 10, 2016 10:39 AM)
They could have defeated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and they could have been effective for a while but then what? They'd run out of jet fuel, they'd have no high-tech, sophisticated parts for the Nimitz and for all of the aircraft so they couldn't have been at fighting mode for very long.
run out of missiles
Exactly OP. It was almost cartoonish in planning this flick.
And after the ammo, missiles and everything else was used up the carrier would have fell victim to reverse engineering in dry dock.
And all the techs on board would have been sent to the defense contractors to build the Saber jets, because the technology would have existed to build rapid production - first generation jets, ASAP, but even that would have taken time.
But ummmm.thought I read somewhere that carriers can sometimes have nukes on board? I might be wrong about that, but inventory could have included some. Who knows.