Why are aircraft carriers so horribly expensive to maintain?

[Socratatus]

According to my wikki walk the following countries have carries
Brazil, China, France, and Russia have a carrier. The US has 11.

Britain, Thailand, India have one STOVL carrier. Italy and Spain have two. The US has 9 of these.

India. Yes, Italy and Spain do seem to have two each, you are correct. I`m just counting carriers not looking in the exact specifics. A carrier is a carrier for these purposes.

 

[mintcandy]

There are two reasons why Civ V aircraft carriers appear to be more expensive to maintain than other units.

But before I go into this, let me state my assumption that ALL units cost the same amount of maintenance, and yes, civilian units cost the same as combat units, which is a good reason to delete excess amounts of Workers.

However, maintenance varies depending on how many units an empire has, not the specific types it has. An empire that only has 10 Workers will pay the same amount in maintenance if it had 10 Warriors instead, or 5 Warriors and 5 Archers or the same empire that only has 10 Great People.

1. It's because empires have more units by the time aircraft carriers become available. If the player got rid of all their units besides the aircraft carrier, I think they'd find the carrier's maintenance cost to be quite reasonable.

2. It's because the carrier is a combat unit, but does no damage on its own. For the carrier to be of any use in combat, at least one more unit is required. Basically, the empire has to pay maintenance on two units, not just one.

tl;dr version: Aircraft carriers don't actually cost more than any other units. It's just that they debut in an era where the unit counts (and unit maintenance) have already exploded.

 

[GlobularFoody]

lol, I was in a bit of a rush, but I meant that only 8 other countries of the world have 1 carrier each. That`s pretty astonishing when you consider America has 11.

I reckon Civ5 has at least this part of the game realistic as they are very expensive to maintain or everyone would have 11 !

@ Pook and they`re making more? Are they expecting Aliens to invade?

Maybe this will clear things up about how the US is capable of having so many carriers (and all our other toys).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

I have no idea why we waste so much money on military, that bar graph makes me laugh every time I see it.

 

[adsin15]

Maybe this will clear things up about how the US is capable of having so many carriers (and all our other toys).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

I have no idea why we waste so much money on military, that bar graph makes me laugh every time I see it.

Here's another fun fact.

China is the #2 Defense Spender at 140 billion dollars per year while we spend over 4x that amount.

Because China is a communist nation their "Defense" budget also includes ALL domestic police spending while in the USA that expense is handled by state and local governments.

 

[Udey1]

If you believe the hype. The Iranians can't even keep their old tom-cats flying, what makes you think that they would work?

This is true, they are dependent on us for parts, and aircraft parts constantly need replacing.

That missle comment kinda isnt taking into account getting around the task force of ships surrounding said carrier.

 

[Socratatus]

Maybe this will clear things up about how the US is capable of having so many carriers (and all our other toys).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

I have no idea why we waste so much money on military, that bar graph makes me laugh every time I see it.

Imagine what America could achieve if they reduced even half of that budget. heck, they could be on Mars by now!

Or maybe helping create a better life for people in General. What a waste of resources in peacetime.

 

[Udey1]

Imagine what America could achieve if they reduced even half of that budget. heck, they could be on Mars by now!

Or maybe helping create a better life for people in General. What a waste of resources in peacetime.

Military spending isnt stupidly simple like that. America deals military arms, and many huge corporations are engaged in this business, bell, sikorsky, lockeedmartin boeing, list goes on and on. Spending ensures research for those
Companies, and that guarantees buyers, domestic and international.

While i agree america spends too much on
Defense (definitely) it isnt as though it is a big hole, products and innovation
Continue from it.

 

[Socratatus]

Military spending isnt stupidly simple like that. America deals military arms, and many huge corporations are engaged in this business, bell, sikorsky, lockeedmartin boeing, list goes on and on. Spending ensures research for those
Companies, and that guarantees buyers, domestic and international.

While i agree america spends too much on
Defense (definitely) it isnt as though it is a big hole, products and innovation
Continue from it.

Wow. Talk about flipping about. You mentioned in your previous post about much of that being a `waste`, and now you`re saying it`s not. o....k. just make up your mind.

Seems like much of that budget could go elsewhere to me.

Unless Aliens invade.

 

[Udey1]

Wow. Talk about flipping about. You mentioned in your previous post about much of that being a `waste`, and now you`re saying it`s not. o....k. just make up your mind.

Seems like much of that budget could go elsewhere to me.

Unless Aliens invade.

Uh, i never mentioned waste, and dont
Consider my response "flipping out" maybe you confused posters.

 

[Socratatus]

oh ok, yea it was another poster. Sorry.

 

[mintcandy]

Imagine what America could achieve if they reduced even half of that budget. heck, they could be on Mars by now!

Military spending isnt stupidly simple like that.

Agreed, it isn't that simple.

Without being overly political, one could say the same for the European Union subsidies for agriculture.

But more to the point, the United States is already on Mars. Heck, they got there in the 70s!

 

[adsin15]

As anyone who has ever played a strategy game knows;

Unnecessary military spending is a huge drain on your economy. A gun that isn't being fired is a wasted expense that could be better spent enhancing your infastructure, building factories and researching new technologies.

 

[aluelkdf]

On a slight tangent, I decided to check how many carriers the rest of the world has and all combined they have 8. America has 11 carriers and the rest of the world has only 8 (that`s one per nation)??

Wow. I had no idea the US were that strong. That`s almost as surprising as playing a game of Civ and having some Ships of the Line and suddenly bumping into 10 modern day battleships!

America can't afford those carriers. Those carriers are funded with money borrowed from China and money printed out of thin air.

 

[mintcandy]

India. Yes, Italy and Spain do seem to have two each, you are correct. I`m just counting carriers not looking in the exact specifics. A carrier is a carrier for these purposes.

If SVTOL carriers are counted the same as carriers with full catapult launch and recovery systems, then the United States has 20 such vessels in commission, not 11.

 

[aluelkdf]

If SVTOL carriers are counted the same as carriers with full catapult launch and recovery systems, then the United States has 20 such vessels in commission, not 11.

I think the 11 carriers are what's refereed to as the "super-carriers", also known as the Nimitz class carriers. These are massive and are basically a fully functional airbase/city that carries up to 6,000 sailors . These carriers are also powered by nuclear reactors and in theory can stay at sea for years without re-fueling. They only need to dock to re-supply the food and other essential items.

America also has many smaller carriers that aren't even counted as part of the 11. When a super-carrier goes out to sea, it is usually accompanied by a few smaller carriers.

Apparently, this isn't good enough. Because America is building 10 more super-carriers that will outclass anything that exists today. The first of these is due to enter service in 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford_class_aircraft_carrier

 

[maestro35]

...and they`re making more? Are they expecting Aliens to invade?

No, it just hasn't occurred to them yet that Obama is trying to make the country defenseless by decimating our armed forces.

Imagine what America could achieve if they reduced even half of that budget. heck, they could be on Mars by now!

Or maybe helping create a better life for people in General. What a waste of resources in peacetime.

Because if America did reduce their military spending, the word would literally fall apart.

 

[Smokeybear]

As anyone who has ever played a strategy game knows;

Unnecessary military spending is a huge drain on your economy. A gun that isn't being fired is a wasted expense that could be better spent enhancing your infastructure, building factories and researching new technologies.

And as any civ player also knows, the best defense against insane and megalomaniacal civs is a good solid military. Power abhors a vacuum, and there is always someone willing to grab for it if given the undefended opportunity. Turn all those guns into plowshares, and before too long, Wu will gitchu, you can count on it. Time to brush up on der mandarin...

 

[Raiki]

No, it just hasn't occurred to them yet that Obama is trying to make the country defenseless by decimating our armed forces.

Reducing the military by 1/10th isn't so bad.

Because if America did reduce their military spending, the word would literally fall apart.

Figuratively. You mean the world would figuratively fall apart. Second

/grammar nazi.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

~R~

 

[qw[ertohgvn[oe]

On a slight tangent, I decided to check how many carriers the rest of the world has and all combined they have 8. America has 11 carriers and the rest of the world has only 8 (that`s one per nation)??

Wow. I had no idea the US were that strong. That`s almost as surprising as playing a game of Civ and having some Ships of the Line and suddenly bumping into 10 modern day battleships!

America may not be a formal empire but it has learned a lot off the last major, formal one - especially when it comes to their navy.

The British Empire sought to stick to a formula that was something like "ensure your navy is larger than your three most powerful rivals, plus a margin".

So America has done that and a 10% reduction won't dent that margin.

 

[Socratatus]

No, it just hasn't occurred to them yet that Obama is trying to make the country defenseless by decimating our armed forces.

Seriously? Defenceless? America has more power than the rest of the world put together. Take away a tenth of that power and it would still be more powerful than everyone else put together. Only Alien invasion is reason for such might.

Because if America did reduce their military spending, the word would literally fall apart.

I doubt it.