What if a nation parked battleships at N.Y. to 'send us a message'?

[Philosoraptor]

Seriously, what if Great Britain, or France or China decided to park about half a dozen gigantic, fully loaded, ready to rock battleships at the edge of New York City, as a 'warning'? How would America react to that?

http://www.thenews.com.pk/update_detail.asp?id=14785

It's o.k. when we do it of course.

[geek tragedy]

1. Uh, what are you talking about?

New York harbor and its ports are the territorial waters of the United States. Putting a battleship there would be like putting 100 tanks in New Jersey.

[Philosoraptor]

2. That's what we are doing in the Persian gulf

They're discussing it as breaking news on nbc, and the anchor lady asks, what's the message we're sending? A show of force says the expert.

[geek tragedy]

6. The Persian Gulf is international waters, not the

territorial waters of either Iran or Iraq.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Where in the article did it mention entering Iranian ports?

:shrug:

[Philosoraptor]

5. oops, at 'the edge' of NYC.

[geek tragedy]

7. The edge of US territorial waters is a lot further

out than the edge of New York City.

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Where in the article did it say they would be at 'the edge' of Iran?

:shrug:

[Philosoraptor]

12. I hope my point wasn't lost on my poor choice of words.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Sounds like a potential redux of Gulf of Tompkin.

You park a battleship nearby a hostile nation, the ship gets fired up or there's an explosion, and presto! You have active military engagement.

[atreides1]

9. But

At the same time you conduct a covert operation within the borders of said country, and provoke an altercation.

By the way, at the moment Iran is more of an antagonist then it is hostile.

[Double T]

8. The double dare 'Big Bad Bully' crap of bushco really pisses me off..........

these A-holes don't know how to be diplomatic about ANYTHING.

[Squatch]

11. We don't have battleships, anymore.

I believe the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk is the only BB in active service...but even then, it's berthed at the Nauticus Museum.

[Philosoraptor]

13. MSNBC refers to them as 'war ships'

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. There are plenty of them left...

[geek tragedy]

17. You sank my battleship! eom

[originalpckelly]

18. I'm seeing a skit with Kim Jong Il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

playing battleship. :P

Very good mental picture.

[northzax]

23. I do believe the USS Constitution

is technically a battleship as well.

but that's certainly not going anywhere.

[novalib]

14. We Would Re-Invigorate Our NUCLEAR PROGRAM!!!!

You can be SURE AS HELL that we would ASSERT OUR NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY and re-invigorate OUR NUCLEAR PROGRAM!!!

For defensive pruposes only.

[aquart]

16. This is a standard diplomatic tool. A show of force.

It's in the hands of an idiot, but it's a normal use tool.

[spanone]

19. Bush* trying to look like the hard-ass he perceives himself to be.

[elehhhhna]

20. ...as ususal, from the comfort of his "farm".

[RobofSWVA]

21. with a navy as powerful as ours, what message would actually be sent?

Would it be listen to us or else?

or

Would it be please invade our nation because we were foolish enough to start crap with one of the biggest kids on the block the world has ever seen?

Not many people are dumb enough to go head to head with the modern US military. That's why in Vietnam and now Iraq they use other tactics.

Strong arm tactics don't work well on the US.

[JacksonWest]

22. The message would be received and that nation would probably have a

few less ships. Iran doesn't have a comprable navy or airforce. Most nations don't. Sort of an advantage of being a super power. If you recall, the last time something like this happened we almost had a full blown nuclear war. A little island south of Florida, some ballistic land to air nuclear missles...what a lovely time. We've come so far....

[Philosoraptor]

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