# "Naval Power" in Afghanistan? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120 "2012-04-27T13:17:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/21 "2012-04-29T00:58:15Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Maybe Afghanistan can hire retired naval Captain von Trapp, of the Austrian Navy. Austro-Hungarian navy, back when the empire had a seacoast. And he was their top scoring U-boat commander. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/22 "2012-04-29T03:41:33Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Leaving aside the question of whether bombing will “stabilize the situation” at all, carrier planes would still have to overfly one of the bordering countries. Land-based planes in the region could do the same thing, so there’s no particular advantage to using naval aviation, and if you’re just talking about planes, why not just _say_ airpower? He’s probably say the reason was that land-based aircraft would require an American presence in some local country with the related political difficulties that would entail while carrier-based aircraft would be flying from international waters. Which isn’t really true because American bombers have such a long-range they can be based back in the United States and still fly missions in Afghanistan. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/23 "2012-04-30T02:53:15Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Austro-Hungarian navy, back when the empire had a seacoast. And he was their top scoring U-boat commander. We must introduce you to the concept of “jokes”. In any event, Austria lost any connection to the sea after WWI, and by the time of the events (sorta) depicted in _The Sound of usic_, hadn’t had a seacoast in twenty years. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/24 "2012-04-30T04:09:27Z")
As a joke, MAD did it when the movie came out nearly 50 years ago. And it being MAD, they were unlikely the first. We must introduce you to the concept of “original.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/25 "2012-04-30T13:07:27Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > As a joke, MAD did it when the movie came out nearly 50 years ago. And it being MAD, they were unlikely the first. We must introduce you to the concept of “original.” 😛 1.) If we only allowed “original” things in the SDMB we’d have mostly blank entries. 2.) I do indeed recall that issue and parosy “The Sound of More Music”. Steal from the best, I say. And if you’re taking me to task for invoking a parody from 1970, I have to ask what you Statute of Limitations on jokes is. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/26 "2012-04-30T14:19:51Z")
Contact the Bolivian Navy-they are still waiting for a seacoast. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120/27 "2012-04-30T15:46:58Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Contact the Bolivian Navy-they are still waiting for a seacoast. And asks Chile for it nicely once a year, but Peru will be in trouble if they try anything on Lake Titicaca. > **[Bolivian Navy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_Naval_Force)** > > The Bolivian Navy (Spanish: Armada Boliviana) is a branch of the Armed Forces of Bolivia. As of 2018, the Bolivian Navy had approximately 5,000 personnel. Although Bolivia has been landlocked since the War of the Pacific and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1904), Bolivia established a River and Lake Force (Fuerza Fluvial y Lacustre) in January 1963 under the Ministry of National Defense. It consisted of four boats supplied from the United States and 1,800 personnel recruited largely fro Landl... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naval-power-in-afghanistan/620120.md?page=1)