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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4615 "2022-04-15T00:46:17Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#):
>
> Are they really more vulnerable than on other ships? I kind of thought the same thing when I toured the USS New Jersey; the Harpoon missile launchers looked really exposed, but maybe that’s just because that wasn’t what that ship was designed for.
Yes, the New Jersey is an old battleship, not a guided missile cruiser, so not comparable. The US equivalent to the Slava class is the Ticonderoga class:
[Comparison: Russian Navy Slava-class and US Navy Ticonderoga-class Cruisers in Combat (navyrecognition.com)](https://www.navyrecognition.com/index.php/focus-analysis/naval-technology/3691-comparison-russian-navy-slava-class-and-us-navy-ticonderoga-class-cruisers-in-combat.html)
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### Author:  [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4616 "2022-04-15T00:50:57Z")
No external missiles to be seen on Ticonderoga-class:
[ ](https://www.naval-technology.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2000/03/Image-3-Ticonderoga-Class-Aegis-Guided-Missile-Cruisers.jpg)
Here again, with missiles out:
[ ](https://i.shgcdn.com/d62146a5-8a2b-4af7-8585-3cdf0fb1f6b7/-/format/auto/-/preview/3000x3000/-/quality/lighter/)
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4617 "2022-04-15T00:56:30Z")
Moderating:
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> General Atomics may send some Reapers to Ukraine. Maybe they could fly out of Ukrainian airstrips but be flown by American controllers in Nevada?
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> The next time Putin threatens nukes, I want to see Biden and all European leaders film themselves with biggest, jaw-gaping, 15-second yawn they can come up with, like an egg-eating snake’s.
> [@Velocity](#):
>
> I would love to see Biden publicly announce in a speech, “Putin doesn’t have the **GUTS** to push the nuclear button, his tiny fingers twitch with rage and helplessness, hovering right above the big red button, but not having the balls to actually push it…coward, coward…6,000 nukes but too wimp to launch a single one”…
>
> …(As you can see, I probably would not make a good president.)
I feel like your “let’s escalate” posts aren’t really appropriate for this breaking news thread. You might want to find a more commentary-themed Ukrainian war thread to post them in. Or if there isn’t one already, you could start one.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4618 "2022-04-15T01:33:11Z")
Sounds like MiGs might be back on the table, transported via rail.
Factoid I did not know: one issue regarding rail transport of arms is that Soviet-era railways are a wider gauge than what is used in most of Europe, which limits how items can be transported into Ukraine, since their rail system uses the Soviet gauge. Slovakia’s rail system is the same and they seem to be cool with providing the transport.
[From this article about transporting the donated S-300 anti-aircraft system](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/world/europe/ukraine-russia-nato-s300.html?unlocked_article_code=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEIPuomT1JKd6J17Vw1cRCfTTMQmqxCdw_PIxftm3iWka3DJDm8eiPsSGYyMvErQf617apwu3C6SRdlMdaUyX-dzx6pZNlBqDhLz-sPCmIgAJ299j7OPaV4M_sCHW6Eko3itZ3OlKex7yfrk5E_aazG8XLjagnYmOApm9cF6JQr63mhbwfiSQLMmj4J0jv8xF9stE2d7ESqPt_fvDBp1PszXLU2Pr1lrBJwKHG3bjtWe6LkfcQhNCV6gTXt34mc07No0K8pAde-kbEZmIJyi9O1XXm94L46pBIkzQ5zXk9hosb3NoB-Lyamm1ph6AkXl6S9raYzfwqtnM8g&smid=url-share):
> Other big items now under discussion for transport to Ukraine via Slovakia include aging MIG-29 warplanes and sophisticated, self-propelled Howitzers called Zuzana 2. Also under review is a plan for Ukraine to send hundreds of damaged tanks, some of them captured from Russian forces, across the border for repair in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland, all of which have experience fixing Soviet-made equipment.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4619 "2022-04-15T03:40:33Z")
> [@romansperson](#):
>
> Also under review is a plan for Ukraine to send hundreds of damaged tanks, some of them captured from Russian forces, across the border for repair in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland, all of which have experience fixing Soviet-made equipment.
I wouldn’t want to be the person who hoses out the body parts.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4620 "2022-04-15T04:05:03Z")
Nice timing of the Ukrainian F@%K You postal stamp showing a soldier flipping off the ship that just sank. I wonder who will be the first to mail a letter to Putin with that stamp.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4621 "2022-04-15T04:28:00Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#):
>
> No external missiles to be seen on Ticonderoga-class:
I recall reading back in the '80s an analysis of the Soviet blue-water navy. It said they looked fierce with all those missile tubes topside but those were all they had. There was no reload capacity – they had to return to port after firing them.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4622 "2022-04-15T04:35:42Z")
> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> There was no reload capacity – they had to return to port after firing them.
That’s not just the Russians. It is mostly true with the [U.S. navy](https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/08/01/navy-planning-to-bring-back-at-sea-missile-reload-capability/) as well in recent decades. Missile reloads at sea are apparently pretty tricky when they’re even practical at all, especially the big suckers like cruise missiles. Basically most/all modern warships pretty much are designed to shoot their wad and then return to port to reload.
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### Author:  [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4623 "2022-04-15T04:40:37Z")
I think the Iowa-BBs could reload their Tomahawks. That’s why they were recommissioned.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2022, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russia-invades-ukraine-2022-02-24-part-1/960037/4624 "2022-04-15T04:45:59Z")
> [@DesertDog](#):
>
> I think the Iowa-BBs could reload their Tomahawks. That’s why they were recommissioned.
I guess that might make a certain amount of sense. They were designed to haul a shit-ton of ordnance for those big guns and missiles are pretty similarly shaped to those big shells. And they were massively armored to withstand heavy shells, so carrying all that HE material wasn’t quite as tinderbox dangerous to a missile strike.
However modern warships are definitely not built with those design goals in mind.
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