Why would they ship a cake? Wouldn’t they make cakes in country with ingredients that were shipped? That would be my assumption. I know it’s a stupid plot device in a movie but come on.
Oh, you don’t understand. The US had such a great logistics system and no sense of cost control, that they were prioritizing chocolate cakes even with the limited number of cargo planes.
It was really touching. During the Battle of the Bulge, and Despite the shortage of ammunition due to interruptions in supply lines and winter roads, the USAAF had a policy of delivering one cake per soldier every six days.
Although the Army was unable to supply sufficient artillery shells to all the units, there never was an interruption of the cakes.
It’s even more of an accomplishment when you realize that although poor weather grounded Allied fighters and close air support (which was one of the major reasons the Germans were able to do as well as they did), the brave pilots flew the transport planes carrying only chocolate cakes and tea in blindly.
Sadly, the cost exceeded $2 trillion (in 2026 money) so it was discontinued.
I know this is true because some TikTok influencer told me.
I don’t know why you continue to think that, even after I’ve told you, multiple times, that I’m not an expert on logistics. But the basis for my belief is the fact that, for the past century, the US military has, continually and consistently, excelled at logistics, both during peacetime and during war.
Again, already answered. You want a cite for my statement that it’s not practical? If you’re going to argue that point, how about you give a cite saying that it’s practical?
But actually, in this case, there does happen to be a solution that’s very easy, to fully supply the fleet with anything, including personal luxuries, at no risk, while still maintaining them at the same level of military effectiveness. Sail the entire fleet back to San Francisco, dock there, keep the ship there, and let the sailors go home. There, done.
This should be easy to rebut. Link to the government’s official list of war dead, and challenge anyone to find anyone who’s not on that list but should be.
So Dr. Sal Mercogliano is wrong when he wrote in 2020 that the US was doing things incorrectly and faced the exact problem we are in now? Did you watch his video or read the summary?
If you aren’t an expert, how can you be so certain?
To my mind, there’s a big difference between “can ship a fresh chocolate cake” and “can ship enough fresh chocolate cake to feed everyone on an aircraft carrier day in and day out.” I don’t know the numbers, but it seems like it’s not the idea of getting din-din to everyone tonight that’s the issue; it’s getting din-din tonight and tomorrow and next week and breakfast and lunch and cleaning supplies and care packages and toiletries and everything else, day after day after day, that presents the problem.
By focusing on the chocolate cake (or thinking about it in similar terms), we imagine a one-and-done logistics problem; and those are comparatively simple. I suspect that if the Lincoln really needed a Faberge egg dipped in yak milk and covered in sprinkles made from the shavings of a redwood tree, that could be done in the next 24 hours. But it’s not looking to solve a one-and-done problem. It’s solving a constant, unending problem. And those are a helluva lot harder.
I’m going to be kind and not point out the flaw with this plan, because I really do agree with it in spirit.
If you don’t have ships, it’s a solved problem where we cannot implement the solution.
The argument isn’t that the Navy can’t figure out that the solution is to run supply ships from Diego Garcia, it’s that they don’t have enough ships to implement the known solution.
Personally, I’m more pissed off that we are paying through the nose to have 11 of these fucking things and are incapable of setting up a rota.
Yeah, probably a broader discussion there over general naval ops doctrine and execution. We want to still swing as in the 600 ship era, without the 600 ships.
I watched a YouTube video which claims that the Royal Navy has a similar problem in that they have two aircraft carriers but not enough destroyers, support vessels and aircraft for them.
Navies and politicians want to have the big toys but don’t have the budget for logistics and smaller warships.
But if reality is ignored, any problem is easy.
Boy, this turned ugly in a hurry. 
I think if you (generic) go back to the beginning of this mess, the problem becomes more obvious. This was a war started by an idiot who thought it would be over in a day. He did it with little evident prior planning, which is the heart of any military operation. D-Day didn’t happen overnight, and while this was no world war, it only makes sense to prepare for the worst scenario in any military action. That didn’t happen, as far as I can tell.
This is it.
Maybe a long, protracted war is in trump’s financial interests.
The story goes that the Romans were not navally inclined, so during the First Punic War, they basically set about boarding every chance they could, using a device called a “corvus”, which was basically a big drawbridge with a spike on it.
They’d sail up nearby, drop the corvus such that the spike would hammer into the enemy deck, and from there, board the enemy vessel and turn it into an infantry fight.
I am making sure that I let people know how the information should be weighed. Yes. That is the proper thing to do. Using emotional words and sarcasm to try to make it sound bad is ridiculous. You are not providing any facts or data points on anything. All you bring is negativity and drama.
This was a reasonably civil discussion by Pit standards until you showed up with your conspiracy theory bullshit.
As a reader, I’m finding a lot more value in ASL’s contributions than in yours. ASL is bringing a lot of experience and detail. You’re bringing rumors and petulance.
And rather than just say “That’s wrong by an order of magnitude because X” or “I know you are exaggerating, but let me say Y” the bitter little pit-stains lost their minds and went rabid. This is why I normally just stay out of the pit. It’s like trying to give dating advice to incels. They don’t really want to be successful, they just want to vent their bile on strangers.
Sorry @TruCelt, I have to agree. This was an excellent example of a informative Pit thread until you took us to CT land. Also, you won’t let it go.
I seldom leave an insult unaddressed. Stop insulting me and I’ll stop responding.