Comment on The Belmont Club,"Robert Strange McNamara, dead at 93"

Michael,
(who defended Rush Limbaugh's definition of the military's job)
You are correct. In my Code of Conduct lecture. Captain Dick Stratton, who had been a guest in the Hanoi Hilton for over 5 years, asked us what our job was and then made it clear it was not anything in the corporate worded Mission Statement and it was not painting orphanages, it was "To kill people and break things." His other most memorable line from that talk was "That whore Jane Fonda."

limpet6 @ 26,
(who reported McNamara's belief in single shaft ships to save money)
You are correct. McNamara pushed the Navy to build Destroyer Escorts (DE), since reclassified as Frigates (FF). With only one screw the one that gets screwed is you. Reports were that with the wind onsetting they could not get off the pier. The follow on to the Knox class is the Perry. It was built after McNamara was gone but reflects his design legacy. It has two small bow thrusters, had a single SM-1 launcher, since removed, and a worthless Oto Melara 76 mm (3") gun that has limited arc of fire. Basically these were floating helo platforms that the Navy is getting rid of.