"Canuck57" wrote in message
...


It isn't search and rescue. You mean one aircraft carrier with a standard
escort can't protect the Texas coast line in fair weather?


It's not a question of protecting. It's a question of positively
identifying thousands of small boats zipping around, up and down the
coastline and figuring our who's a threat and who's not.

In fact, I think the Navy would have a tough time doing that on a warm
mid-summer weekend afternoon off the coast of MA, say between Boston and the
Cape. The main shipping lanes to and from Boston run along this area with
large merchant ships and hundreds of small boats zipping around in the same,
general area. How can you possibly identify and stop a potential threat?
Radar and/or visual can tell you one or more little boats are converging on
a tanker, but they may simply be pleasure boats taking pictures. Or they
might be pirates. By the time you got a small boat over to inspect, they
are either gone or aboard.

Eisboch