The USS Ronald Reagan

[TKalbfus]

Remember the movie "The Final Countdown" where the USS Nimitz was transported back in time to just before the Pearl Harbor attack in World War II. What if the USS Ronald Reagan encountered a similar phenomenon but is instead transported across time to World War III 2005. The crew onboard the ship lose contact with the fleet headquarters, they have no GPS signal, and perhaps encounter a few pirates on their way back to the home port. When they get there they find that the port is a wreck with much devastation, however it becomes apparent that the devastation was not recent. A boat come out to meet them. I think the USS Ronald Reagan's port is in San Diego, this would be under Mexican occupation so a boat from the Mexican Navy come out to meet them and attacks? Perhaps some fighters from the Mexican Airforce show up on the radar so the superhornets are launched and knock them out of the sky. Does this sound like a great idea for an adventure?

I think the aircraft carrier can cruise along for a long time with its nuclear reactor, finding fuel for the jets and aircraft might be another matter. The aircraft carrier steams north and encounters some boats from the US Milgov Navy. How do you think the captian of the USS Ronald Reagan might react? Do you think there is any chance that some of the crew members of the ship might meet themselves? As far as the Milgov is concerned there was no such aircraft carrier called the USS Ronald Reagan, how might they react?

 

[far-trader]

I think it's got possibilities. The only problem is the trip should be a one-way to the future so you don't have any potential paradox problems. Time travel to the past is rarely if ever handled properly.

With a one-way trip to the future your crew and ship from the past won't stumble upon their own corpses, graves, older selves, etc. And anyone (the US Milgov for example) who encounters them will only have them listed as missing if they have any records from the period.

So, you gonna give them a fancy experimental invisibility screen that malfunctioned during trials and sent them into the future? Like maybe a primitive Black Globe?

 

[far-trader]

Right, some Q & A:

Is the date for WWIII only 2005? Seems like you'd want/need a few more years, or change the name of your ship. It was only commissioned July 2003 so your time travelling is limited to just some 2 years. Hardly seems time enough for WWIII to blow up and all. I think setting WWIII in say 2020 would give you more room to play, and it's still near enough the present that not much else will have changed.

Yep, her homeport is to be San Diego.

I think the Captain of the USS Ronald Reagan is going to react as if all encounterd ships are potential hostiles and warn them off, firing on them if his exclusion zone is violated. Until he figures out what is going on he is unlikely to accept anyone from post WWIII as a legitimate commander in chief. Even after he is apprised of the situation he may be reluctant to accept the current government as legitimate.

There was a movie (at least one) touched on this. Darn! I just had a flash of it and that's all, now it's gone. A commander in charge of nukes getting conflicting orders.

Might be I'm thinking of the one where the bomber crews (nukes to Russia) are scrambled and recalled, only one of the planes (iirc) fails to get the signal until they cross the failsafe line. They are contacted by radio (ordered, pleaded with even, to return, there is no war) but their orders are clear that this will be a common enemy tactic, the only legitimate call back has to come from the box (which is malfuctioning).

I'm a bit confused by the statement that the US Milgov has no record of the ship. Is it because it didn't exist, or were the records just lost or sealed top-secret? Or is this an alternate earth scenario where events unfolded such that there was no USS Ronald Reagan commissioned?

 

[far-trader]

OK, the movie I was grasping for above is "Fail Safe" from 1964.

Here's a link to the imdb listing...

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0058083/

Plot summary follows...

Warning: contains spoilers...

Plot outline for "Fail Safe" 1964

An unknown aircraft approaches North America from Europe. American bombers of the Strategic Air Command are scrambled to meet the potential threat. As a fail-safe protection, the bombers have standard orders not to proceed past a certain point without receiving a special attack code. However, due to a technical failure, the attack code is actually transmitted to Group Six, consisting of six Vindicator supersonic bombers, and they advance past their fail-safe point on the way to attack Moscow. Meanwhile the original "threat" is proved innocuous and recall orders are issued, but Soviet jamming prevents the bombers from hearing them.

At meetings in Omaha, the Pentagon, and in the fallout shelter of the White House, American politicians and scholars debate the implications of the attack. Professor Groteschele (played by Walter Matthau in the 1964 movie), who is loosely based on Henry Kissinger, suggests the United States follow this accidental attack with a full-scale attack to force the Soviets to surrender.

The American President contacts the Soviet premier (unnamed in the movie, but who the book names as Nikita Khrushchev) and offers assistance in attacking the group. The Soviets decline at first.

At SAC headquarters, General Bogan attempts to stop the attack. His executive officer, Colonel Cascio, wants the attack to continue. Cascio attempts to take over command of SAC, but is stopped by Air Police; however, in doing so, he wastes precious time.

The Soviets accept American help in attacking the two surviving bombers of Group Six. However, the Soviet commander, Marshal Nevsky, mistrusts General Bogan enough to attack the bomber carrying decoys, guaranteeing the plane piloted by Colonel Grady will be able to finish the attack.

Colonel Grady contacts SAC to inform them that they are about to make the strike. The Soviets fire a barrage of nuclear-tipped missiles to form a fireball to knock the low-flying Vindicator out of the sky. The President and Grady's wife (son in the made-for-television movie) both try to persuade him that there is no war. Under standing orders that such a late recall attempt must be a Soviet trick, Grady ignores them. The Vindicator's defensive systems operator fires two missiles that decoy the Soviet interceptor missiles to detonate at high altitude. Grady tells his crew that "We're not just walking wounded, we're walking dead men" due to radiation from the burst. He intends to fly the aircraft over Moscow and detonate the bombs in the plane. His copilot notes "There's nothing to go home to."

When it becomes apparent that one bomber will get through Soviet defenses and destroy Moscow, the American President offers to have an American bomber destroy New York at the same time. The Soviets accept.

 

[TKalbfus]

Far Trader said,

Is the date for WWIII only 2005? Seems like you'd want/need a few more years, or change the name of your ship. It was only commissioned July 2003 so your time travelling is limited to just some 2 years. Hardly seems time enough for WWIII to blow up and all. I think setting WWIII in say 2020 would give you more room to play, and it's still near enough the present that not much else will have changed.

Yep, her homeport is to be San Diego.

Actually the Ronald Reagan doesn't travel anywhere in time, not forward, not back. Instead in travels sideways in time from our reality where World War III didn't happen to the Twilight 2000 reality where it did. The year is the same 2005 AD in both realities. In the Twilight 2000 reality the USS Ronald Reagan never got built because World War III happened in 1997 and the Ronald Reagan's commision date was in 2003. The Milgov at that time was in no shape to built any additional nuclear powered supercarriers. The World of Twilight 2000 wouldn't have any superhornet F18 of the type that is found on the Carrier deck of the USS Ronald Reagan, so its complement of fighters would be slightly more advanced than anything the Nations of the T2000 world would have. I'm assuming most military R&D collapsed after the nuclear phase of World War III.

I'm a bit confused by the statement that the US Milgov has no record of the ship. Is it because it didn't exist, or were the records just lost or sealed top-secret? Or is this an alternate earth scenario where events unfolded such that there was no USS Ronald Reagan commissioned?

Bingo! Its from an alternate Earth setting, the alternate Earth is our own where World War III didn't happen. The USS Ronald Reagan finds its home port wrecked and not recently but 8 years ago, and whats worse its occupied by Mexicans who fire on them because they see it's obviously an American Ship with an American flag, and they could have sworn that all the Supercarriers of the US were sunk years ago or left a pile of scrap.

The Milgov is just as surprised to see a returning Supercarrier, especially one they never sent out in the first place, but it looks like an American carrier, some of the aircraft look unfamiliar upon close examination. It would be interesting if someone in the Milgov finds his duplicate onboard the USS Ronald Reagan.

 

[Vargas]

Professor Groteschele (played by Walter Matthau in the 1964 movie), who is loosely based on Henry Kissinger . . .

I didn't think Kissinger was a public figure much before the Nixon administration.

 

[DaveChase]

Originally posted by Tom Kalbfus:
Far Trader said,

The Milgov is just as surprised to see a returning Supercarrier, especially one they never sent out in the first place, but it looks like an American carrier, some of the aircraft look unfamiliar upon close examination. It would be interesting if someone in the Milgov finds his duplicate onboard the USS Ronald Reagan. [/QUOTE]


Or if the players are part of the crew on the USS Ronald Reagan and when they slip sideways some of the crew ends up missing. The Rapture has happened? Kidnapping? Mass suicide? Secert mission that no one knows about? Aliens have landed and taken some of the crew? Oh the fun you could have with the players while they are trying to figure it out. They got the knowledge and tech of another time but they have no idea the politics. And don't forget their senior command deciding what and where they do what.

This sounds like it could be fun scenario/campaign to run.

Dave

 

[getamungstit]

"Fail Safe" movie sounds like a colossal rip-off of Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove: Or how I learnt to stop worrying and love the bomb" but without the satire and humour.

New alternate history book out called "Weapon of Choice" has a 2020 USN CVN "USS Hillary Clinton" warping back in time to 1941 a la "Final Countdown" expect they don't go back to the future.

The crew of the Clinton find themselves trying to deal with a US which most of them find offensive and little different to their axis enemy. In terms of treatment of women and minorities. Interesting concept.

USS Ronald Reagan in 2005 wouldn't be much use really, after a few days of aircraft sorties would be out of JP-5 and little more than a great source of electricity and scrounging.

But in Twilight: 2000 one of the fun gaming concepts was that of the "super-cache". Having the PCs find a whole bunch of working, sustainable pre-nuke equipment. I guess a USN CVN would be about the biggest "super-cache" one could find. To make it less time-warpy maybe the PCs travel to Alaska where the USN hid away a nuclear powered ship (maybe a CGN so not as reliant on aircraft) to avoid Soviet nukes and it has been encased in ice? Trying to rustle up about 2-500 ex-sailors in 2002 across the west coast of the US in order to run it would be an adventure in itself.

 

[TKalbfus]

Gubler said,

USS Ronald Reagan in 2005 wouldn't be much use really, after a few days of aircraft sorties would be out of JP-5 and little more than a great source of electricity and scrounging.

Jet fuel should be available, its just more expensive. One place you could try would be maybe Australia or New Zealand, or any place the major powers may have forgotten about. I think Argentina might have Jet fuel.

 

[Redleg58]

Originally posted by Tom Kalbfus:
Gubler said, </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />USS Ronald Reagan in 2005 wouldn't be much use really, after a few days of aircraft sorties would be out of JP-5 and little more than a great source of electricity and scrounging.

Jet fuel should be available, its just more expensive. One place you could try would be maybe Australia or New Zealand, or any place the major powers may have forgotten about. I think Argentina might have Jet fuel. </font>[/QUOTE]I think it would have it's full complement
of aviation fuel and weapons when it first arrives from it's time slip.

It carries enough in storage for up to ten sorties for it entire air wing.There after
that is used it gets interesting.

 

[Shade1970]

My question would be: What about the support ships? The rest of the battle group? The replinishment ships?

 

[TKalbfus]

The USS Ronald Reagan has a nuclear reactor, I wonder what uses that reactor might be put to besides propulsion, perhaps the power might be used to manufacture sythetic Jet Fuel. With hydrogen and carbon you could make methane for instance. The USS Ronald Reagan can get hydrogen from the water and carbon dioxide from the air. Robert Zubrin proposed using a nuclear reactor to make rocket fuel for a return flight from Mars, the same process might be used in a Naval reactor on Earth. From methane you can synthesize larger organic molecule such as butane, ethan, and octane (Which is gasoline) all these processes require energy inputs, I'm not a chemist but I heard about these energy consuming reactions. In essence the USS Ronald Reagan would be converting some of its nuclear fuel into Jet fuel.

 

[flykiller]

In essence the USS Ronald Reagan would be converting some of its nuclear fuel into Jet fuel.

that's not how it works. modern nuclear reactors use fission to generate heat. that's all they do or can do.

 

[TKalbfus]

They generate electricity, in nuclear submarines, this is used to obtain oxygen from water. Chemical fuels is just a way of storing energy. In cases where crude oil is pumped out of the ground, this step has already been performed in the past. With an energy source and the right equipment, you can manufacture hydrocarbon fuel in the absence of crude oil, all you need is energy to store. Of course the USS Ronald Reagan will have alot of things to trade for jet fuel. I'm sure the Ronald Reagan has an entertainment video library, the VHS tapes in particular can be played on Twilight 2000 VCRs since the VCR was invented in the 1980s. The Ronald Reagan will have copies of movies that were never filmed in this alternate reality. For Instance the Ronald Reagan might have the complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy on VHS and DVD, and they also have the computer equipment to transfer the DVD movies on to VHS. The Twilight 2000 Universe would have only the incomplete LotR Cartoon trilogy. T2000 would also only have Star Wars Episodes IV thru VI, there is no Episode I or II. Pretty much everything entertainmentwise stopped in 1997. The Ronald Reagan library also propably contains plenty of books that were never written in this Universe, more people can read books in T2000 that watch VHS tapes. Another service the Ronald Reagan can provide is providing Air Cover to taking back California and perhaps Texas. Some people will no doubt be duplicated since the Ronald Reagan Comes from an Alternate reality, these people might make for excellent spies. Some people might own Swiss bank accounts that were opened before 1991, such accounts might still be open and have the same account numbers. Some of the Sailors on the Ronald Reagan might even have family members that are still alive in Twilight 2000, they might try to visit their own homes if they are still standing and perhaps meet their old wives. In some cases these wives might think they were dead, in other cases they might meet their duplicate T2000 selves, in some cases these selves might be crippled, and themselves not. The legal status of these alternate timeliners would be interesting.

 

[ccmarcellus]

"Fail Safe" movie sounds like a colossal rip-off of Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove: Or how I learnt to stop worrying and love the bomb" but without the satire and humour."

AFAIK, "Fail Safe" and "Dr. Strangelove" came out the same year... within months of each other...

 

[PBI]

"Fail Safe" was definitely not a rip-off of "Strangelove", though they do share similarities. Another movie in a similar vei to "Fail Safe" is the 90s movie (IIRC) "By Dawn's Early Light". All three do tell the same tale, essentially, but in different ways. That's not ripping off ideas, it's just what storytellers have been doing for thousands of years

 

[savage]

All good films. Fonda was great in Fail Safe. And so was Peters Sellers in Strangelove...

Another twist is "Twilights Last Gleaming" a general grabs a nuclear silo intending to launch unless the truth about nam is released ...etc.
Then theres Crimson Tide, Red Dawn and Red October... and on and on.
****

I have a second Cuz on the Reagan. Sends me some great photos of it on its South American tour on the way to San Diego...what a great ship.

Anyhow, this theme is a good one. Send it into a parallel or near future society dropping it into
a setting and see what happens. But a ship that size has tremendous needs. It could stretch control over a vast space but it would need to establish affective resources.

Two good possibilities:
1. A morrow project like adventure env with the Reagan as an Alpha base trying to rebuild.
2. Like the original movie... its sent there to accomplish a task and is taken back...perhaps the characters were crew left behind when it disappeared.


Anyhow good idea. With plenty of possibilities...

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by PBI:
Another movie in a similar vei to "Fail Safe" is the 90s movie (IIRC) "By Dawn's Early Light".

"By Dawn's Early Light" is probably the best nuclear war(ning) movie ever IMO. It's horribly underrated and overlooked though.

 

[savage]

Well it had Rebecca and that's a plus but best??

 

[PBI]

I do think it was at least tied for best. By Dawn's Early Light was far more gritty than Fail Safe or Twilight or any of the others. Throughout the entire movie, there's a pervading sense of crushing, inevitable, doom. It's like watch a car crash in slow motion and not being able to do anything about it. The other movies are good, don't get me wrong, but By Dawn's Early Light got into your guts and stayed there.