The great floating Google mystery is over:
For the past few days, speculation was that the four-story, windowless structures were giant retail spaces for Google Glass, and now KPIX-TV has all but confirmed those suspicions. ...
It includes several floors of "dazzling showrooms" with fancy lighting and it'll be topped off with a party deck that includes bars, lanais (!) and other upscale features that could rival a Las Vegas resort. ...
The building is constructed of interchangeable 40-foot shipping containers that can be assembled and disassembled at will, allowing it to be placed on barges, trucks or rail cars and taken anywhere in the world, the source said.
And here I just wanted to use the same idea with shipping containers on container ships to create Modularized Auxiliary Cruisers:
Our Navy defends our nation within the incompatible and unforgiving boundaries formed by the tyrannies of distance and numbers. We struggle to build enough ships both capable of deploying globally and powerful enough for fighting first-rate opponents. Operating within a network-centric Navy, auxiliary cruisers could once again play a valuable role in projecting naval power. Using modular systems installed on civilian hulls, auxiliary cruisers could handle many peacetime roles; free scarce warships for more demanding environments; add combat power within a networked force; and promote the global maritime partnership.
Our Navy is surely superior to any conceivable combination of potential foes, alarmism notwithstanding. Yet as a global power, our sea power cannot be narrowly defined by our superb warships able to win conventional sea-control campaigns. We have many objectives at sea. Modularized Auxiliary Cruisers could provide the numbers we need to achieve our maritime objectives. The tyranny of numbers matters to the United States Navy.
I guess I don't think big enough.
