If the branches of the U.S. Armed Forces were to go to war...

[soulcougher73]

I picked Navy since i used to be in

With planes and ships and SEALs its going to be hard to beat. Any planes trying to attack the ships will most likely be blown out of the sky by the R2D2's. Plus all the cruise missles etc to take out land targets in relative safety.

R2D2's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_CIWS

 

[mwmorph]

The Army is by far the most self sufficient. In a war of attrition, the army would win. You don't just kill a million people in 1 night.

Also people underestimate the power of SAMs. Modern patriot missiles are able to shoot down incoming missiles, not just aircraft.You can go ahead and launch tomahawks all day, but you're going to lose an awful lot of them to intercepts.

The army will always win the logistical war. The Marines aren't self sufficient, they don't even have a medical corps and the navy/airforce have very little ability to take and occupy territory. You can always deny an area through indirect fire, but it will always require boots on the ground direct engagement to actually take it. This won't be a quick war against the army so it all comes down to the capabilities of each unit's BSBs and MEDCOM.

I give a fully mobilized marine force a couple months without air force/navy support to run out of fuel and food.

 

[sandorski]

Army. Army over runs Air Force. Navy doesn't have the necessary Manpower to over run Army. Navy can't Dock for Resupply, it starves to death at Sea.

 

[alfa147x]

Honestly the Navy
They have the Marines for ground, they can fly, the Marines can also fly, they have HUGE boats.

 

[darkxshade]

Doesn't it really depend on who gets first strike?


And is this a Free For All? or are we talking about:

Navy vs USMC
Navy vs USAF
Navy vs Army
USMC vs USAF
USMC vs... and so on and so forth?

 

[SunnyD]

Air force and Navy make it to the finals. Navy wins because they launch their nukes then go deep on the subs. Air force end up without usable runways to land on and therefore crash, leaving the subs the last ones standing.

 

[her209]

Honestly the Navy
They have the Marines for ground, they can fly, the Marines can also fly, they have HUGE boats.

And subs.

 

[SunnyD]

Wait, since the OP updated to no nukes, I'm changing my answer to Chuck Norris.

 

[Homerboy]

Doesn't it really depend on who gets first strike?


And is this a Free For All? or are we talking about:

Navy vs USMC
Navy vs USAF
Navy vs Army
USMC vs USAF
USMC vs... and so on and so forth?

FFA. Like the old days of Quake.
Please re-read the OP. I removed the Nukes option. That's cheating.

 

[darkxshade]

If it's a free for all then ground troops will win[ARMY or USMC] because the Navy can't go deep inland and USAF needs to resupply. So if ground troops take the air strips and just bunker themself in and wait it out, the USAF will have to attack their own base. Navy can last a bit longer but they too will have to resupply.

In FFA, USAF is clearly the weakest since you need ground/air traffic control[which would have been taken by ground forces] or they are seriously handicapped. What is several hundred planes going to do if no one is directing them where to go and what to do or where they enemy is located?

 

[KK]

Moot point. Each has it's own weaknesses and depends on the other for survival. Navy or Air Force? No way.

In the end, no amount of bombing will win a conflict until a person occupies the land being contested. The Navy and Air Force could bomb a location into a glass parking lot but it's not really won until someone goes there to plant the flag. The Navy and Air Force does not do that, Marines and Army do that.

I don't recall any ground forces doing that to japan.

 

[darkxshade]

I don't recall any ground forces doing that to japan.

A. Ground forces had to occupy most of the Pacific before they could get within reach of Japan.

B. OP said no nukes

C. And since this is a hypothetical, then surrendering is also out of the question since we're assuming the branches are fighting to the last man or until stalemate.

 

[Minjin]

A. Ground forces had to occupy most of the Pacific before they could get within reach of Japan.

B. OP said no nukes

C. And since this is a hypothetical, then surrendering is also out of the question since we're assuming the branches are fighting to the last man or until stalemate.

And how much involvement did the Army have in the Pacific war in comparison to the Navy and Marines (that is part of the Navy, OP)?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

And subs.

Subs are boats : p

 

[Blackjack200]

The airforce would win because it would have the superior intelligence - i.e. AWACS

The Navy has AWACS too, but the airforce would knock it out immediatly with F-22s.

Without the intelligence support that they normally receive from AWACS, the Army would essentially be blind, as would the NAVY once their AWACS was knocked out. The AF would then be free to pick the opposing forces apart at their leisure.

 

[darkxshade]

And how much involvement did the Army have in the Pacific war in comparison to the Navy and Marines (that is part of the Navy, OP)?

Not much since they were involved in the European theater I would imagine where the Navy and Marines weren't. Can't use WWII as a yardstick to determine which branch would win in a FFA where we now have technology they didn't then.

 

[Dominato3r]

I was going to say Navy because they have a bit if everything but after reading the posts here I'm going to go with the Army

 

[KK]

A. Ground forces had to occupy most of the Pacific before they could get within reach of Japan.

B. OP said no nukes

C. And since this is a hypothetical, then surrendering is also out of the question since we're assuming the branches are fighting to the last man or until stalemate.

I was just responding to his bombing into submission statement.

 

[darkxshade]

The airforce would win because it would have the superior intelligence - i.e. AWACS

How do you suppose the USAF disseminate intel if their ground control is overrun by the Army or USMC?


Basically because the branches are each supposedly specialized for a specific area of expertise, they will therefore each have a strength and weakness. The USAF obviously have air superiority and the Navy has Sea but you can't control either without supplies[fuel, food, water] and you can only get that on land[ok maybe the Navy can do that at sea so possible stalemate] and the Army owns the land so in the end it's just a waiting game. The Navy & USAF are like cannons but the Army & USMC are like mosquitos and as Confucius once said, "Don't use a cannon to kill a mosquito".

 

[Train]

Army is severely crippled because they are the only branch that lacks fixed wing aircraft. Helicopters have a very limited range compared to planes. They wouldn't be able to reach the navy, and the Marines would pummel them with F-18's and F-22's, and out manuever them with the Osprey and amphibious movement.

If Navy & MC are considered one unit, they win hands down.

EDIT: to make a really fair comparison, it should be Army+Air Force vs Navy + Marines

But I'd still go with Navy/MC due to sea dominace, they could hide out on islands or even if the middle of the ocean if they had to, and strike whatever air strips the AF and Army are working out of.

 

[Dominato3r]

Doesn't the USAF has some special ground units?

 

[Regs]

Navy. They are very versatile and have great mobility.

 

[Regs]

Doesn't the USAF has some special ground units?

No. They have some pararescue troops and maybe a few trained airmen, but that is about it. And no, I do not know who those guys where in Transformers.

 

[Blackjack200]

How do you suppose the USAF disseminate intel if their ground control is overrun by the Army or USMC?

The thinking here is that the Army cannot Overrun the AF because they are blind and paralyzed without intel. If they try to maneuver, they are targeted from the air.

If the Army can somhow reach the airbases, the AF would be done.

Basically because the branches are each supposedly specialized for a specific area of expertise, they will therefore each have a strength and weakness. The USAF obviously have air superiority and the Navy has Sea but you can't control either without supplies[fuel, food, water] and you can only get that on land[ok maybe the Navy can do that at sea so possible stalemate] and the Army owns the land so in the end it's just a waiting game. The Navy & USAF are like cannons but the Army & USMC are like mosquitos and as Confucius once said, "Don't use a cannon to kill a mosquito".

I don't think any of the branches would function too effectively all by itself, honestly.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

In a FFA, it's the Navy that stands. All others will fail.