China to build second, larger carrier
Posted on 07/26/2013 4:35:35 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
The Navy is defending its plan for building Littoral Combat Ships, disputing a pending Government Accountability Office recommendation to slow construction for further testing.
The Navy’s newest combat vessel will be under scrutiny at a U.S. House hearing today, where the GAO is set to present a report on the LCS. A draft report by Congress’s nonpartisan investigative arm earlier this year said the Navy is risking as much as $40 billion by purchasing the ships faster than it can demonstrate their “militarily useful capability.”
(snip)
A confidential Navy report completed last year warned the ships may not be able to perform their missions because they’re too lightly manned and armed.
The first Littoral Combat Ship to deploy overseas, the USS Freedom, lost propulsion on July 20 while heading to a military exercise and had to return to port in Singapore for repairs. The Navy determined the ship’s diesel generators overheated and shut down, said Lieutenant Caroline Hutcheson, a Navy spokeswoman.
After repairs that included the replacement of turbochargers in the generators and clogged fuel injectors, the Freedom got under way yesterday, she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...
U.S. Navy Going Green, Spending Extra 622% to Use Chicken Fat Fuel
I am glad I retired 25 years ago. In a real fight with these ships I fear we will get our asses handed to us.
Build more Arleigh Burkes or Jeff Head's “Mod Arleigh Burke”.
China to build second, larger carrier
I can only imagine the amount of money that must have changed hands to get these things built.
Not chump change, but about six month's worth of EBT cards.
Is the first one the USS Minnow?
The LCS is a disaster but I’d still rather be on an LCS than a Chinese CV in a war.
Chinese are pretty helpless at ASW and their CVs will get vaporized by an avalanche of Mk 48s the second it leaves port.
Wish I knew how to post photos. Now here is a “real” ship.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/USS_Salem_CA-139.jpg
Check out the link HTML Sandbox....
Nice floating casino they’ve got there ...
The three Demoines Cklass heavy cruisers were not only really beautiful but 30 knots sustained speed and automatic 8 inch guns. Yowzah!!
Heavy cruiser...
Yepper! I proudly served on her and can tell you she was (and, still is) a “beauty”. Now, the only remaining heavy cruiser left of a once great armada, she sits at rest in Quincy, Mass. If you ever get there, go check her out.
Was the Des Moines a similar cruiser ?
Same class. USS Newport News was the last of them to be in commission. She was retired in the mid-70's I believe.
It is just awesome to tour the big ships. We went and toured the USS Alabama. I know airpower rules but these ships were something in their day.
Nope...
USS Gaby Giffords.....meh.
I remember thinking that the Des Moines looked like a 7/8th battleship. Still plenty big but able to go where deep draft ships could not.
Back in the 90s, there was a proposal to move the Des Moines to the Duluth-Superior Harbor as a tourist attraction. The local lefties protested and the idea was shot down. I think the ship has been scrapped by now.
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