Posted on 11/04/2006 4:27:17 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
Navy wants USS Trenton rechristened Jalashva
Shiv Aroor
Posted online: Thursday, November 02, 2006 at 0000 hrs
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 1: With five months to go for the American warship USS Trenton to join the Indian fleet, the Navy has proposed that the amphibious vessel be rechristened INS Jalashva — Sanskrit for Sea Horse — when it is commissioned in March next year. Still to be approved by President APJ Abdul Kalam, the name was prioritised as the Navy’s top choice among a few others by just retired Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash.
The other two large amphibious ships in the Navy are INS Magar (crocodile) and INS Gharial (another reptile from the crocodile family). From a list of names, Jalashva was ticked by the former Navy Chief before the file was sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan, sources said. The USS Trenton, with the motto “No Greater Gator” was commissioned in 1971 and named after the capital of New Jersey state.
The 17,000-ton warship, likely to be based at Visakhapatnam under the Eastern Naval Command, will be the Navy’s second largest vessel after aircraft carrier INS Viraat, which itself will move to second place in size when the Russian aircraft carrier rechristened INS Vikramaditya is commissioned in late 2008.
The Navy got its first taste of American amphibious warfare equipment when it exercised with the US Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), a task force that included the USS Boxer, Washington’s amphibious flagship, off the Goa coast this week.
About the Trenton, the new Navy Chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta yesterday said, “It brings about a different dimension to our fighting capabilities. We will have a capability to influence the land battle with long-range weapons and the ability to transport large numbers of people from one place to another.”
The Navy is also in negotiations to purchase six H-3 Sea King maritime utility transport helicopters for operations off the Trenton’s deck.
I'm curious as to why they like second hand ships.
rechristened
Ahh they actually give Jesus the glory aka Christen.
Because you don't have to build them.
I'm curious as to why they like second hand ships.
Host of reasons-gives you the leeway to train on an old inexpensive platform while you develop the desired spectrum of capabilities for a real amphibious capability.The Trenton would be mean't for just that purpose covering both operational as well as training requirements.Many nations do that when developing their submarine capabilities.Buy an used boat & keep it around for around 5-10 years before your real hardware arrives.
The Russian carrier mentioned here hardly saw meaningful deployment with the Soviet fleet,so when upgraded,you could call it around 75% new.
Or the Hindi term he probably used was translated into English as "rechristened"
Also superior in quality and reliability than anything they could build or buy elsewhere.
We forget sonmetimes I think that "Yankee-Built" is still the best that money can buy in military hardware, anyway.
I think a little bit more on the cynical side; we know how they were built, what they contain and how well they operate. In the event our so-called latest "Allies" turn on us (it's happened before and will again), we know better how to destroy these vessels. Am I bad or what?
Because a good Patel knows a bargain when they see one. ;-)
Price
In addition, when we sell a ship to another country, we "dumb it down" a bit so it doesn't have the full capabilities of a US-flag ship. They can duke it out with each other, but we know that we will have an edge even if we take them on with the same class vessel.
Reports are that we sold the Trenton to India for $50 million, not bad for a ship commissioned in 1971, I think.
The low cost of initial investment.
We put a lot of miles on our ships, but we take very good care of them.
Isn't it bad luck to rename a ship?
Not bad at all, when you consider the alternative of breaking it down (in India, most likely--LOL) and selling it for scrap.
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