It the larger context, what does this say about the real readiness state of the Navy?
And in case anyone thinks this is an isolated example:
the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Stout (DDG-55)
can't make this image smaller for some reason - sorry
Wasn’t there a scandal a few years ago about Kobe Steel falsifying the specifications of the steel they shipped? I think the CEO resigned over it.
I wonder if the steel for our ships was sabotaged?
The USN is definitely undergoing hard times. PC personnel policies add to the dysfunction and malaise.
My first Captain would have had a coronary if his ship had ever looked like that.
Well at least they have the gals onboard for long term entertainment, the transgender modifications, the lowered physical fitness standards, etc., etc.
Got me to thinking how old this photo is then it dawned on me that the entire crew are wearing covid masks so I would have to say pretty recent.
It’s not just Justice and State that are corrupt beyond all reason. We aren’t talking incompetence or stupidity. We are seeing the personal organized looting by govt and rent seekers at epidemic levels. There is no thought of keeping it at sustainable levels. Criminals roam the halls stealing without restraint or fear of consequences.
“Absolutely Caked In Rust...”
Hyperbole much??
That is astonishing. Even when I was in during the Seventies where budgets were tight, I never saw a US Navy vessel that corroded.
Breaks my heart. I know their operational tempos are high, but that is something else. That is what I would expect to see a ship in WWII in the Pacific going from campaign to campaign looking like, not in this day.
Discouraging.
Worked on ships many years ago. They looked like this every couple years without paint. Ran fine.
The Stout did a double or triple deployment, forgot which, without touching a port once. Continuous at sea, Pacific and Indian oceans IIRC, with underway replenishment. COVID you know. The ships crew handled several repairs that normally would be a depot level job
The US is way low on stateside dry docks and time between out of the water maintenance keeps getting longer whether it’s scheduled or unscheduled. Dry docks aren’t sexy like a new ship so the funding has not kept up with the demand.
As long as sailors can identify as whatever gender they feel like, what difference does a little rust make? Who cares about paint when there is buggery to be done?
This neglect is likely caused by civilian contracts. My grandpa was a sailor and they did their own rust removal and painting out side of drydock. Now it’s probably contracted to the civilian shipyard to fix it.
Have Americans paint them instead of third worlders. Anybody can get a crappy paint job do the right job maybe the last longer
To change the size of any image, while keeping the same aspect ration, simply change the width.
For example, this image becomes this size simply by adding "width="650" (or "whatever number you'd like") after < img src=" https://www.thedrive.com/content/2020/10/32424356.jpg?quality=85&width=1440&quality=70%20width=720%20height=%20405" >
Like this:
< img src="https://www.thedrive.com/content/2020/10/32424356.jpg?quality=85&width=1440&quality=70%20width=720%20height=%20405" width="650" >
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Ack!! Didn’t mind the USNS cargo ship so much, but a USN Burke class destroyer? I never saw anything like that in my 11 years Navy (75-87). What, they eliminated the Boatswains Mate rating? That was a big part of their job - to keep the outside clean of rust and debris, even on deployment when in foreign ports. With the 2 collisions and now this, what has happened to my Navy? Used to be the Captain would be fired if he let his ship deteriorate that much. Sheesh.
My gawd, look at the waterline. Think about a small boat with explosives like the USS Cole endured. With such deterioration depicted here, such a small boat with enough explosives could sink her if underway. Luckily the Cole was tied up at pier. Of course that didn’t help the sailors who died. As we used to say, this is “unsat”. I cry for my Navy. I thought Trump was correcting this stuff.
This is surface rust and not nearly as bad as it looks.
Sanders, chippers and paint correct this in 10-30 days depending on the number of men assigned.
All ships which stay at sea for several months look like this.
But it is a sign of too many days at sea without a port call.
Blame Covid.
I remember when my ship pulled into Freemantle in ‘94 having been assigned to side cleaners. I was in the paint punt scraping seaweed off before painting the lovely Haze Gray on.
My LTJG yelled from the pier, “No! We don’t have time to scrape it! Just paint over it!”
I sighed and said, “Yes, Sir,” and did as ordered.
Five days later, we sailed away.
And saw a nice trail of Haze Gray paint stuck to chunks of seaweed floating in our wake.
Ahhhh.... Clinton’s Navy.