Obama found a competitive bidder to those expensive Virginia class boats.
Posted on 01/12/2010 6:21:12 PM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The U.S. Navy is facing a temporary SSN (nuclear attack submarine) shortage, and there is no solution that will not involve some pain. The problem is that new Virginia class subs cannot be built quickly enough to replace all the Cold War era Los Angeles class boats that have to retire. Even that will be delayed, at least for 16 Los Angeles class subs, that will get enough refurb to keep them at sea for up to two more years. Meanwhile, many of the shipyards used to build all those Los Angeles class boats, were discarded as part of the Peace Dividend for winning the Cold War. The shortage will begin in 2022, when the number of SSNs will fall below 48. The bottom will be in 2028, when only 41 SSNs will be available, and the shortage won't end until 2034. While keeping boats at sea more than six months per cruise will insure that all current requirements (that need about ten boats at sea at any given time) are met, the navy won’t be able to meet its wartime need for 35 boats. Keep in mind that a certain number of boats are always laid up for upgrades, maintenance or repairs. And some of this work can be speeded up, or even put aside, to get boats to sea in wartime, or a major crises.
(Excerpt) Read more at strategypage.com ...
This already, and Obama in office less than a year.
Yep, the old Peace Dividend/BRACs bite us on the butt yet again!
That sure makes me feel old. When I was serving on my Skipjack-class boat, the LA class was new and state of the art. We called them “the showboats” in New London because every visiting brass wanted to tour one.
It doesn’t sound like a case of not enough ship yards. It sounds like they just didn’t order enough boats soon enough.
I always thought those rounds of base closings were a dumb move. As is often said about land: they aren't making any more of it. The government should have held onto the land and kept the base facilities in a condition for reopening if needed, or simply used them on a scaled down basis.
There was never any great civilian need for the land, other than the dollar signs in the eyes of state and municipal officials and real estate agents.
When I saw the headline, I thought it meant we were running out of social security numbers....
“....I thought it meant we were running out of social security numbers....”
That’s what I thought, too!
Obama found a competitive bidder to those expensive Virginia class boats.
Huh? I thought the same 2 yards that built the Los Angeles-class boats are the same ones teaming up to build the Virginia-class subs.
It's not just depth and speed that counts.
Still, how THE HELL does the Pentagon think 48 boats is enough? Where is Reagans' 600 ship Navy and what the HELL has become of the Admiralty that they would sign off on this?
They should be screaming from the rooftops that core national security interests have been compromised.
If the US Navy loses dominance of the seas, the nation will suffer severely...on an order that has never before been considered in our entire national history.
This nation was BUILT on the US Navy's dominance...from the time shortly after the Revolutionary War...through the Great White Fleet...WWI...WWII...and all other crises.
THERE IS NO POWER WITHOUT SEA POWER.
Difficult call. We are not fighting the Soviet Union or China any more, at least not militarily. Tom Clancy’s book Submarine opened with an interview with an anonymous USN officer right after Argentina invaded the Falklands Islands. According to Clancy, the officer said, “The British will announce that they have an attack sub in the area.”
“Do they?”
“Doesn’t matter. The threat is enough.”
It wasn’t enough. No one really understood it, at least until HMS Conqueror sank the Belgrano. Then the Argentines recalled their navy. Conqueror was a simple equation: you have a chihuahua, we have a rugby team. The Argentines attacked HMS Sheffield by air. This further demonstrates my opinion that, given a limited budget, the Navy is better off spending money on carrier battle groups. Carriers are multi-purpose ships. Among other things, they can destroy anything that floats. They can get submarines, too, or else guide a flotilla of destroyers to the enemy.
I love the subs; they are amazing ships. But air superiority is the trump.
While the 688 class is still a highly capable platform the age is starting to become apparent in increased maintance requirements.
Correct.
“...due to the high cost and high cost overruns.”
ummm, I beg to differ. We build ‘em at the budget that was projected, and ahead of schedule.
Newport News and Groton.
Misread the title. I thought they were running out of Social Security Numbers.
I was going to volunteer to send mine back.
Good one.
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