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To: USNBandit
In a pinch couldn’t you pull nuke qualified sailors from the swap out crews on the Ohio class boats?

Possibly but for how long? It takes minimal 18 months for Nuke school alone then you have to do PQS for watch. In that time you can take an 18 year old with no A school and do On Job Training and have an experienced BT or MM. I read a few years back that the Boiler Tech rating is gone. Going back to both Nuke and conventional operation allows for more ships and faster training.

There is also an issue of our nuke fleet being ran ragged. The idea a nuke powered ship can deploy indefinately is a myth. It can't go much longer than a conventional without needed downtime in the yards. The only real advantage is fueling issues for the most part carrier wise. Both ships are actually still steamers as far as turning the screws go. Nuke power is simply the means to generate heat like a DFM boiler was. The reactor might take the abuse of skipping needed yard time but the auxillary systems won't.

I hope our nuke fleet isn't being done like our conventional fleet was. Meaning shorted on funds for yard time and corners cut. Rickover was a PITA but he insisted on high standards in his program. We have a 50 year old nuclear powered carrier. That's pushing the envelope in all respects reactor wise and hull wise.

29 posted on 02/01/2011 3:59:11 AM PST by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?)
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To: cva66snipe
The idea a nuke powered ship can deploy indefinately is a myth.

You are so right. Sending ships out for long cruises will really show later down the road. The JFK was a prime example of cutting out yard periods and the poor girl had to limp out of port on its last cruise, after the head shed got the axe for not having it ready for deployment. Those officers paid the professional price for a bunch of bad decisions made at the flag level. A totally raw deal.

32 posted on 02/01/2011 7:21:28 PM PST by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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