The Navy had a lot of stories as to why they wanted to retire these 50+ platforms before the end of their service life and none of them made any sense at all.
1. Slow. 30+knots for a Frigate ain't bad.
2. Can't take a hit. This article show that is NOT the case. Real action shows the same.
The combined SM-1 missile is retired. Really? These ships could be re-fitted for other launchers and other weapons. Relatively cheap.
Instead the Admirals and Pentagon employees took jobs with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics right after the LCS contracts were awarded.
And all the Congressmen involved got all the money they needed for reelection and every one of their family and close friends got do-nothing jobs with the same companies.
This is the kind of malfeasance that a responsible POTUS would end. And, if we still have ANY of these ships left in mothball, they'll be sent for refit ASAP.
Frigate frigging outstanding!
That’s one tough old ship.
SINKEX 2016 appears to have been a failure. The old girl didn’t sink.
ping
Instead the Admirals and Pentagon employees took jobs with Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics right after the LCS contracts were awarded.
And all the Congressmen involved got all the money they needed for reelection and every one of their family and close friends got do-nothing jobs with the same companies.
...
You’re probably right. Military procurement has long been a source of crooked behavior.
I was on the Kennedy (CVA-67) and I know for a fact she would do 32 knots. A frigate needs to be faster than that.
As for survivability, all the fuel and explosives were removed so there were no secondary explosions. Note the bulge in the aft part of the ship at the front of the helicopter landing pad. That would have taken out the propulsion and left her dead in the water and possibly without power.
You could see that she broke her back in at least 2 places.
Friggen MK-48!
I just saw a “Dogfights” episode where F4F (I think) pilots were doing a Thach Weave.
I laugh at the prospect of ending government corruption like I do at the prospect of ending poverty.
Both are self-sustaining and too attractive to give up without dire consequences.
We haven’t got the guts for dire consequences.
I would think it would be tough to watch if you had served on that ship. I attended the decommissioning of my uncle’s submarine and after it was over with the crowd still there a tug towed it away backwards. It seems like a very undignified end for a boat with so many achievements.
No combustibles sure would help a vessel survive longer.
The torpedoes are the deadliest weapon against a ship.
Does kind of make one wonder how an Iowa class BB would stand up
to hits like this.
I heard that an Iraqi anti-ship missie was guiding on the Wisconsin but
a Royal Navy destroyer shot it down. Like, to see a corroboration
of that.
They should have run it aground on Scarborough Shoals.
I wish it were an Iranian ship in the Persian Gulf. Those A-H’s need some whup-ass.
That looks like fun.
What do you make of the fact...there were no armed weapons, bombs, etc..or fuel on the ship? IOW...it would have blown up..quite fast.
That said...I don't quite understand either...why get rid of a seemingly functional ship..that seemingly could be re-fitted.
IF that’s the best we can do, wow, sad.
Why couldn’t they refit these for domestic littoral duty?
Well, Obama’s new Admiralette (his vice CNO) will soon put a stop to that:
How does one get 7 rows of ribbons, without any combat? Oh, she showed up for work most of the time (4 rows), is female (2.5 rows), and possibly a minority (.5 rows). Did I get that right?
Admiral Michelle Howard, USN, is not in command of the US Navy, however, she was recently promoted to Vice Chief of Naval Operations, second in command to the CNO. The selection process leading to her promotion to 4 star rank and her current position, is rather unique in a peace time US Navy. The supposed plan is to eventually promote her to Chief of Naval Operations.
Admiral Howard had command of only one non-capital ship, the USS Rushmore (LSD-47), when she was promoted to Flag rank, which was unique. She eventually received orders as the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, thru January 2009. It then appears that Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus mentored her thru one senior billet after another, by-passing other highly qualified combat-trained, more senior Flag Officers. During the process, she received orders to the proper Command and Staff Colleges, in order to prepare her for each new command assignment, Mabus’ careful guidance led her to her current billet.
In the last 7 years, Obama has modified the selection process for Flag and General Officer, by ensuring the potential selectee’s compliance with his ‘Social Experiment On Diversity’, as a condition for whether an officer will be considered for promotion to Admiral or General.
NOTE: Over the last 7 years, Obama has relieved over 250 highly qualified and combat-trained Flag, General, and Senior Officers; some should have been relieved for cause, but many more were doing a superb job when they were summarily relieved.
Forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject, but is a SinkEx really necessary? We already know intimately what the munitions used against this frigate can do. Why do it again?
Why not scrap her, recycle her, sell her, donate her to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute? Sure, maybe she becomes a marine habitat for fish, even coral, but this still seems wasteful as hell...
The U.S. Navy had a large frigate fleet because they were tasked with having to get large convoys of ships to Europe in the event of a Soviet invasion and frigates were the perfect platform. When the Soviet Union went away a large reason for the frigate fleet went away.
What did the Navy do to the PT Boat squadrons in 1945? Beached them & burned them. What did they do to the Battleships (most of them) in the 40’s? Laid a few up, scrapped the rest. The Essex-class carriers went away as soon as the LPD/LHA’s came on-line. It’s a shame, but it’s about manpower & budgets.
The thing that killed the frigates was peace. Frigates are very useful as escorts during war. But without VLS cells they aren’t very efficient as a modern weapons platform. I would have designed a new frigate instead of the Littoral Combat Ship... but hey, that’s me.
I would have gifted a bunch of those frigates to the USCG. They’d have made excellent deep water cutters.