Posted on 10/10/2017 11:28:17 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
A full half of the U.S. Navy's largest surface warships are set to retire in three years, with nothing available to take their place. Eleven Ticonderoga-class cruisers, each with more than a hundred vertical missile silos, are scheduled to retire starting in 2020. The retirement of these ships will leave a bog hole in the Navy arsenal.
The U.S. Navy's Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers were introduced in the 1980s. Weighing nearly 10,000 tons and measuring 567 feet long, the ships were designed primarily for the air defense roles. Equipped with the Aegis Combat System, the Ticonderogas were designed to protect capital ships—such as the Navy's aircraft carriers and the Iowa-class battleships—from mass air attack. Each is capable of carrying a large number of guided missiles.
While earlier ships used a pair of twin-arm missile launchers and have since been retired, the 6th through 27th ships of the class stored their missile armament in huge fields of armored missile silos.
Traditionally, cruisers fill in the gap between battleships and destroyers. Fast and well armed, they were given missions that didn't require the awesome firepower of battleships, but did require more oomph than a destroyer could provide. The Navy is refurbishing half of the remaining 22 Ticonderogas, enough to protect a planned eleven aircraft carriers into the 2030s. But the other eleven ships will start to age out in 2020.
The Ticonderogas were planned to serve 30 or so years, at which point they would be retired and replaced with a newer, more capable ship. The Navy has tried twice to field a replacement, first with the SC-21, or Surface Combatant for the 21st Century program, then the CG(X) program. Both failed, for a variety of reasons. There was
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
I infer from your comment that the ships not getting refurbed are too beat up to benefit?
They took those off too.
They are the oldest, with the worst condition hulls. It would be cheaper and more effective to build a new one from scratch.
They have no anti-ship missile defense at all?
“And why aren’t we refurbishing ALL of them?”
That’s exactly what SHOULD happen. It’s infuriating that the military, and the government in general, is so reluctant to do the most cost effective thing in a lot of cases.
Another sterling example is ending F-22 production after only 187 aircraft, instead of 600+. Now, of course, the government is champing at the bit to start a next gen air supremacy fighter program at the cost of untold billions...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth-generation_jet_fighter
Wasn’t radar fire control used by US cruisers in the Guadalcanal campaign?
The Japs didn’t have it, correct?
Nope. The justification was that “we’re not facing any enemy that would have anti-ship missiles in enough quantities to require such measures.” We even took CIWS installations off older ships.
We’ve recently been buying new CIWS and SeaRAM systems and pulling them out of war reserves and bolting them back on the older ships and hacking them onto the newer ships that never had them. The latter is heavily compromised, only being able to cover the rear arc of the ship - they have only figured out how to strap one on them, to the rear. No forward installation seems to be possible on the later Burkes due to the chances when they deleted CIWS.
The next Burke to be build, the USS Jack H. Lucas, will be the first Burke in quite a while to incorporate CIWS from the day of launch.
And, loss-wise, we still got our clock cleaned regularly in night engagements ...
If this policy is not changed I don’t think we can retain our command of the seas. Keep the ships until we have replacements and additions. A big guy patrolling the neighbor hood with an obsolete gun is much more respected than a little guy whose gun was left at the house.
Well, the promise was made that we would save the tooling and machinery for the F-22 upon cancellation so that if a later administration decided cancellation was a mistake, production could be restarted.
Well, it turns out that a lot of the CONEXes in which tooling and machinery that was supposed to be stored.... are actually empty according to some reports. That means we *can’t* build more F-22s and basically will have to develop a new plane. Whoops.
The problem isn’t obsolescent weaponry. The problem is the ships are literally falling apart and if we keep using them they will have structural failures, break in half and sink.
And you are correct that some of the cruisers had it. The First Battle of Salvo Island was a joint force including I believe Australian cruisers.
This task group had not worked well before much, which resulted in a number of losses/damage such that the Battleships had to engage in the 2nd battle (no cruisers left). Lack of coordination resulted in confusion and significant losses in this battle.
And even with that, the USS North Carolina got smacked by a torpedo, and the USS South Dakota was a last minute replacement.
At that point, the US did not have certain training/drilling/coordination in place to prevent the ship losses around Guadalcanal.
But the Japanese really took in the shorts. They lost two battleships, plus cruisers and destroyers.
The US Navy learned some very painful lessons at Guadalcanal.
That is where the Sullivan brothers lost their lives.
However, their cruiser was sunk by a sub.
You need to read the posts upthread. The old ship hulls are going to start totally failing soon. It’s like when you start getting multiple frame cracks on a car - even if you weld them up it just gets more cracks, so at that point you have to throw the car away.
That's not "whoops". That's deliberate malice with the stench of treason and sabotage emanating from it.
No, the ‘whoops’ was us believing the lie that we’d ever be able to build more. :P
And if we beach them we give up a lot of our control of the sealanes. That is a significant percentage of the Fleet. That is pretty much giving up on unhampered shipping as every country with a coast starts exacting tolls and forbidding passage. That is a significant percentage of the Fleet.
>>Most Americans will never know just how thoroughly and how deeply that evil man damaged the national security of these United States.
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This is so true and sad, my FRiend.
Our nation is filled with millions of drugged up, dumbed down brainwashed idiots, illegals/gangs, and nefarious muzzies, it is not beyond the imagination to realize we are beyond the tipping point. And then there is the Deep State Termites, infested within the foundational cores of our nation, whose masters are hellbent on full destruction.
Truly there is power in prayer. Prayer that these dangerous people are permanently purged in some form or another. Our nation’s survival depends upon it.
If/when the leaders are ever held to account, I imagine there will be an audible collective cheer from the few remaining hardworking Americans praying for that Moment in TIme.
Went out on the Valley Forge CG-50 to do some EMC tests in 86. Ship was still almost brand new.
Read only recently that she was sunk in a SINKEX in 2006. That is a seriously short lifespan.
Wonder if it had some defect too serious to try and keep it running?
Amazing, RAM was likely the only anti-missile defense that might have had a chance to knock down a SS-N-22 Sunburn (Moskit), or the newer supersonic missiles the Russians are selling to everyone.
They think the Iranians will still be using big, slow Silkworms?
If you think that was short... the average merchant vessel has a lifespan of 25-30 years before it has to be scrapped. Warships are under even higher stress than a merchantman.
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