Posted on 04/07/2022 5:37:09 AM PDT by devane617
The Navy that once wanted smaller, speedy warships to chase down pirates has made a speedy pivot to Russia and China — and many of those recently built ships could be retired.
The U.S. Navy wants to decommission nine ships in the Freedom-class of littoral combat ships — warships that cost about $4.5 billion to build.
The Navy contends in its budget proposal that the move would free up $50 million per ship annually for other priorities. But it would also reduce the size of the fleet that’s already surpassed by China in sheer numbers, something that could cause members of Congress to balk.
Adm. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, defended the proposal that emphasizes long-range weapons and modern warships, while shedding other ships ill equipped to face current threats.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
“US Navy intends to decommission some of its newest warships”
Another REALLY STRONG MESSAGE being sent to Putin and China...
Be nice if people here worried more about what this country was doing, rather than what some corrupt countries halfway around the world are doing.
They would be better off decommissioning some of those “woke” sailors that couldn’t steer ships well enough to avoid running into things.
Biteme’s crew is pure evil. They bluster war vs Russia while cutting our combat capability and feminizing/homosexualizing our military.
Not enough torments in hell for them.
They’re lemons.
It seems to me that the litoral combat ships would fit the Coast Guard mission quite well...
Bump
People look at Russia in Ukraine and say, “Wow. Their military is pretty bad. I thought they were strong, but they seem pretty incompetent.”
I think people should take a good hard look at the US military. Yeah, we are better than Russia. But I think we delude ourselves into thinking we could still fight WWII. A lot of our fancy stuff doesn’t work, our leaders are terrible, and the idea of 3000 casualties makes us want to sue for peace.
I think our military is primarily a vehicle to funnel money to defense contractors. Ask Lloyd Austin about that. It doesn’t matter if the new weapon system works. It just matters that it be really, really expensive.
“It seems to me that the litoral combat ships would fit the Coast Guard mission quite well”
Exactly.
“They’re lemons”.
That’s the consensus I’ve seen on FR for quite some time.
Here is a nutshell summary: The Navy wanted a Littoral Combat Ship to fight in waters close to shore, could support land operations, and could also hunt down enemy diesel subs in shallow waters. This ship also should be operated by fewer crew, and have modular combat packages to quickly change missions by roll-off, roll-on mission packages.
Two teams came up with LCS ship designs, the Navy bought them, and they were crap. The long range gun doesn't work because ammunition for it cost more per shell than a cruise missile. The roll-off, roll-on mission packages never materialized, the turbine propulsion system had major reliability issues, and the Navy realized that the small operational crew was too small to deal with combat battle damage.
Some light reading, for the interested: https://warontherocks.com/2021/11/lessons-from-the-littoral-combat-ship/#:~:text=The%20littoral%20combat%20ship%20can,survivability%20in%20high%2Dintensity%20combat.>
They want people to focus on Ukraine while they destroy America. Many here have fallen for it. Same thing happening elsewhere.
Decommissioning them is probably a good idea, although I have no doubt it's being done for the wrong reasons (i.e., the "savings" will just be squandered).
The Coast Guard requires ships that can reliably move under power. A cutter that is dead in the water is not much use.
“Another REALLY STRONG MESSAGE being sent to Putin and China...”
I wonder if maybe because of a REALLY STRONG MESSAGE sent FROM Putin and China...”
The drive system has a major issue with it and it is an expensive fix. And the Navy is partly responsible for it so they can’t pass it back to the shipyards to handle. So the Coast Guard would get screwed with a faulty ship.
Huge waste of money, they were never what we needed.
“I wonder if maybe because of a REALLY STRONG MESSAGE sent FROM Putin and China...”
Could be. Apparently Putin told Europe that Fracking destroys the planet, and they all bought into it! So Putin’s telling us that we no longer need a navy, and so the decommissioning begins (actually began 35 years ago).
Yup, no need to fall for the sunk cost fallacy.
The U.S. Navy has discovered “aggressive” corrosion in Austal Ltd.’s first new combat ship designed for operating close to shore.
The corrosion is in the propulsion areas of the USS Independence, the Littoral Combat Ship built by the Mobile, Alabama-based subsidiary of Australia’s Austal and General Dynamics Corp.
“This could be a very serious setback,” said Norman Polmar, an independent naval analyst and author in Alexandria, Virginia. “If the ship develops a serious flaw, you’re not going to continue producing them.”
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LCS was designated by the Navy as a Level I survivability combatant ship, but neither design is expected to achieve the degree of shock hardening as required by the CDD [Capabilities Development Document].
Shock hardening (ability to sustain a level of operations following an underwater explosive attack) is required for all mission critical systems, as required by a Level 1 survivability requirement.
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The U.S. Navy’s newest littoral combat ship USS Montgomery has had its hull cracked for a second time after hitting a lock wall during a transit of the Panama Canal, the U.S. Navy has confirmed.
https://freerepublic.com/tag/littoral/index
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