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To Build Ships That Break Ice, the U.S. Must Relearn to Cut Steel
Wall Street Journal via MSN ^ | Sept 17, 2023 | William Malden

Posted on 09/17/2023 11:04:02 PM PDT by Reverend Wright

PASCAGOULA, Miss.—A $13.3 billion program to safeguard American interests in the Arctic has run aground on an old industrial challenge: cutting and shaping thick, hardened steel.

U.S. officials are racing to procure new polar icebreakers because one of only two that the Coast Guard now sails has reached the end of its life, and the one assigned to the Arctic is out of service for maintenance every winter. Delivery of the first new icebreaker has slipped to 2028 from 2024 as designers, engineers and welders grapple with something the U.S. hasn’t done in decades: reliably shape hardened steel that is more than an inch thick into a curved, reinforced ship’s hull.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: icebreaker; icebreakers; shipbuilding; steel
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To: Reverend Wright

What about Anacott Steel? Blue horseshoe loved that one.


21 posted on 09/18/2023 2:17:19 AM PDT by TBall
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Canada has 21 Ice Breakers. Seems we could make a deal for a couple.


22 posted on 09/18/2023 2:22:02 AM PDT by DAC21
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To: Reverend Wright

bkmk steel


23 posted on 09/18/2023 3:27:59 AM PDT by linMcHlp
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To: Reverend Wright

“an old industrial challenge: cutting and shaping thick, hardened steel”

This is the subject of the post.
Cutting and shaping thick, hardened
steel. Don’t matter who produces
it. This is about craftsmanship
and knowledge handed down tempered
with tenacity.
Ships are massive. Curved metal
at these thicknesses is more or
less based on flatness of
surface over distance. It’s the
angles of the plate edges that
are welded together that form
the curve. These pieces are
welded together at the seams
(Which have generous bevels cut
for best weld penrtration).
These weld seams can at times be
as thick as the two plates you’re
trying to weld together, and
twice as wide as the metal
thickness.


24 posted on 09/18/2023 3:38:22 AM PDT by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: Reverend Wright

But I thought there’d be no more ice


25 posted on 09/18/2023 4:02:36 AM PDT by struggle
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To: Reverend Wright

I read somewhere that the Titantic was an ice breaker by design, that the iceberg should not have hurt it?


26 posted on 09/18/2023 4:12:06 AM PDT by weezel
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To: DAC21

The best heavy Ice Breakers are built in Finland. Even the Russians use them.

US is going to use a bastardized hull - one built for ice braking and for crossing open ocean from Arctic to Antarctic. Cost cutting and low funding for “non-essential” ships.


27 posted on 09/18/2023 4:17:55 AM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Reverend Wright
Had the US not slapped 10 rounds of sanctions on Russia, they could have saved themselves the trouble and just ordered state if the art Nuclear powered icebreakers from Baltic Shipyard Inc in St. Petersburg. IMG-4675
28 posted on 09/18/2023 4:24:29 AM PDT by Antioch (Against stupidity even the Gods struggle in vain…)
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To: TBall
What about Anacott Steel? Blue horseshoe loved that one.

Nice...very nice!

29 posted on 09/18/2023 4:25:20 AM PDT by voicereason (When a bartender can join Congress and become a millionaire...there’s a problem.)
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To: Reverend Wright

I don’t understand why we need icebreakers. Isn’t the ice going away?


30 posted on 09/18/2023 4:43:37 AM PDT by DesertRhino (Dogs are called man's best friend. Moslems hate dogs. Add it up..)
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To: Gene Eric

Sounds nice. Although, Freud would have a field day analyzing some of those phrases: “ the stack was still lit”
and a few others.


31 posted on 09/18/2023 5:01:27 AM PDT by lee martell
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To: Gene Eric

I guess all the young men learned to code instead of learning to weld and forge.


32 posted on 09/18/2023 5:21:54 AM PDT by SpokeshaveReturns (Proud Boys, Angry Dads and curmudgeons.)
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To: struggle
"But I thought there’d be no more ice"

Exactly. Algore, John F ing Skerry, and the Greenies; say that the Artic and Antartic, are melting at a faster rate then has ever been seen before.

So why spend "taxpayers dollars" on something that will be obsolete by the time it is put in service?

Trust your government.


33 posted on 09/18/2023 6:02:00 AM PDT by guest7
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To: Reverend Wright

To consolidate their power the leftists decided to deindustrialize America in order to crush the middle class and now we are reaping the whirlwind.


34 posted on 09/18/2023 6:05:41 AM PDT by wildcard_redneck (The Forever War is a crime against humanity)
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To: Reverend Wright

“…as designers, engineers and welders grapple with something the U.S. hasn’t done in decades: reliably shape hardened steel …”

C’mon! The graveyards are full of people who know how to do this shit…oh…wait…


35 posted on 09/18/2023 6:05:47 AM PDT by TalBlack (We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: Reverend Wright

Sad commentary.

We no longer even have the ability and expertise to build a WWII class battleship


36 posted on 09/18/2023 6:06:59 AM PDT by Iron Munro (Sun Tzu: An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes)
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To: lee martell

Let me kinda explain to you how the American steel nazi’s actually work....
A load of beams comes in from korea.
The steel nazi’s immediately cry DUMPING ...
The imported steel is locked down.
the steel nazi’s then raise their price on to beams, until the claim of dumping is proven false, usually months.
The beams are then released for sale.
The steel nazi’s then lower their price back to normal pricing.
Then a load of plate comes in from poland.
Rinse and repeat.
In over 40 years, only 1 case of dumping has been proven.

Cheap steel
Steel that is used in construction is a certified steel.
In order to be certified, samples of the steel are taken to a laboratory and tested. They must meet the qualifications of say A-36, A-992, A-572, etc.
The standards used are not very loose at all. Your steel either qualifies or it doesn’t. The american steel nazi’s also produce uncertified steel, It’s either chemical only, or cobble plate.
This is cheap steel. Everybody makes it.

Union Labor.
The price per hour of labor plays a very small role in the pricing of steel. As a matter of fact, it’s completely irrelevant.

So, why can’t the American Steel Manufacturers compete?
Government regulations.
Climate Nazi’s.
These people are killing our manufacturing base.
Get the feds off our backs, and watch us go!!!!!


37 posted on 09/18/2023 6:49:30 AM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO! The End)
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To: Reverend Wright

The Navy may not know how to weld and work steel anymore, but now they know how to dress in drag and sodomize!


38 posted on 09/18/2023 7:40:02 AM PDT by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: Gene Eric

Mid 1960s. I was approx. 14 or 15. Backyard barbeque in suburban Detroit area, a few miles from Great Lakes Steel in Ecorse, Mich. Next door neighbors had visitors from out of town. Just after sunset, a bright orange glow appeared in the clouds. The lady visiting freaked out. “THE RUSSIANS JUST NUKED US!!! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!” A good laugh was had by all after my Dad and the guy next door explained about Great Lakes pouring steel.


39 posted on 09/18/2023 7:52:57 AM PDT by shooter223 (the government should fear the citizens......not the other way around)
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To: Reverend Wright

I thought climate change would make icebreakers unnecessary.


40 posted on 09/18/2023 8:02:00 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Faux News: "We distort, you deride")
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