This is what happens when a committee designs a horse - you get a camel.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/12/politics/us-navy-scrap-warshi…
The chief of the US Navy defended the service’s plans to scrap nine relatively new warships in the coming fiscal year even as the service tries to keep up with China’s growing fleet. Three of the littoral combat ships slated for decommissioning are less than three years old.
“I refuse to put an additional dollar against a system that would not be able to track a high-end submarine in today’s environment,” Gilday told the committee. He said the main reason for the early retirement was that the anti-submarine warfare system on the ships “did not work out technically.” The decommissioning of the ships would save the Navy approximately $391 million, according to the service’s proposed FY23 budget.
The decision amounts to an embarrassing admission that some of the Navy’s newest ships are not fit for modern warfare.
Despite the Navy’s plans to scrap the warships, Congress has the final say on the military budget and has balked at previous requests to decommission ships. Reducing the number of warships may be even more difficult as lawmakers focus on the growing size of China’s navy and the gap between the US and Chinese fleets.
At the same time, the Navy is working on developing a new class of ships more suited to the challenges from China’s rapidly expanding military and the threat Russia poses. These ships would have “more capability than the LCS” for the potential fights of the future, Kirby said.
Building more ships to match China’s numbers makes as much sense as concentrating on bomb patterns. We have to re-think the mission of navel vessels, rather than concentrate on which Congressperson’s district will benefit most by building them.
Jeff
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This article is about the Freedom class. The Independence class has major structural problems.
The littoral combat ship’s latest problem: Class-wide structural defects leading to hull cracks
Half of the Navy’s littoral combat ship fleet is suffering from structural defects that have led to hull cracks on several vessels, limiting the speed and sea states in which some ships can operate, according to internal records obtained by Navy Times and confirmed by sea service officials.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2022/05/10/the-litt…
Meanwhile, the Zumwalt class destroyers, $22.5B program for 3 ships, continue their search for a mission as the weapons systems they were supposed to use didn’t work.
Meanwhile, the Ford, $12.5B, after taking 8 years from keel laying to commissioning, in 2017, still isn’t serviceable. Navy is hoping the ship will be ready for it’s first deployment sometime this year.
I have been barking about this for several years. DoD procurement seems to result in pockets full of loot for the defense contractors, but little or nothing useful deployed.
Steve
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Half of the Navy’s littoral combat ship fleet is suffering from structural defects that have led to hull cracks on several vessels, limiting the speed and sea states in which some ships can operate, according to internal records obtained by Navy Times and confirmed by sea service officials.
Couldn’t tell from the article if these are design flaws or material flaws.
And why isn’t someone being held accountable (both financially and professionally) for these flaws?
Where is the new Rickover?
AW
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“And why isn’t someone being held accountable (both financially and professionally) for these flaws?”
Sure feels like America is plagued with end of Roman Empire style corruption.
If I’m recalling correctly, when responsible military leaders inform Congress that they
don’t want some of the “state of the art” ships and planes, Congress just ignores them and
continues to shovel money to defense contractors for these projects.
Ike sure was right !
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Couldn’t tell from the article if these are design flaws or material flaws.
SNAFU flaws!
The Captain
Where is the new Rickover?
Or Harry Truman, who headed up a commission investigating contractor corruption during the war.
Answer: they have all been captured by potential for cush jobs on defense contractor Boards. I commented a couple weeks ago about voting my Raytheon proxy; one ex-Admiral, one ex-General and one ex-SecDef on the Board. Most of them don’t make the standard for corruption that Darleen Druyun set.
Darleen A. Druyun (born November 7, 1947) is a former United States Air Force civilian official, Boeing executive, and convicted felon. In 2004, Druyun pleaded guilty to a felony in relation to her role in the United States Air Force tanker contract controversy, for engaging in corruption while serving as Principal Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Acquisition.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darleen_Druyun
In Druyun’s case, Boeing had a flock of white tail 76s they couldn’t get rid of. She, acting on the behalf of the Air Force, negotiated a contract where the AF would lease the white tails, pay the cost of converting them to tankers, fly them around for a few years, then pay the cost to convert them back into airliners, and return them to Boeing. Horribly bad deal for the Air Force, but stellar for Boeing. As soon as the contract was signed, she left the AF for a cush job at Boeing.
Sure feels like America is plagued with end of Roman Empire style corruption.
And we have the circuses too: obsession with sport and “celebs”. Media more interested in stoking hysteria than in informing people.
Steve
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There is no way to have a navy big enough to challenge China along their own coastline.
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