Archive for the ‘Sea’ Category
A Standard Missile (SM-3) is launched from the Aegis combat system equipped Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73) during a Missile Defense Agency ballistic missile flight test. U.S. Navy Photo (Released)
Fleet scrambles to meet BMD ship demand
Couldn’t see this coming:
The demand for BMD ships is expected to increase, driven in part by rising concerns about Iran’s intentions and the U.S. decision in September to cancel an anti-missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic and rely instead on Aegis.
But the Navy has a relatively small number of such ships, and those destroyers and cruisers are designed to carry out a wide range of war-fighting tasks. As a result, while Navy commanders are pleased with the expanding capabilities of their Aegis ships, they’re also somewhat guarded about trumpeting the advances.
“We can’t constrain assets to one mission,” a senior officer said last month. “They need to do a variety of other missions.”
The fleet is smaller than its been in almost a hundred years, yet when you factor in the need for on-station missile defense for allies, there’s suddenly more ocean to cover than ever before. The fact that billion-dollar ship will be turned into stationary missile platforms because land-based BMD was canceled is a crime.
Last March I pointed out a story about Teaching Old Aegis New Tricks. The BMD system is being upgraded to allow SM-2 missiles to intercept short-range ballistic missiles. This will allow SM-3s to be “saved” for longer range threats, but it doesn’t do anything to increase the number of available BMD ships.
The first thing to do is get the BMD upgrade to more Arleigh Burkes. There are currently 56 of them in the fleet, with at least 7 more coming. With the DD(X) program being scaled back, it seems likely that there will be even more of them.
What I’d really like to see, though is a 21st-century FFG 7 frigate. I’ve written about this before. First of all, the current remaining ships are getting long in the tooth. The newest is 20 years old. Several other nations have them in service, and everyone is interested in extending their lives.
Though “cheap” is always a relative term, it describes the FFG 7s pretty well. I continue to think that a 21st century FFG 7 is one of the things we should really be looking at. Take some of the automation and newer high-tech innovations from the past couple of decades and work them into a FFG 7 hull. Save some space by cutting down on crew size (slightly) and maybe kick up the power a notch or two.
The frigate USS Hawes (FFG 53). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Matthew DeWitt/Released)
What would it take to put AEGIS and a dozen or two VLS tubes on a FFG 7-type frigate? Could you put the VLS amidships where the current 76mm gun is? You could put the gun forward where the Mk13 missile launcher used to be. (I’m thinking the VLS wouldn’t fit forward.)
If this would be possible, we could build relatively cheap (so to speak) multi-purpose ships based on a proven design that could help fill a number of gaps. This would address BMD needs, general escort and presence needs, and even help for things like the pirate problem off Somalia. Recently the call went out for more frigates over there, but there just aren’t enough to go around.
Even if BMD on frigates isn’t workable, or affordable when you factor in the AEGIS, I think we need frigates more than we need a huge fleet of Littoral Combat Ships.
Happy New Year, MO readers!
The close-in weapons system fired from the deck of the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin during a training exercise. Chosin is the flagship of CTF-151, a multinational task force established to conduct counter-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel Edgington)
There are a lot of familiar images from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. Here is one of them:
The wrecked destroyers USS Downes (DD-375) and USS Cassin (DD-372) in Drydock One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard, soon after the end of the Japanese air attack. Cassin has capsized against Downes. USS Pennsylvania (BB-38) is astern, occupying the rest of the drydock. The torpedo-damaged cruiser USS Helena (CL-50) is in the right distance, beyond the crane. Visible in the center distance is the capsized USS Oklahoma (BB-37), with USS Maryland (BB-46) alongside. Smoke is from the sunken and burning USS Arizona (BB-39), out of view behind Pennsylvania. USS California (BB-44) is partially visible at the extreme left. This image has been attributed to Navy Photographer's Mate Harold Fawcett. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, National Archives Collection.
Those who don’t know or haven’t looked closely might not notice that there are two destroyers in front of the battleship. The drydock had been dry when the attack began, but after raging fires began setting off ammunition aboard the destroyers, it was flooded in an attempt to douse the flames. Cassin slipped from her blocks and rolled against Downes.
Both ships were 1500-ton Mahan-class ships and had been commissioned in the mid-30s.
Here’s another image, taken from near where the two men in the first photo are standing at the head of the dock. The men on the Downes surveying the damage give a great sense of scale:
In Drydock Number One at the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard on 7 December 1941, immediatly following the Japanese attack. Both ships had been severely damaged by bomb hits and the resulting fires. In the background, also in Drydock Number One, is USS Pennsylvania (BB-38), which had received relatively light damage in the raid. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, NHHC Collection.
Notice the man in white uniform crawling on the Cassin, just behind the partially submerged #2 turret.
Here’s a shot from the rear of the destroyers:
Read the rest of this entry »
The Chinese nuclear sub force is getting quieter, but a recent report says that the new Jin-class missile boats are about as stealthy as old Soviet Delta IIIs.
Or, in other words, not terribly stealthy at all.
Somali pirates hijack tanker going to U.S.
Somali pirates seized a tanker carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. in the increasingly dangerous waters off East Africa, an official said Monday, an attack that could pose a huge environmental or security threat to the region.
The Greece-flagged Maran Centaurus was hijacked Sunday about 800 miles off the coast of Somalia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force. Harbour said it originated from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and was destined for the U.S. The ship has 28 crew members on board, he said.
The pirate problem off Somalia has been one that the US public knows about and talks about but isn’t really interested in doing anything about. If gas prices go up because of this latest hijacking, could that change?
Will soccer moms driving their kids to school in minivans suddenly be calling to hang pirates from the yard arm?
We can only hope.
Report: Lax leadership led to Hormuz collision
An informal atmosphere — along with crew complacency, a “weak” command and inferior submariner skills — are named as contributors to the March 20 collision between the attack submarine Hartford and the amphibious transport dock New Orleans in the Strait of Hormuz.
And according to a heavily redacted 102-page Judge Advocate General Manual investigation obtained by Navy Times through a Freedom of Information Act request, what turned into a major embarrassment for the submarine fleet was entirely “avoidable.”
No blame lies with the crew of the USS New Orleans according to the report.
Ford family celebrates beginning of aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford construction
The 38th president’s daughter, Susan Ford Bales, declared the keel “truly and fairly laid” at an authentication ceremony attended by congressmen, dignitaries and shipworkers at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding’s shipyard.
Bales, the ship’s sponsor, on Friday added her initials in chalk on a metal plate, which was welded to the 900-ton keel — the building block upon which the carrier will rise.
Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former President Gerald R. Ford and ship's sponsor of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), writes her initials onto a metal plate during the keel laying and authentication ceremony. Gerald R. Ford is the newest class of aircraft carrier. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin S. O'Brien/Released)
Robert Bowker welds the initials of Susan Ford Bales into the keel of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) during a keel laying and authentication ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News. Gerald R. Ford is the newest class of aircraft carrier. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin S. O'Brien/Released)
Ford served aboard USS Monterey (CVL-26) during World War 2 and was nearly washed overboard during Typhoon Cobra. As I wrote in that post, Murdoc doesn’t really believe that ‘Ford’ is a good choice for the name of an aircraft carrier, particularly a lead ship. But I guess it could have been worse.
Here’s a video from WOOD-TV:
The ship is scheduled to enter service in 2015.
Last week I pointed out a story which claimed that the Prince of Wales, the second of two new British aircraft carriers, could be switched to a helicopter-only commando carrier.
British defence equipment and support minister Quentin Davies called the report “complete rubbish.”
He also noted that the British have no intention to cut back on the number of F-35s they plan to purchase. This had been the reason cited for the downgrading of the carrier.
The amphibious dock landing ship Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) New York (LPD 21) transits New York Harbor past the Statue of Liberty. The ship has 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center in her bow and will be commissioned Nov. 7 in New York City. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Eric M. Durie/Released)
Amphib built with WTC steel arrives in New York
The new Navy assault ship New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in its namesake city Monday with a rifle volley salute near the site of the 2001 terrorist attack.
First responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public gathered Monday at a waterfront viewing area, where they could see the crew standing at attention along the deck of the battleship gray vessel.
The big ship paused. Then the shots were fired, with a cracking sound, in three bursts.
The bow of the $1 billion ship, built in Louisiana, contains about 7.5 tons of steel from the fallen towers.
Let’s hope the kinks have been worked out of the San Antonio class by now. New York is the fifth of the class.
