USS Gridley
Posted on 10/11/2007 6:01:19 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers 'buckling' under stress, admits USN
By Tara Copp
Serious structural defects have been identified throughout the United States Navy's fleet of Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, Jane's can reveal.
The navy (USN) has admitted that many of the 51 ships currently in service are buckling under the stress of higher-than-anticipated loads at sea.
The impact of rough-sea slamming on the bow has led to warping of main transverse bulkhead beams and some of the cribbing, a source said.
Repairs and strengthening work is already being carried out on the latest Flight IIA ships as well as vessels from the earlier production batches.
In September, for example, one of the newest destroyers - USS Gridley (DDG 101) - was undergoing repairs for beam warping during post-shakedown availability (PSA) at BAE Systems' shipyard in San Diego, California. Weakened support beams were cut out, reinforced and replaced.
Specialised labour was required because the task involved strengthening beams in very tight spots above the Gridley's sonar equipment room.
But the problem is widespread; according to a presentation on 21 September by Rear Admiral Kevin McCoy, the chief engineer at Naval Sea Systems Command's Naval Systems Engineering Directorate, the navy approved a USD62 million "bow-strengthening backfit" to address "local buckling of deck transverse beams" and other structural damage in a number of destroyers.
(Excerpt) Read more at janes.com ...
USS Gridley
“You may fire when you are ready, Glidley”
Classic design issue. Let’s put a cruiser into a destroyer.
Who said they "can" reveal that info? Or should???
So you see it as the lengthening of a destroyer design to get a cruiser class on the cheap has led to having on-going structural issues?
Jane’s is British; that’s a British idiom. I think it’s intended to imply that they sat on the story until they checked the facts. Having done so, they “can now reveal blah-de-blah”. IOW, publish the story.
Jane’s is an authority on such matters. It’s not difficult to imagine that it “released” this information with permission.
“The impact of rough-sea slamming on the bow has led to warping of main transverse bulkhead beams and some of the cribbing, a source said..”
Global warming claims yet another victim. It’s Bush’s fault.
They probably wouldn't: the culprit is "higher-than-anticipated loads at sea." They probably did the math right, but the loads model was wrong.
A serious, but not necessarily an obvious problem.
The question is: does the same modeling error affect other ships?
I’m having trouble envisioning warping ACROSS the keel. Are the forces coming from the sides of the bow, causing the transverse bulkheads to warp vertically? Or are they longitudinal forces that bend the bulkheads perpendicular to the keel?
Yes, I’m sure that Janes did thoroughly check their facts etc. I guess it’s the age old question: when SHOULD such information be published... especially during a time of war.
It's probably almost impossible to hide it ... and since we're not going up against the Barbary Pirates in a pitched naval battle it probably doesn't make much difference. The problem has been caught, and will be corrected. There are probably lots of issues that are much more sensitive, and much more in need of being kept under cover. If we were currently in a shooting match with PRC, I'd think differently.
4. Were there any warnings of the problems as the ships were being built? Plenty and daily, but you had to have a few after work beers with the guys, and what the heck do working class shipbuilders know anyways? The ship was overseen by Navy engineers that never made a plywood skiff in any of their lives.
I don't get it. Is "specialized labour" referring to asian tiny-framed people? That's racist. I wonder if the criteria is that you have to be to fit in a dashboard or a car's seat.
Agreed, but can’t it be revealed after the corrective actions have been completed? I’m just a bit irritable this morning.
Trying to put too much into too little.
“Let’s put some 100km AA missiles in it. And AEGIS. And Tomahawks. And VLS Harpoons. And some torpedos. And a gun. And a helicopter.”
The Arleigh Burke was commissioned in 1991. They’re just now finding structural flaws in the design class? Or did they redesign the newest build hulls?
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