Posted on 06/03/2012 2:44:41 PM PDT by george76
The Navy is evaluating whether it's worth spending millions of dollars to repair the USS Miami, the nuclear-powered submarine damaged in a fire in a Maine shipyard.
If the submarine is scrapped, the fleet could feel the effects for years. The number of attack submarines like the Miami is projected to drop as they are deactivated faster than they are replaced, and Navy leaders already have been trying to find new ways to keep up with demands from combatant commanders.
...
The Miami was in dry dock at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, for an overhaul when the fire broke out May 23, damaging the torpedo room and command area inside the sub's forward compartment. The cause is under investigation. Navy officials say it will be about two weeks before an announcement on whether the submarine will sail again.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Another.. “accident”.
Covered by GEICO?
Or possibly Allstate under a 'mayhem' clause?
USS Miami (SSN-755) was commissioned in June of 1990. The 688i class boats have a life span of 42 years, so it might be worth repairing.
Burned for over 8 hours, way more serious than at first it was cast.
Don’t you dare spend millions of dollars to repair a weapon used to defend America!!!
We need that money to pay for abortions, contraception’s and M. Obama’s required/approved food in the schools. Heck, even the new and improved ‘same sex’ sex classes in grade school is going to be expensive.
Maybe the Russians might be willing to buy a preowned nuclear-powered submarine.
Paul Krugman doesn’t think a billion is alot of money.
What better headlines could be written for this one? None !!
You know the White House had a big shindig celebration in the ballroom. Of course, the official White House drink will be provided -->RIPPLE from a brown paper bag !
That was the shipyard that built the U.S.S THRESHER which sunk on her sea trials in 1963
That was the shipyard that built the U.S.S THRESHER which sunk on her sea trials in 1963
the very same shipyard that built the U.S.S THRESHER which sunk on sea trials.
USS Miami was featured prominently in Tom Clancy’s non-fiction book “Submarine”.
Fix ‘er up and let her sail again.
They can afford to fix it and should.
The gov is spending 900 dollars a month for a section eight two bedroom apartment for single mothers.
They can afford to fix the Miami.
They could rename it the Smokey Bear. ;-)
I think it is best to defer to the engineers on this one. Submarines are very finely tuned boats, and a relatively small accident or fire might very well “total” them.
It’s not just that they need to operate, but operate silently. Anything that happens to the hull could make them stand out like a sore thumb underwater.
This being said, it might be time to rethink the submarine, not doing with less, but adding new designs with new capabilities.
One idea is to create the equivalent of a drone submarine carrier. A large, slow moving submarine that carries several shorter range drones, acting as their “motherboat”, as it were. As such, it and its drones could patrol an enormous amount of ocean or coastline.
Drones could be like long range torpedoes, carry several torpedoes, or they could be recoverable, providing long range reconnaissance, tracking other submarines, etc.
I wonder if Krugman would be against fixing it if were assigned to the new all Female Crew that Fat As* is sponsoring?
That much heat in such a confined space would have significantly weakened the steel, and if the sub were to be put to sea again it could possibly implode from the pressure on the hull in a deep dive even if it’s well within it’s diving depth range
I’m assuming they were able to somewhat isolate this fire. It can’t have been an ordinary fire if it burned almost 10 hours. Where did it get the oxygen? It must have been a chemical fire where the oxidant was built in. I don’t imagine too many details will be forthcoming.
I'm not terribly worried about silent operations - that's mostly a propulsion space issue. Engineers can test the metal for fatigue, replace all the electronics and damaged cabling, replace probably all shock mounts that were exposed to high temperatures, and otherwise determine the necessary repairs. It comes down to whether fixing the boat is the best use of our tax dollars. Will more of that $1B go to Obama's supporters if we use it to repair this warship or if we use it for the next Cash-for-Clunkers or green energy stimulus. Isn't that how all federal spending decisions are made these days?
Subs carry VERY large amounts of high pressure air and high pressure oxygen. If they had those systems charged at this point in their shipyard work, that could be the answer to your question. Alternatively, they might have had a very large hole in the hull for maintenance, which would give them an unlimited supply of fresh air. I suspect that someone on FR knows the actual answer.
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