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Navy: Lincoln Refueling Delayed, Will Hurt Carrier Readiness
USNI News ^ | 8 FEb 13 | USNI News Editor

Posted on 02/08/2013 3:11:25 PM PST by SkyPilot

The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.

Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.

“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said. “CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.”

Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower subcommittee released a statement denouncing the need for decision.

Forbes called the delay, “another example of how these reckless and irresponsible defense cuts in Washington will have a long-term impact on the Navy’s ability to perform its missions. Not only will the Lincoln be delayed in returning to the Fleet, but this decision will also affect the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) defueling, the USS George Washington (CVN-73) RCOH, and future carrier readiness.”

The move by the navy is the second this week involving funding for carriers. On Wednesday it announced it would delay the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) to the Middle East do to the ongoing budget strife bringing the total number of carriers in U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to one until funding normalizes.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: navy; refueling; usninews

1 posted on 02/08/2013 3:11:29 PM PST by SkyPilot
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To: SkyPilot

This is all stuff that Obama wanted to do anyway. Don’t be fooled that it’s being caused by any budget problems because we haven’t had a budget for four years anyhow.


2 posted on 02/08/2013 3:15:06 PM PST by MeganC (“Free Men Need Not Ask Permission!”)
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To: MeganC

You are correct, this and everything else Obayma is doing is intentional.


3 posted on 02/08/2013 3:19:20 PM PST by exnavy (Fish or cut bait ...Got ammo, Godspeed!)
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To: MeganC

Siphon fuel out of Air Force One, and stop the mult-million dollar campaigning across the country for the Agenda. Use the fuel for the Military.


4 posted on 02/08/2013 3:19:20 PM PST by traditional1 (Amerika.....Providing public housing for the Mulatto Messiah)
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To: SkyPilot

I presume we’re talking about nuclear fuel, not merely filling up the diesel tanks.


5 posted on 02/08/2013 3:59:07 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed (Universal Background Check -> Registration -> Confiscation -> Tyranny -> Genocide)
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To: SkyPilot

Typical government game, threat of funding cut close the police dept keep the pork.

Fire some Admirals and replace them with better fiscal managers.


6 posted on 02/08/2013 4:08:41 PM PST by Leto
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To: MeganC

Agreed! It is complete propaganda, with all of the things that government pukes money on, and oh ya a nuclear carrier is out of gas. How convenient that the global force for good is stalled, according to government propaganda.

Oh joy, lets have a conoco truck drive out and help them.


7 posted on 02/08/2013 5:15:25 PM PST by foundedonpurpose (It's time for a fundamental restoration, of our country's principles!)
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To: foundedonpurpose; All

Oh ya it’s the USS Abraham Lincoln, how do you even start to make this crap up?


8 posted on 02/08/2013 5:21:11 PM PST by foundedonpurpose (It's time for a fundamental restoration, of our country's principles!)
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To: foundedonpurpose

Sorry to keep going, but, isn’t our government siting on a 300 year supply of uranium. Just a question?. My brother was an engineer on a nuke reactor ship, that was the big brag that he gave me is that our gov is sitting on a lot of uranium fuel for the military.

Sorry, with BO we have just run out and lost all our supplies!

This is now very serious!!!!


9 posted on 02/08/2013 5:29:56 PM PST by foundedonpurpose (It's time for a fundamental restoration, of our country's principles!)
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To: Beelzebubba
I presume we’re talking about nuclear fuel, not merely filling up the diesel tanks.

Yea there are no Conventional Steamer Super Carriers in commission. All remaining are CVN {Nuke propulsion}.

Note of interest. In the late 1970's my ship was at NOB Norfolk. NOB was not use as a shipyard to the extent the pictures & articles show here. For many reason leaving two carriers berthed there under shipyard conditions is not wise at all.

10 posted on 02/08/2013 5:48:07 PM PST by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?)
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To: SkyPilot

Local governments and homeowners’ associations around uranium deposits are a strong political constituency. A few decades back, there were hundreds of uranium mines in Colorado.


11 posted on 02/08/2013 6:52:13 PM PST by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of rotten politics smelled around the planet.)
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To: foundedonpurpose
Agreed! It is complete propaganda, with all of the things that government pukes money on, and oh ya a nuclear carrier is out of gas. How convenient that the global force for good is stalled, according to government propaganda. Oh joy, lets have a conoco truck drive out and help them.

ABE is in fact due a refueling {nuclear reactor type} I looked up the ships age it's time. It takes 4-5 years for the process and it must be done at Newport News. Conspiracies? Watch and see if it is decommissioned instead of refueled. With the conventionals they used to undergo what was called SLEP or Ship Life Extension Program at their half service life. That took about the same amount of time as a nuke refueling. This was the difference in getting either 25 years or 45-50 years total service out of the ship. It was simply a major overhaul of the hull and propulsion plant.

Of the last two conventional carriers AMERICA was decommissioned at half life with SLEP canceled and the John F Kennedy SLEP was done improperly mainly due to budget cuts and the rush closing of the facility it at in Philly Yards.

Needed yard time has been trimmed down many times since 1989 by both parties and all POTUS after Reagan. This is the end result. It's sad to see ships done this way and it's a waste. With a NUKE not just a waste but dangerous. The Navy needs another prick like Rickover to run the nuclear program & take on establishment. He didn't give a rip who's big toes got stepped on. He did care about his program.

12 posted on 02/08/2013 7:24:04 PM PST by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?)
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To: cva66snipe

Good research, so we will see if BO is a tool, or is he is own MAN. Either way we are not lacking the fuel, but he might cut the cost of the extensive refuel project.

Either way the article is propaganda, the ship is not out of fuel. Our military would never let a nuke fueled ship run out, bad things tend to happen after that.


13 posted on 02/08/2013 8:23:51 PM PST by foundedonpurpose (It's time for a fundamental restoration, of our country's principles!)
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To: cva66snipe; Beelzebubba
In the late 1970's my ship was at NOB Norfolk. NOB was not use as a shipyard to the extent the pictures & articles show here. For many reason leaving two carriers berthed there under shipyard conditions is not wise at all.

I noticed three or four carriers at Sewall's Point quays when I was there a year ago last December, one of which was clearly being worked on, but that photo with the article -- is that Norfolk? I thought it had to be a West Coast base (not San Diego), judging by that mob of ships. One of them's an LHA or LPH (Wasp or Tarawa classes -- only one Tarawa left now), maybe two of them (can't tell about the vessel farthest from the camera), but the rest of them are a real crowd of CVN's.

Yeah, I don't like to see big ships bunched up like that.

I remember entering New York harbor in September, 1957 with my family aboard a World War II-leftover Army transport, the Jose Valdez, all 2500 glorious tons of it (or whatever it was), and seeing a mass of grey masts and hulls over on the Bayonne side of the harbor. I had been reading James Gavin's War and Peace in the Atomic Age (until my mother made my dad take it away from me on the theory that I was too tender, at 9-1/2, for such things), and I was concerned that the Mothball Fleet was vulnerable, tied up all together that way. Some of those hulls showed the hippy bulk of battleships, which still rated as capital ships with me!

My dad, an Air Force captain, laughed and said don't worry, son, the Navy knows how to take care of its business, and if the balloon goes up, those ships will be gone in 48 hours. I suppose that's what you tell nine-year-olds about deterrence, when you're cornered.

14 posted on 02/09/2013 2:52:14 AM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: lentulusgracchus
It it the carrier piers N.O.B. Norfolk. But anyone who was a mid 1980's and prior sailor might not recognize a few things. The bottom two carriers are at Pier 12 the most protected berth from wind. That was usually where we berthed. Next two ships up? That was not there until sometime maybe in the mid 1980's. That is Pier 10 as I understand it. It wasn't really a good idea the pier is open to some very severe straight line of storms that cross the river from Hampton.

The next CVN going up the picture is at Pier 7. It was used when I was in but only one side of it because of turning restrictions getting into it. Now it looks like two will fit. That means a potential for six carriers or more than half of the entire carrier fleet can be berthed there at one time. That is not good.

Amphibs and most destroyers, cruisers etc, usually tie up at Little Creek Amphib Base on down toward Virginia Beach but they do use NOB at times. Upstream a few miles is Norfolk Naval Shipyards where at least two of the carriers should be instead of at NOB or across the river at Newport News Shipbuilders. Shipyards have support NOB does not in the way of dealing with shipyard issue damage control such as fires or flooding. When holes are cut down through decks to access equipment watertight integrity is compromised. You want to do this in the very best circumstances for that reason. NOB is not such.

If those ships were hit in an attack would render NOB and the ship useless. I imagine doing the work there is to cut the cost of a few hours of towing for the transit to Portsmouth. Actually the carriers can go most of that trip under on their own power. NOB Norfolk is somewhat protected. The base has a huge airstrip and Oceana Air Base is nearby as well. But still IMO this is insanity.

We do have another east coast carrier port that was built to berth two carriers down in Mayport Florida. As of the last time I looked a few weeks ago no carrier is home ported there. That doesn't make any sense. The Navy also has to use Newport News Yards to refuel all carriers. We went from four to one carrier builder in the past couple of decades. As for maintenance? Bremerton Washington is the only CONUS west coast carrier shipyard.

BTW the carriers are deep draft at about 38 feet and require tugs and a Pilot to get underway. The best time to move them is at high tide. To Transit out to sea from NOB they have to transit over Hampton Roads Tunnel next to BOB and the Chesapeake Bay Tunnel further out.

The east coast Mothball yard is now in Philly. I think all Naval Yards in NYC have been closed.

15 posted on 02/09/2013 12:19:14 PM PST by cva66snipe (Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?)
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