Nice looking ship—what are we building? Anything?
The Zumwalts look good, will be interesting to see if the wave piercing bow and tumblehome hull work as promised, particularly in high sea states.
Interesting about the Gorshkov: four years from keel laying to launch, another four from launch to sea trials. For a frigate-class vessel. How many Burkes have we cranked out in that same period?
We are building LCS gunboats with mission modules. According to the Trump Administration our fleet stands at approximately 60% of the war vessels needed. We are devoid of ocean going fleet escorts such as the old Oliver Hazzard Perry class the last of which have been sold or decommisioned. The lack of frigates are so bad that 8 decommissioned FF7 ships may be reactivated, although with what weapon systems are up to conjecture. I find that the Lcs ships are fine for green navy activities but that they come up short as multimission capable fleet escorts. Some people are talking about the Coast Guard endurance cutters and they would make excellent large coastal corvettes maybe even multi mission but the navy would still be reaching to fill the gap.
There is really only one vessel that fills the US Navys FFG gap, the Spanish Aegis Frigates Alvaro De Bazon class. It is the cloest thing to the Super Frigate program from the 1990s, it utilizes Arleigh Burke propulsion, sensor, weapons systems so that it has great logistical synergy with the US Navy.
We know that it is a popular design because both Norway and Australia have built and/or commissioned them into service. Both Spain and Australia have experience building them so battle damage could be repaired by both nations.
Finally poliically, if we need these ships fast we could enter into building programs with Spain and Australia which would defray the costs of additional ships in their fleet. Frankly they could use more. They could hand over some of their ships in exchange for new builds that need time for working up to commisioning. In 3 years our yards will be building them and the FFG shortage will end.
Radar the ships use Aegis except for the Norwegions which use a European system. This means the De Bazons are flexible in that regard and Trump type competition could result in a less costly construction cost.
In appearance they are attractive ships, looking just like what they are: a half Arleigh Burke Flt 2a, and would look great with Old Glory flying at the mast!