Posted on 08/16/2023 6:22:39 AM PDT by artichokegrower
The story is that US Navy is cutting its losses on this class of vessels. They were poorly designed, and they performed poorly
Not only that, the maintenance costs were huge on it.
I think they’re doing the right thing. This is a classic case of when you were in a hole, stop digging
They are undoubtedly catching heat for doing so, and they are deserving of that, but it is a lemon that cannot be squeezed.
The Ukrainians would refuse it. A nation at war has little tolerance for boondoggles. Unless its the US of course. Even in WW2 the US made things like this -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Alaska_(CB-1)
In service for three years.
Wrong ship for the mission(s). It looks like they produced these ships and then tried to figure out how to use them. Ass-backwards. You specify the need/mission and then develop the ship to meet it.
Given their problems, I doubt anyone wants them. If anyone wants to try they can buy them at scrap value.
At the end of WWII hundreds of ships were decommissioned as we reduced our manpower from over 12 million.
In 1958, the Bureau of Ships prepared two feasibility studies to see if Alaska and Guam were suitable to be converted to guided missile cruisers. The first study involved removing all of the guns in favor of four different missile systems. At $160 million this was seen as too costly, so a second study was conducted. This study left the forward batteries—the two 12-inch triple turrets and three of the 5-inch dual turrets—in place and added a reduced version of the first plan for the aft. This would have cost $82 million, and was still seen as too costly.[11] As a result, the conversion proposal was abandoned and the ship was instead stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 June 1960. On 30 June, she was sold to the Lipsett Division of Luria Brothers to be broken up for scrap.[8]
There is no warranty for incompetence.
Indeed. I fear this is coming to the USA, in spades.
Politiicians and DC cronies of all kinds have feasted for decades on printed US dollars, massive debt, and general peace and prosperity. And while they have scammed the system with $Billion ships that last only 5 years, they have turned the military into just another bloated, woke, politicized bureaucracy.
I'm afraid they have set themselves, and us, up for a great humiliation.
Maybe it would be cost effective to create artificial reefs by flying F-35 STOVL jets into these ships.
Two birds, one stone…
Incompetence or Treachery?...............................
The USN is decommissioning two entire classes of Littoral Combat Ships (Independence and Freedom) because they're useless in combat.
Much of the modular mission specific systems couldn't be made to work, the crew was designed to be minimal, but the Navy found out that there aren't enough crew for battle damage response during war, and without the mission modules the ships have no real purpose in time of war.
What's worse, the US Coast Guard doesn't want them either because they're too expensive to operate with Gas Turbine engines (ship mounted jet engines), and do not have enough range.
The Coast Guard is building their own advanced cutters that do meet their mission requirements.
Were I Commander in Chief, I'd stop new construction of the Coast Guard's Offshore Patrol Cutter program (but complete the ones already under construction,) turn over both classes of LCSs from the Navy to the Coast Guard, tell the Coast Guard to spend the rest of their OPC program money on installing conventional diesels into the LCSs, and suck it up, buttercup.
The Coast Guard counters that it would be just as expensive to retrofit the LCSs as it would be to just build new OPCs. I am skeptical of that claim.
Yes they do but a five year service life is a little short. Tax payer is left holding the bag. I wonder if they ever considering selling the ships to a friendly government.
Whatever the US military does wrong, its a very minor part of the US spending problem.
https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/military-spending-defense-budget
Even they don’t want them!
Worse than either, bureaucracy.
Are the people originally responsible for poor decisions making still around. Fire their asses. Take the pensions. Send them to prison.
I’d be right behind you....considering that almost every single member of my family dedicated their lives to this country (mostly Navy, also Army and working for the Air Force) I cannot explain the way that I grieve for this country.
Time to build the Montana class of fast BBs
These were special, as by the time they were completed the Alaska class had no mission.
They were built according to a pre-WWI concept, as “commerce protection” cruisers. The Germans tried to use an already obsolete concept, the “commerce raider” strategy in early WW2, with things like these -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland-class_cruiser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scharnhorst-class_battleship
But they were gone or irrelevant by 1941.
These were “special”. It was a flawed concept from the beginning, executed badly.
I doubt any government wants these hulls. They would inherit mechanical and structural problems, and it seems that they are ill-designed to be fitted out as small frigates.
The guy at the desk across from my dad was responsible for sending the USS Pueblo with inadequate armament into North Korean waters where it was captured. His reward? Promoted to Captain.
Suffice to say, there is a lot of politics involved in getting a promotion to Captain in the USN. I don't know who is in charge of the Littoral Combat Ship project, but I'm betting that person will enjoy a promotion for signing off on the project.
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