USN in General

[Pelican]

Sir Humphrey
A brilliant read on the forgotten plans to get the US Navy to operate WW2 era destroyers late into the 1980s, and the challenges of supporting very old warships decades after planned retirement - parables for the Type 23 force now perhaps?
https://wwiiafterwwii.wordpress.com/202 ... estroyers/

[Pelican]

The Navy's Mighty Iowa-Class Battleships: Time for a Comeback?

The Second World War marked the end of the Age of Battleships. Aircraft carriers, with their flexible, long range striking power made battlewagons obsolete in a matter of months. American battleships, once expected to fight a decisive battle in the Pacific that would halt the Japanese Empire, were instead relegated to providing artillery support for island-hopping campaigns. Yet after the war America’s battleships would return, again and again, to do the one thing only battleships could do: bring the biggest guns around to bear on the enemy.

See - https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/ ... ack-209444 - LFT

[Brian James]

USS Carl Vinson pictured on departure from Pearl Harbor on February 18th 2024.

[Pelican]

The Extreme Process of Refueling $13 Billion US Aircraft Carrier During Storms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q92AAVvSTLg - LFT

[Pelican]

Navy Introduces New Robotics Warfare Specialist Rating

The Navy is looking to build up its workforce of sailors who can operate and support robotics via a new rating announced Thursday.

The Robotics Warfare Specialist, previewed by Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti during her keynote speech at WEST 2024 conference, cohosted by the U.S. Naval Institute and AFCEA, was announced via NAVADMIN 036/24.

“The RW rating is a major milestone in our Navy’s relentless march to achieve a truly hybrid Fleet,” reads the NAVADMIN. “This dedicated robotics rating will accelerate development of deep expertise in rapidly advancing autonomous technologies.”

According to the accompanying fact sheets, the new rating will apply to active duty sailorsonly. The Navy plans on converting sailors who already work in robotics warfare billets and hold a robotics warfare classification, although sailors without it can still be screened for conversion. Those sailors might need additional service before they can convert.

The Navy will also be assigning the rating to new sailors, who will go through specific “A” schools for the rating. New sailors will go through electronic technician “A” school before going to a “C” school for robotics warfare. The Navy is planning to open up a specific robotics warfare “A” school by Fiscal Year 2026.

Continues at - https://news.usni.org/2024/02/22/navy-i ... ist-rating

[Pelican]

The Wreck of USS Northampton – Broken By the Long Lance

In the period between 2017 and 2020, RV Petrel made many, many notable wreck discoveries. Ranging from the Surigao Strait wrecks, to all of the undiscovered American fleet carriers. Understandably, some wrecks got lost in the shuffle, as it were.

One of those wrecks was USS Northampton. This heavy cruiser, lost off Guadalcanal, was found in early 2018. Her discovery was sandwiched between the far more famous discoveries of Indianapolis in 2017, and the spree of fleet carriers in 2018. As well as USS Juneau and Helena, right around the same time.

Because of that, Northampton wasn't really covered much. You could be forgiven for not even knowing she had been found.

This video will, hopefully, bring more attention to her discovery.

Petrel Facebook Album: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 156&type=3

See - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQn9lb9JuTk - LFT

[Pelican]

Navy Lookout
USS Indiana surfaced through sea ice 13/3/24 during operation ICE CAMP 2024 designed to assess operational readiness in the Arctic.
Personnel from Australia, Canada, France and UK embarked in the submarine including Roger Readwin UK Naval Attache to Washington.
Photos at - https://twitter.com/NavyLookout/status/ ... 0611853616


UK Defence Staff in US
We couldn't love our Royal Navy attaché to the US more.
But in characteristic unflappable Britishness Roger Readwin UK describes this as "an inhospitable battlespace".
We're not sure that quite covers it
Just wait ‘til you hear where he's been with our brilliant US Navy friends.
See video at - https://twitter.com/UKdefUS/status/1768447152005460199

[Pelican]

Navy’s new 30-year shipbuilding plan sketches 2 paths for future manned ship fleet

Both plans would shrink the fleet to 280 ships by fiscal 2027, then grow them back from there to a high of 387 ships if one of the options is followed.

WASHINGTON — The Navy has charted two potential pathways ahead in its new 30-year shipbuilding strategy, according to a proposal submitted to lawmakers today: one that will require more funding that the Navy says is aligned with the 2023 Battle Force Ship Assessment and Requirement (BFSAR) report, and another “resource constrained” outlook that assumes no real annual spending growth.

The twin plans, described in a Navy document first reported by Politico and obtained by Breaking Defense, are largely identical in terms of total manned battle force ships through much of the next decade, with both reaching a low of 280 ships in fiscal year 2027.

But after FY33 the two start to diverge. According to the document, the BFSAR-aligned plan would see a fleet of 330 manned ships by the mid-2030s, and 377 ships by FY45. By comparison, the budget-constrained plan wouldn’t hit 330 ships until later in the 2030s, and in FY45 would have 343 ships.

The resource-constrained alternative shipbuilding plan also falls short of the total force the Navy has told Congress it needs to support the National Defense Strategy — 381 ships, according to USNI News. The strategy says the service would briefly achieve that figure with the better-funded plan in FY42 and FY43, before dipping to again rise above the 381 target in FY52 through the strategy’s final year of FY54. All told, the better-funded plan would peak at 387 ships in FY54. Conversely, the resource-limited plan would top out at 348 ships in FY42.

The two-option strategy follows the service’s previously proposed three potential ways forward for constructing its fleet, which earned the ire of lawmakers who viewed the move as indecisive.

Both of the current plans expect on-time and on-budget industry performance, the document notes. The two also keep a total force of 31 amphibious warfare ships across the 30-year timeframe, evidently heeding complaints from lawmakers that service officials were not adhering to requirements outlined by Congress. Marine Corps leadership admitted last year that a lack of ready ships prevented the service from responding to events around the globe, such as the civil and humanitarian crises in Turkey and Sudan.

The shipbuilding strategy further details needs for the submarine industrial base, which some lawmakers fear is being strained by the AUKUS agreement that plans to provide nuclear subs to Australia.

The Navy will need approximately $17.5 billion in additional funds between FY24 and FY29 to furnish capacity for “sustained production levels” of one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class subs by 2028, the document says. About $3.3 billion alone is contained in the $100-plus billion supplemental still stuck on Capitol Hill, with the rest spread out in current and future budget requests.

Of the 19 ships potentially destined for decommissioning in FY25, 10 will be retired early, with the other nine consisting of six combatant ships and three attack submarines that are at or exceed their expected service lives, the document says. The service’s $203.9 billion FY25 budget request unveiled last week called for buying just six new vessels — a net negative that lawmakers are already unimpressed by.

Source - https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/nav ... Cvx3G4bRY4

[Pelican]

Navy’s new 30-year shipbuilding plan sketches 2 paths for future manned ship fleet

Both plans would shrink the fleet to 280 ships by fiscal 2027, then grow them back from there to a high of 387 ships if one of the options is followed.

WASHINGTON — The Navy has charted two potential pathways ahead in its new 30-year shipbuilding strategy, according to a proposal submitted to lawmakers today: one that will require more funding that the Navy says is aligned with the 2023 Battle Force Ship Assessment and Requirement (BFSAR) report, and another “resource constrained” outlook that assumes no real annual spending growth.

The twin plans, described in a Navy document first reported by Politico and obtained by Breaking Defense, are largely identical in terms of total manned battle force ships through much of the next decade, with both reaching a low of 280 ships in fiscal year 2027.

But after FY33 the two start to diverge. According to the document, the BFSAR-aligned plan would see a fleet of 330 manned ships by the mid-2030s, and 377 ships by FY45. By comparison, the budget-constrained plan wouldn’t hit 330 ships until later in the 2030s, and in FY45 would have 343 ships.

The resource-constrained alternative shipbuilding plan also falls short of the total force the Navy has told Congress it needs to support the National Defense Strategy — 381 ships, according to USNI News. The strategy says the service would briefly achieve that figure with the better-funded plan in FY42 and FY43, before dipping to again rise above the 381 target in FY52 through the strategy’s final year of FY54. All told, the better-funded plan would peak at 387 ships in FY54. Conversely, the resource-limited plan would top out at 348 ships in FY42.

The two-option strategy follows the service’s previously proposed three potential ways forward for constructing its fleet, which earned the ire of lawmakers who viewed the move as indecisive.

Both of the current plans expect on-time and on-budget industry performance, the document notes. The two also keep a total force of 31 amphibious warfare ships across the 30-year timeframe, evidently heeding complaints from lawmakers that service officials were not adhering to requirements outlined by Congress. Marine Corps leadership admitted last year that a lack of ready ships prevented the service from responding to events around the globe, such as the civil and humanitarian crises in Turkey and Sudan.

The shipbuilding strategy further details needs for the submarine industrial base, which some lawmakers fear is being strained by the AUKUS agreement that plans to provide nuclear subs to Australia.

The Navy will need approximately $17.5 billion in additional funds between FY24 and FY29 to furnish capacity for “sustained production levels” of one Columbia-class and two Virginia-class subs by 2028, the document says. About $3.3 billion alone is contained in the $100-plus billion supplemental still stuck on Capitol Hill, with the rest spread out in current and future budget requests.

Of the 19 ships potentially destined for decommissioning in FY25, 10 will be retired early, with the other nine consisting of six combatant ships and three attack submarines that are at or exceed their expected service lives, the document says. The service’s $203.9 billion FY25 budget request unveiled last week called for buying just six new vessels — a net negative that lawmakers are already unimpressed by.

Source - https://breakingdefense.com/2024/03/nav ... Cvx3G4bRY4

Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping)
Replying to @supbrow @cdrsalamander and 7 others
What the US Navy will look like after 2025-2029 FDYP decommissionings.

[Pelican]

Navy Fires at Least 3 Commanding Officers for DUIs so Far in 2024

Task & Purpose reports that three of the five Navy commanding officers who have been fired so far this year, including a Navy SEAL and two submarine captains, were relieved after being arrested off-base for driving under the influence.

https://www.oldsaltblog.com/2024/03/nav ... more-61528