Trump's Navy

**AdamG** · 05-05-2017

What's a Superpower without redundancy?

“If you do not have presence to exert sovereignty, you’re a paper lion,” the Coast Guard commandant said in explaining why the United States needs to build three heavy and two medium icebreakers to operate in polar regions.
Adm. Paul Zukunft, speaking Wednesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the loss of the service’s current heavy icebreaker#– the 40-year-old USCGC Polar Star#— would leave the U.S. without a key capability.
“It is the one aspect I lose sleep about,” he said.
“There are no heavy icebreakers that we can legitimately lease,” to replace the ship.

https://news.usni.org/2017/05/03/coa...-s-icebreakers

**davidbfpo** · 05-06-2017

Now there's an "Icebreaker Gap", this is ridiculous and little more than advocacy for yet more US$.

There is a simple answer: ask your neighbours for help. No, not Mexico. The Canadian Coast Guard who have both 'heavy' (11k tonnes) and 'Medium' (8.5k tonnes). See:http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/Icebreaking/home

**AdamG** · 05-23-2017

PENTAGON: Despite his campaign pledge of a 350-ship fleet, President Trump’s first budget cuts Navy shipbuilding and aircraft procurement below what was enacted in 2017, documents released today reveal. Despite Trump’s criticism of President Obama’s defense plans, this budget sticks with Obama’s shipbuilding plan for 2018: eight ships. And it actually buys eight fewer aircraft than Obama planned.
So we were overly optimistic last week when we predicted Trump would add at least one warship (a $1.8 billion Aegis destroyer) and possibly two (a $550 million Littoral Combat Ship) to the Obama plan. Instead, it adds zip, zero — nada.
Even the mix of types is exactly the same as under Obama:
one aircraft carrier (the future CVN-80, Enterprise);
two attack submarines (Virginia-class SSNs);
two Aegis destroyers (Arleigh Burke-class DDGs);
one Littoral Combat Ship or — if the new class can be started in time — a frigate;
and two support ships (a T-ATS tug/salvage ship and a “T-Interim,” presumably what was previously called the T-AO(X) oiler).
We have heard persistent rumors that OMB director Mick Mulvaney added a second Littoral Combat Ship at the last minute after a working group warned him that buying only a single LCS would shutter one of the two shipyards involved. “There’s a discussion right now on whether or not we add some additional Littoral Combat Ships,” Mulvaney told the Hugh Hewitt Show on May 4th. “We did not add any of those as part of this $21 billion dollar request…The Navy doesn’t want them.”

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/n...t-procurement/

**AdamG** · 05-24-2017

Navy Gets 4K More Sailors, Eight More Ships in Budget Request

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...t-request.html

**AdamG** · 08-21-2017

American, Singaporean and Malaysian armed forces on Monday are searching for 10 U.S. sailors missing after an early-morning collision between a Navy destroyer and a tanker near Singapore--the second collision involving a Navy ship in the Asia-Pacific region in two months.
The Navy says five sailors were hurt in Monday's collision between the USS John S. McCain and the 600-foot Alnic MC, an oil and chemical tanker. The four who required additional treatment were taken by helicopter to Singapore, where the McCain had been headed.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/08...nt-damage.html

**AdamG** · 08-21-2017

The U.S. Navy has relieved the USS Fitzgerald's commander and two other senior leaders of their duties — and it's also praising the crew for saving their ship after the destroyer collided with a large Philippine-flagged container ship off the coast of Japan on June 17.
"It was also evident from this review that the entire Fitzgerald crew demonstrated real toughness that night," the Navy said. "Following the collision these Sailors responded with urgency, determination and creativity to save their ship."
Inadequate leadership and flawed teamwork contributed to the crash, the Navy said after releasing the findings of its investigation into the crash. It also blamed poor seamanship by the crews of both the guided-missile cruiser and the ACX Crystal, whose gross tonnage was triple that of the U.S. ship.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-w...ith-cargo-ship

? http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...776#post208776

**AdamG** · 08-22-2017

The U.S. Navy announced a pause in its global operations and patrols and has begun a broad investigation after the destroyer USS John S. McCain on Monday collided with a merchant vessel, leaving 10 sailors missing, the second such incident in months.
The response by the U.S. military signals the Navy believes it needs to examine whether there may be institutional problems behind the deadly collisions, and that it may need to retrain some of its personnel in seamanship.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/navy-be...ing-1503329812

**AdamG** · 02-27-2018

Lasers-n-railguns, oh my.

DAHLGREN, Va. – The Navy dedicated and named its electromagnetic railgun lines in honor of two public servants who envisioned, nurtured, and laid the foundation for the U.S. Navy’s Electromagnetic Railgun Program at a ceremony held in their honor, Feb. 22.

Posters and plaques commemorating the naming of the railgun lines for Adm. James Hogg (ret.) and Dr. Hans Mark were unveiled at the event and will be on permanent display to honor their efficacy and vision as the Navy continues working to push this revolutionary warfighting capability forward.

http://www.navsea.navy.mil/Media/New...s-at-ceremony/

The Navy proposed spending $299 million in Fiscal Year 2019 on laser systems to protect ships against current and anticipated future threats, as part of a rapid prototyping, experimentation and demonstration initiative.
For nearly a decade, the Navy has considered laser technology a more cost-efficient and effective tool to protect ships from emerging threats such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and small patrol craft that could swarm a surface ship, according to a Congressional Research Service report, Navy Lasers, Railgun, and Hypervelocity Projectile: Background and Issues for Congress.
The Navy wants to move development of lasers a step closer to deployment, according to budget documents released by the Navy earlier this month.

https://news.usni.org/2018/02/26/las...ns_usnavy_330m

**AdamG** · 03-05-2018

DANANG, Vietnam (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier arrived in Vietnam on Monday for the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, dramatically underscoring the growing strategic ties between the former foes at a time when China’s regional influence is rising. The imposing grey silhouette of the USS Carl Vinson could be seen from the cliff tops just outside the central Vietnamese city of Danang, where the 103,000-tonne carrier and two other U.S. ships begin a five-day visit.

https://in.reuters.com/article/usa-v...-idINKBN1GH0SF

**AdamG** · 03-06-2018

The F-35B Lightning II landed aboard the amphibious assault ship Wasp on March 5, the first time the aircraft has deployed aboard a U.S. Navy ship in the Indo-Pacific.
Assigned to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa, Japan, the F-35B will aid the Expeditionary Strike Group in a routine patrol to strengthen regional alliances and provide rapid-response capabilities.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-...-on-navy-ship/

WASHINGTON — As the production rate of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 joint strike fighter goes up, the company is wrestling with quality escapes involving the jet’s low observability features, which now amount to about half of all defects on the aircraft, the company’s vice president of the program revealed Monday.
Last week, Vice Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the government’s F-35 Joint Program Office, slammed Lockheed for what he sees as its too-slow progress on eliminating so-called “quality escapes”— errors made by Lockheed’s workforce that could include drilling holes that are too big or installing a dinged part.
While those errors are minor, the rework done to bring the plane up to requirements is driving up the amount of money and time spent producing an airplane, Winter said.

https://www.defensenews.com/air/2018...m-head-states/