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| The USS San Diego (LPD22) travels through the harbor as it makes its way to its homeport at Naval Base San Diego, April 6. The amphibious transport dock class ship will be commissioned May 19. The USS San Diego is equipped with advanced technology and will assist in the transportation and support of Marine landing forces. |
That's 6 San Antonio Class LPD's on active duty.
The rest of Navy ship building might be in a rut but they're pumping these puppies out quick!
Great ship...but we need big decks.
ReplyDeleteAh, "pumping out these puppies quick"?
ReplyDeleteNot really. At all. The San Antonio class has been a rolling disaster of late deliveries, cost overruns, breakdowns, bad design problems, failed tests, faked tests with premature acceptances - just about every naval mess you can imagine. Metal filings in the oil that wreaked engines. Bearings shafts installed backwards or missing parts - all yard problems. Much stemmed from the hurricane that wiped out New Orleans and drove away the ship workers; but that yard had always had quality problems. Work has since shifted to another yard owned by HI which has a much better quality record. Old yard likely to be closed. For more, track back in the Commander Sal blog, and check out Tim Colton's years of tart comments in his ship building blog.
Then the Navy failed to build the instruction and training manuals on how to raise and lower small boats on the fancy new davits. result? One sailor dead when a boat crashed while lowering away. That all came out in the court marshal of the XO for dereliction - he was exonerated, btw.
The USS New York just sailed on its first deployment, FIVE years after delivery and acceptance. It has been to two NYC Fleet Weeks and one 9/11 celebration in that five years - but never crossed an ocean.
These are not bad ships, once they get them working. Eventually they will be a big improvement over the old amphibs. But they deliver about four more, and then end of class. No new amphids until the notional LSD(X) theoretically starts in the 2020s.
Big deck Amphibs? ya get the one they're working on, and one more after that, 6 years out. That's it. Check the shipbuilding plan - Colton's site, or with a little more detail over at Information Dissemination. Big Navy is starving the amphibs plan. But goodness, the gator navy does stay busy - doing useful stuff with high visibility.