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Navy Outlines Plan to Solve Attack Sub Shortage |
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Bob
Rickover Joined: 06 Jan 2016 Status: Offline Points: 904 |
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Posted: 28 Nov 2018 at 12:04am |
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Navy Outlines Plan to
Solve Attack Submarine Shortage
27 Nov 2018 Military.com | By Matthew Cox
Lawmakers on Tuesday pressed U.S. Navy officials to explain what the service is doing to fix its shortage of attack submarines. Navy officials testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on Seapower that the service is on track to achieve a 355-ship fleet by 2034. Lawmakers, however, were concerned about the more immediate problem of the Navy's submarine shortfall. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, said that retired Adm. Harry Harris, former head of U.S. Pacific command, had testified that "only half his requirement for attack submarines in the Pacific theater was being met." "This challenge will only grow worse in the 2020s as attack submarines retire at a faster rate," Rounds said. "How is the Navy planning to mitigate the attack submarine shortfall in the 2020s?" James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, said the most "looming shortfall ahead of us in terms of capability is in attack subs." Geurts said the service is ramping up Virginia-class submarine production to two per year, with the potential of producing more than two down the road. The Navy is also looking at where it can do "service-life extensions on some of our existing submarines," he said. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, referring to a recent Government Accountability Office report on maintenance delays in the attack sub fleet, said that since "2008, 14 attack submarines have spent a combined 61 months -- 1,891 days -- idling while waiting to enter ship yards for maintenance." "We need action now to address the backlog that is bad for our national security and the harmful impact on our industrial base," he said. "We have been talking about this maintenance backlog for a year with no clear solution in sight." As part of a larger, 30-year ship repair/sustainment plan the Navy plans to release this year, Geurts said he intends to make submarines a high priority. "Going forward under the new role this committee provided me to oversee sustainment readiness, I am really focused on getting predictability and advanced planning in the readiness area for ship repair, with a particular focus on submarines," he said. Currently, the Navy has four submarines in "maintenance availabilities" and the service plans to award at least two more "into private yards" next year, Geurts said, adding that the requests for proposal for those efforts are scheduled to go out by next summer. "My strategic approach to this is balancing out that work and getting predictability into the maintenance plan, so that we have capacity to get those ships both in and out of those availabilities on time, to give the combatant commanders the capability they need," he said. |
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Flapper
Rickover Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Tucson AZ Status: Offline Points: 2086 |
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Currently, the Navy has four submarines in "maintenance availabilities" and the service plans to award at least two more "into private yards" next year, Geurts said, adding that the requests for proposal for those efforts are scheduled to go out by next summer.
EB & Newport News, I presume. |
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ET1ss Nuke; 1962 - 1973. SSN-588, CVA-63, SSBN-629 BLUE, SSN-669 PLANKOWNER, FICPAC
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Kwn
Qualified Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Location: Maine Status: Offline Points: 44 |
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I believe those are the only two certified for nuclear work.
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SaltiDawg
Rickover Joined: 03 Jan 2016 Location: Rockville, MD Status: Offline Points: 2865 |
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Nuclear Construction?
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Kwn
Qualified Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Location: Maine Status: Offline Points: 44 |
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I believe either construction or repair. Plus they are the only 2 yards with submarine experience. Pascagoula hasn’t done submarine work in years and they are no longer nuclear certified.
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SaltiDawg
Rickover Joined: 03 Jan 2016 Location: Rockville, MD Status: Offline Points: 2865 |
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Puget Sound Naval Shipyard still does repairs - they've been out of the ship construction business for decades. Likely others. Again, I think you are talking about construction yards. EDIT: "Norfolk, Virginia, and Kittery, Maine, and the shipyard and intermediate
maintenance facilities at Puget Sound, Washington, and Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, are vital to maintaining the nuclear fleet, the Government
Accountability Office report states...." As I said, I believe you are talking about Construction Yards.
Edited by SaltiDawg - 30 Nov 2018 at 8:34pm |
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Kwn
Qualified Joined: 05 Jan 2016 Location: Maine Status: Offline Points: 44 |
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Sorry for the misunderstanding. When I replied they were the only two certified for nuclear work I meant the only two private yards certified. I understand all of the Naval yards remain certified nuclear. Since the article talks about repair work being sent to private yards there are only two certified for nuclear so that would have to be EB or Newport News. I would imagine it would be extremely difficult and expensive for a yard like Pascagoula to recertify and I doubt the expense could be justified.
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SaltiDawg
Rickover Joined: 03 Jan 2016 Location: Rockville, MD Status: Offline Points: 2865 |
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The last Nukes built in Navy Yards were in like 1970. Those two Navy yards still are certified for Nuclear Work, and a third is still doing inactivations! At the time of privatization of Submarine construction, the Navy and NAVSEA lost the ability to Design Ships and Submarines and also lost the ability to design major components. Currently there are only two (private) Shipyards that have the capability to design a Submarine.
Edited by SaltiDawg - 01 Dec 2018 at 5:32pm |
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