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3 boats not up to par dues to delays |
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Rontini599
Admin Group Joined: 23 Aug 2016 Location: Sheridan, WY Status: Offline Points: 708 |
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Posted: 12 Dec 2018 at 7:38pm |
Washington (CNN)Three of the Navy's nuclear-powered attack submarines are "not certified to dive today" due to maintenance delays caused by overcrowded shipyards, officials revealed Wednesday. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran told lawmakers that one of the submarines, the USS Boise, will finally enter a shipyard in January after being out of service for four years. Two additional attack submarines are currently not operational and will go into dry dock in the new year for repairs, according to Moran. The Navy has been working to address its backlog of submarines, with some forced to wait years for maintenance, and has leaned on using private shipyards, in addition to public ones, to help speed up the process. But while the service has taken steps to address maintenance challenges that have at times sidelined a significant chunk of its submarine fleet, Navy officials testified Wednesday that more work is needed. "We've aggressively gone after readiness challenges in our operational submarine fleet, and identified three key drivers: public shipyard capacity, shipyard productivity and parts availability," Moran told lawmakers. "Working with our industry partners, we've been able to allocate multiple submarines to private shipyards in order to alleviate the disparity between demand and capacity within our public shipyards. Our first-ever Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan, delivered to Congress earlier this year, establishes our road map to upgrade our dry docks, facilities and equipment to improve overall productivity," he said. However, a new report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office indicates that the problem is getting worse, not better. Since 2012, Navy submarines have been sidelined for an additional 7,321 days because of maintenance delays, according to the report. "The Navy has developed a plan to improve shipyards and is re-examining its ship manning, among other actions; however, these positive steps have not yet fully addressed GAO's recommendations," the report says, adding that additional resources will likely be needed to address the problem, if the service hopes to follow through with its plan to grow the fleet. In the short term, Navy officials hope to avoid waiting years for a submarine to be repaired, as they did with the USS Boise. "We want no more Boises," Moran told senators, noting that "the numbers are coming down significantly." "The standing in line has come down significantly," he added. "We still have a ways to go. We're not out of the woods yet, but I think as capacity opens up in the private yards, and we do a better job in the public yards, getting our carriers out on time, we'll be there." Despite President Donald Trump's request for additional defense spending, years of budget cuts and continuing resolutions have had a severe impact on the Navy's maintenance and shipbuilding efforts. On Wednesday, Sen. Mike Rounds made it clear that Americans need to understand the severity of the problem, particularly if the government should come under mandatory budget cuts called sequestration, as it last did in 2013. "It appears to me, even with the resources we've allocated so far, we are going the wrong direction," the South Dakota Republican said, regarding the current submarine fleet. "If it's a matter of resources, and you are not here in a public testimony to tell us what the impacts of not having the additional resources necessary to keep these critical pieces in the defense of our country operational, how in the world can we ever go to what we know we need in a 355-ship Navy and support them if we can't communicate to the American people how critical it is to maintain the defense posture we currently got?" Rounds added. |
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My heroes wear dog tags, not shoulder pads
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gcconnor1
Old Salt Joined: 03 Jan 2016 Location: South Jersey Status: Offline Points: 316 |
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In the 60’s the boats went from overhaul to overhaul with only tender support. What is going on?
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GC Connor EMC(SS)/LT USN Ret
USS Ethan Allen(7) Holland Club WA2STJ |
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Runner485
BBS Supporter Joined: 16 Dec 2015 Location: Delaware Status: Offline Points: 3199 |
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This is a pretty scary situation to be in for our Subs and the personnel that drive them. We all know what kind of horrible shape the Scorpion and the San Francisco was in. It was all well documented. The navy has got to stop trying to hold the fleet together with duct tape. If a boat is not fit for service, keep it tied up next to some pier, until you get the money needed to get the boat back to sea safely. If not we can be certain of reading about another catastrophe involving our submarine force.
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DBF
Joe SS485,CVA42 Holland Club Mid-Atlantic Base |
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Sewer Pipe Snipe
BBS Supporter Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Albany, GA Status: Offline Points: 5723 |
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Are these subs fully crewed while they wait? Do they simply tie them to a pier? Are they becoming subs "That spend more time in than out!" Wasn't that the three "T's" of diesel boat fame?
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Walt,
Had I done everything right throughout my life, the World wouldn't have noticed. |
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olded
Old Salt Joined: 25 Jan 2016 Location: Missouri Status: Offline Points: 295 |
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"In the 60’s the boats went from overhaul to overhaul with only tender support. What is going on?"
My question also. We (ships force) performed all repairs that were within the capability of our repair tooling, with assist from the tender as needed. Are the crews/tenders still doing this?
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Old Ed
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Sewer Pipe Snipe
BBS Supporter Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Albany, GA Status: Offline Points: 5723 |
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SSBN 632, with the Blue Crew in attendance, completed a non-refueling overhaul in Holy Loch Scotland with Electric Boat folks, until they went on strike, and Tender support. The Tender even got a commendation medal for it. That included a hull cut and all. So what has changed so drastically? We accomplished it in one runs time, including trials and a return to CONUS. Plus a shortened tour of the deep. Things have become that much more complex? I thought that was what modularity was all about.
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Walt,
Had I done everything right throughout my life, the World wouldn't have noticed. |
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610ET
Rickover Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Fort Lauderdale Status: Offline Points: 2186 |
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This one? Harder, Darter, Trigger and Trout always in, never out.
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Sewer Pipe Snipe
BBS Supporter Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Albany, GA Status: Offline Points: 5723 |
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That would be the ones, memory is slipping
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Walt,
Had I done everything right throughout my life, the World wouldn't have noticed. |
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Dave595
Old Salt Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Beaverton, Oreg Status: Offline Points: 331 |
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The four Navy-operated shipyards, including Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, are in "poor condition" and are “struggling to meet the Navy’s current needs," according to a Government Accountability Office report published Tuesday.
The four Navy shipyards operating today are all more than a century old. PSNS was established in 1901, The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, in 1800 and the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii in 1908. The oldest shipyard, the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, has been operating for 250 years since it was established in 1767. From 2000 to 2016, "inadequate facilities and equipment led to maintenance delays that contributed in part to more than 1,300 lost operational days (days when ships were unavailable for operations) for aircraft carriers and 12,500 lost operational days for submarines," the report states. At PSNS, only 29 percent of maintenance work was completed on time since 2000, with a quarter of work completed more than 70 days behind schedule. Those delays amounted to more than 4,700 lost operational days for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.Read more: |
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EM1(SS)
USS PLUNGER (SSN-595) HOLLAND Club USSVI LIFE Member Blueback Base, Rogue-Umpqua Base, Olympic Peninsula Base |
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Flapper
Rickover Joined: 04 Jan 2016 Location: Tucson AZ Status: Offline Points: 2086 |
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There are Just 2 tenders left:
The last two US Navy fully manned and operated Submarine Tenders USS EMORY S. LAND and USS FRANK CABLE have been handed over to Military Sealift Command. Merchant Marines will sail and operate the ships - while a small contingent of US Navy "technicians" will provide service for tended units. |
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ET1ss Nuke; 1962 - 1973. SSN-588, CVA-63, SSBN-629 BLUE, SSN-669 PLANKOWNER, FICPAC
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