Mayport, LCS and the mantle of the frigates
March 11th, 2010 | Carriers Ships Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
The carrier George H.W. Bush pulled into Naval Station Mayport, Fla., which has seen its long-term fortunes reversed 180 degrees in the past few months // MC2 Gary Granger Jr. / Navy
Not too long ago, Florida’s congressional delegation was fighting tooth and claw for whatever scraps it could get for Naval Station Mayport, Fla. Now it’s enjoying an embarrassment of riches: Not only do Navy officials openly advocate for the aircraft carrier they want to move to Florida (rather than saying, “eh, we’ll see what the QDR says”) they’re promising the base dibs on tomorrow’s hoped-for crop of littoral combat ships.
Mayport will be the Navy’s LCS hub for the East Coast, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead told lawmakers on Wednesday, and he said something else — LCS is seen as a “replacement” for the Navy’s current fleet of frigates. You can imagine how Iron Mike Burleson and the web’s Hardest-Working Amphibian probably feel about that.
What do you think? Is LCS today’s heir to the classic concept of a small-ship battle group escort, re-purposed with an arsenal of robot accessories, or does it come up too short on range and capability to assume the mantle of the fig-sevens?
Comments
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Mike Burleson Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 10:16 amThe Navy is the gift that keeps giving for reform-minded bloggers!
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Outstanding Quote(S) « New Wars Says:
March 11th, 2010 at 12:02 pm[...] there’s the following breaking news from Phil Ewing at Scoop Deck: Mayport will be the Navy’s LCS hub for the East Coast, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary [...]