False start for the Iron Nickel
May 21st, 2010 | Congress Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The amphibious assault ship Peleliu delayed its deployment from San Diego this week after engineers found the ship needed a few more last-minute repairs. // MCSN Patrick House / Navy
We told you a week ago about one lawmaker’s latest scheme for growing the fleet, which involves keeping the last two Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships, Peleliu and Nassau, well past their planned departure dates. It didn’t take long for a real-life lesson in how tricky that could be: On Wednesday, the Navy announced Peleliu couldn’t sail on a deployment as scheduled this week because it needed some last-minute repairs before the ship was ready to go.
Navy officials say the fixes aren’t that big a deal, and only put the ship a few days behind — from Thursday to sometime “this weekend.” Still, the delay is a reminder that as old ships get older, they need ever more work, as any sailor aboard the carrier Enterprise will attest.
Seven in Seven
May 21st, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Coast Guard Congress Foreign navies Maritime operations Mishaps Naval Academy Navy Personnel Ships Sports Submarines The Pacific Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
Sailors aboard the carrier Ronald Reagan conduct a test of the aqueous film forming foam firefighting system during a planned incremental availability maintenance period. Ronald Reagan is completing its first underway period since October 2009. (Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Alexander Tidd)
It’s been another busy week for the Navy. Here are seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that are worthy of notice:
1. Defense Bill passes HASC. This bill has tons of important stuff – far too much to put in this blog. You can check Monday’s edition of Navy Times for the complete scoop. But among the highlights is this news that lawmakers bucked the Pentagon’s 1.4 percent pay raise request, and looks to instead give service members a 1.9 percent boost.
In addition, the bill aligns the 30-year shipbuilding plan with the QDR, which bodes well for the 313-ship Navy. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., and the Seapower committee he chairs, put the following in the bill:
Does the Pentagon need a review review?
May 21st, 2010 | Congress leadership Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
International fleet reviews, like this one in 2009 with the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, are just one kind of the many, many reviews and analyses in the Navy. // MC2 Rafael Medina / Navy
The House Armed Services Committee this week ordered the Pentagon to study how many BMD-capable ships the U.S. needs, giving it a deadline of March 1 next year — three months after American warships have been obligated to take on their standing patrols in the Mediterranean. But wait — the Pentagon just finished a Ballistic Missile Defense Review earlier this year, which should’ve laid all that out, right?
In his now (in)famous Navy League speech, and subsequent comments, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he wanted to re-think the mission of the Marine Corps and the Navy’s need for 11 aircraft carriers. But the Pentagon just finished its “soup-to-nuts” Quadrennial Defense Review, which should’ve settled those questions, right?
There’s the mystical CG(X) analysis of alternatives, whose shrieking ghost, legend has it, still is heard late at night in certain parts of the National Capital Region. There’s the joint expeditionary fires AoA, which can check out any time it likes, but it can never leave the E-Ring. And so on.
So there’s plenty of analysis in the defense world. Is there too much? As Gates himself once said, “There have been enough studies, enough hand-wringing, enough rhetoric. Now is the time for action.” How can decision-makers break out of the study cycle and reach the point of making decisions? Or do they even need to — is it better to be careful and think things through on issues of this magnitude?
Gates claims sanity
May 20th, 2010 | Aviation Carriers Congress leadership Navy Personnel Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
For the second time in as many weeks, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has publicly proclaimed his own sanity. Or at least that he is “not crazy.”
The first happened May 7 when he told reporters:
I may want to change things, but I’m not crazy. I’m not going to cut a carrier, OK?”
The comment was in response to headlines Gates made on May 3 when he questioned the need for 11 carrier strike groups.
Today, Gates conceded a fiscal fight when the House Armed Services Committee decided the Pentagon’s basic pay raise from 1.4 to 1.9 percent. As first reported by Military Times’ own Bill McMichael in this story, the SecDef wanted to spend the $500 million difference on procurement. Congress wanted to spend it on the troops. Gates withdrew from the fight, telling Pentagon reporters (you guessed it):
I want change. But I’m not crazy.”
But Gates is sticking to his guns on the issue of JSF engines. He has warned that he would recommend a presidential veto if the HASC kept $485 million in funding for a second F-35 engine in the defense bill. It did. Gates, who says the second engine is a waste of money, said Thursday that he will “strongly recommend” the bill be vetoed, as promised.
Clearly he doesn’t think that’s crazy.
Carrier move to Mayport dead in the water?
May 20th, 2010 | Carriers Congress Navy Ships Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
Mayport’s former carrier, the conventionally powered John F. Kennedy, was decommissioned in March 2007.
Last week, Florida’s fight for a carrier was staggered by this Government Accountability Office report. Seeing the Sunshine State was standing on spaghetti legs, Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Va., on Wednesday night landed what Virginia lawmakers hope to be the knock-out punch.
It happened as the House Armed Services Committee considered the 2011 defense bill.
Taylor: Squeeze another decade from the Tarawas
May 14th, 2010 | Congress Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
The amphibious assault ship Peleliu would remain a fixture in San Diego for about another decade if a key lawmaker get his way. // MC3 Michael Barton / Navy
Mississippi Rep. Gene Taylor, chairman of the seapower subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, wants taxpayers to get their money’s worth for the final two Tarawa-class amphibs, Nassau and Peleliu. Even though the Navy current plans call for the ships to go away in fiscal years 2011 and 2013, respectively, Taylor wants them to serve for at much as 10 more years.
Will it happen? Maybe. Taylor and other members of Congress want to encourage the fleet to grow, and he has also called for a law that would stipulate the Navy add or keep more ships than it decommissions in a given year. The Navy, however, is probably not enthusiastic, especially on the two Tarawas; last week, its top acquisition official told a Senate subcommittee there’s no money in the budget plans right now to run Nassau and Peleliu past their decom dates.
Here’s another pressing question: What would it take to the keep the ships in fighting shape for another decade? They’re old. Anecdotally, Navy Times heard from Nassau crew members more than than any others when we asked about sailors needing to buy their own gear. And an announcement in February hinted darkly about what the crew of the Peleliu was going through as part of a visit by the Board of Inspection and Survey.
Have you served on either of these ships, or known people who have? What do you think about keeping them around for another 10 years — what would it take?
The LCS missile may still fly
May 13th, 2010 | Congress ordnance Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
The NLOS enclosure on the littoral combat ship Independence, now empty, could hold the missiles for which it was designed if Congress and the Navy save the troubled weapon -- and the Navy can get it to work. // Lt. Zachary Harrell / Navy
The Non-Line Of Sight missile may live to fly after all, according to an exclusive report this week by our high-powered colleague Kate Brannen. NLOS, an Army missile also intended as a key weapon for the littoral combat ship, costs too much and doesn’t really work, according to the Army officials who have asked the Pentagon to cancel it — but Congress and the Navy may intervene to keep it alive:
Anticipating and encouraging the Navy’s takeover of the Non-Line of Sight Launch System program, the House Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee transfers $75 million in research and development funding for the program from the Army to the Navy in its markup of the defense authorization bill for 2011, according to congressional documents.
Citing the Army’s decision to cancel NLOS-LS, the subcommittee cuts the $350.6 million the Army requested for procurement of NLOS-LS in 2011 and the $81.2 million in research and development funds. According to a congressional source, the House Armed Services seapower and expeditionary forces subcommittee’s markup will also include the additional $75 million for the Navy to complete NLOS-LS development.
In an amazing coincidence, several of the HASC subcommittees, including air-land and seapower, are scheduled to mark up this year’s defense bill today! Stay tuned to see how this all turns out.
Seven in Seven
May 7th, 2010 | Carriers Congress Foreign navies leadership Life at Sea Maritime operations Naval Academy Navy NECC Officers Sea Air Space SEALs Ships Submarines The Middle East Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead meets sailors and their families at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tenn. Roughead was in Millington to get a first-hand look at damage sustained from flooding. (Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ronda Spaulding)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates dropped the bomb of the week. In his first invitation to the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space symposium, Gates suggested a need for cutting carriers, sinking SSBN(X) and eliminating Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles. You can read Gates’ speech here, and find out how this affects you in Monday’s edition of Navy Times.
Speaking of amphibious operations, the personnel bubbas in Millington are starting to dry out. Two days of rain dumped more than 14 inches in the area. A levee couldn’t hold the water back and the base was flooded. This delayed one promotion board and threw many administrative matters into chaos, but the crew weathered the storm in true Navy fashion.
Here’s seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that you may not have seen, but are worthy of notice:
Seven in Seven
April 30th, 2010 | Aviation Coast Guard Congress Environment Foreign navies Maritime operations Morale Navy Officers Personnel Pirates Royal Navy Ships Submarines The Pacific Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
Photo by MCSN Joshua Martin
The Navy nabbed a lot of headlines again this week. Leading the way is news that subs are now officially open to women. In other career news, the active duty master chiefs list was released. The Coast Guard is holding its ground in the oil spill – and against critics. and the Army cancelled the Non-Line of Sight Launch System, which will likely have significant ramifications for the Littoral Combat Ship.
Here’s seven stories in seven minutes from the past seven days that you may not have seen, but are worthy of notice:
Carrier builders don’t buy SecDef’s plan
April 29th, 2010 | Carriers Congress Navy Ships Washington | Posted by Lance Bacon
The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition brought more than 130 members from its 400 constituent companies to Capitol Hill Thursday to urge continued support for the aircraft carrier program. The sixth annual breakfast, held at the Rayburn Building, was attended by Reps. Glenn Nye, D-Va., and Rob Wittman, R-Va. Both serve on the House Armed Services Committee and both are very vocal on keeping a minimum of 11 carriers in the fleet through 2039.
As one might expect, the construction and capabilities of the forthcoming carrier Gerald R. Ford was the top topic. Scoop Deck had a good talk with Wittman and senior leadership from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding … but you’ll have to read about that in Monday’s edition of Navy Times.
We will share this nugget with you, though: We could not find anyone who agreed with Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ 2009 plan that would shift from four- to five-year intervals. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus in congressional testimony earlier this year said the move would put carrier procurement on “a more fiscally sustainable path.” This would defer the fiscal ’12 procurement of CVN 79 by one year and the fiscal ’16 procurement of CVN 80 by two years — and could create a domino effect as deployments and refueling schedules are adjusted to accommodate.