US Navy and Naval Aircraft: News

This is a good article saying that the US Navy could experience what happened to the Slava Class cruiser:


https://www.yahoo.com/news/sinking-russias-flagship-might-bad-163928574.html

Launched the first prototype of the American submersible Orca XLUUV





https://bmpd.livejournal.com/4522719.html

It's not a topic for this column, but I have to post the link here, otherwise no one would read it. There seems to be a lot of trouble in "heaven", that is, in the US Navy.

08/25/2022
Newspaper.ru (Gazeta.ru)

The US Navy will not be killed by China, but by corrosion.




Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov spoke about the main threat to the US Navy

US Navy ships, according to The Washington Post, are "susceptible to intense rust disease." The publication refers to an "internal investigation of Congress", which revealed that up to 90% of American warships are rusting. "Gazeta.Ru" understood the reasons for what happened.

The problem of rusting US Navy ships was raised by the American edition of The Washington Post. The publication notes that "the Pentagon is facing a formidable and insidious challenge - rust, and so far rust is winning this war."

The newspaper refers to some "internal investigation of the US Congress." It turned out that up to 90% of American warships are rusting. At the same time, Pentagon officials declined to comment on this information.

This is not the first publication in the American media about the rusting American navy. Back in November 2021, The Drive compared the rusting American ships at the Norfolk base with the ships of the Soviet Navy in the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“A visit to the base makes a depressing impression. It's like "naval Detroit". The city became a ghost town in the 1980s when the car giants left. Norfolk became a ghost because someone in Washington decided to save money. It is not China that will kill the US Navy, but rust,” The Drive noted.
The US Navy has about 600 active ships. According to The Washington Post, $3 billion was spent on removing rust from their hulls in 2012. Such expenses, the newspaper notes, were recognized as "burdensome for the military budget."

“Currently, the US Navy has 11 aircraft carriers - 10 of the Nimitz class and the latest Ford project. At the same time, out of the top ten, only 5 are in full swing, the rest are under permanent repair. The Gerald Ford (whose construction cost $13 billion), despite the fact that it entered the fleet in 2017, has not yet passed all the necessary tests and, most likely, its full operation will not begin soon - the ammunition supply systems do not work on deck. By 2024, the United States plans to complete the construction of two more Ford-class aircraft carriers. By this time, the Gerald Ford will already have time to rust, ”Sergei Belousov, a member of the Collegium of Military Experts, told Gazeta.Ru.

According to The Washington Post, 2013 saw a "naval budget anomaly". "Until 2012, huge sums were spent on rust control. Then it was considered ineffective. But instead of balancing the costs, they were simply removed completely, ”the Washington Post notes.
“All ships rust, regardless of their affiliation,” Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, ex-commander of the Black Sea Fleet, told Gazeta.Ru. - You need to understand that the ship has a metal hull that is in sea water, which is an aggressive environment that causes oxidation, which contributes to the appearance of rust. It does not affect the combat capability or visibility of the ship, but over time it leads to the destruction of the ship's structures. And here we are talking, first of all, about constant care and maintenance of order.

Komoyedov believes that the costs of rust control in the Russian and Soviet fleets have never been "critical". “You can’t spend a lot of money on this, but you can’t forget about it either. We have always had a “golden mean” here. Americans are thrown from one extreme to another. At first they, relatively speaking, polished every scratch. And now, on the contrary, they decided that it’s not worth dealing with the topic at all,” says Komoyedov.

In March 2019, Defense News noted that "a drastic reduction in rust preventive maintenance could lead to catastrophic consequences."

“Rust on a ship is an alarming symptom for any fleet,” military expert Captain 1st Rank Vasily Dandykin told Gazeta.Ru. - It means either a lack of proper funding, or a lack of discipline and complete relaxation, which leads to a loss of combat readiness
We went through this in the early 1990s, when the Navy was slaughtered alive and the ships were idle at the quay wall. There ships and rust without movement. Fortunately, the situation has changed and our fleet has received movement.

This can be seen not only at naval parades, but also during long-distance sea voyages, both in the Atlantic and in the Pacific.

https://vpk.name/news/625687_voennyi_flot_ssha_ubet_ne_kitai_a_rzhavchina.html

The Kuznetsov is a rusting hulk, so typical of lowly backwards Russians....



oh wait....

Big_Gazza wrote:The Kuznetsov is a rusting hulk, so typical of lowly backwards Russians....          

oh wait....    

       

The rate of rusting is temperature based. Being a warmer water navy the USN has a potentially much more serious problem than the RuN.

Meanwhile by careful operations the Ukrainian Navy seems to have joined the Swiss Navy in totally eliminating the problem. No ships.

The penultimate Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) has been decommissioned. This disgusting ship participated in the NATO aggression against Serbia and it was decommissioned on August 4 of this year.
Goodbye and **** you ! Rust in hell...



Commissioned; 18 September 1993
Decommissioned; 4 August 2022

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/426589/uss-vella-gulf-cg-72-decommissioned/

Fincantieri Marinette Marine (FMM) has commenced the construction of the US Navy’s lead Constellation-class guided missile frigate, the future USS Constellation (FFG-62).

https://www.naval-technology.com/news/fmm-navys-first-constellation-frigate/

09/28/2022
Military review
The US Navy decommissioned four Ticonderoga-class cruisers, a fifth is on the way




The US Navy continues to retire the Ticonderoga-class cruisers, deeming it too costly to keep them operational. With the money saved on the modernization of cruisers, it is planned to purchase new ships for the US Navy.
In total, according to the plans of the command of the US Navy, five Ticonderoga-class cruisers will be decommissioned this year, and today four of them have already been decommissioned. The first cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) was decommissioned in August, in the 20th of September - USS Monterey (CG-61), on September 22 and 23, the cruisers USS Anzio (CG-68) and USS Hue City were commissioned from the US Navy (CG-66) respectively. The ceremony was held at the naval base in Norfolk. Another cruiser, USS Port Royal (CG-73), is being "retired" on September 29th.

Earlier it was reported that in 2022 it is planned to decommission seven rather than five cruisers of this class. As stated in the command of the US Navy, the modernization of the Ticonderoga-class cruisers is too expensive, for example, to upgrade the two ships USS Anzio (CG-68) and USS Hue City (CG-66), it would take $ 1.5 billion.
The decommissioning of the Ticonderoga cruisers, which play a leading role in air defense as part of the AUG, has been talked about for a long time, it was stated that the ships cause too many maintenance problems due to outdated equipment and systems.
The cruisers have a displacement of 9800 tons, a length of 172 meters and a width of 16 meters. Armed with cruise missiles "Tomahawk", anti-submarine ASROC, anti-aircraft SM-2 and SM-3. They are considered the most heavily armed ships of the US Navy, as they have 122 vertical missile launch cells. Two MH-60R Seahawk helicopters are based on board.

https://vpk.name/news/635342_vms_ssha_vyveli_iz_ekspluatacii_chetyre_kreisera_tipa_tikonderoga_na_ocheredi_pyatyi.html

09/29/2022
Military Review

The U.S. Navy sent the Zumwalt stealth destroyer to the coast of China to "create a new level of complexity in combat space"





The lead American stealth destroyer Zumwalt headed to the Western Pacific to demonstrate the full power of the American fleet in front of China. It is reported by CNN.

According to the command of the US 7th Fleet, on September 26 the ship arrived in Japan, before that it visited the naval base in Guam. The task of the ship is to display the American flag off the coast of China and "create a new level of combat space complexity for potential adversaries." Claims have already been made that the PRC Navy is no match for Zumwalt in size.

The presence of a stealth warship will arouse great Chinese interest - Former US Navy Captain Carl Schuster

It is worth noting that the largest destroyer of the US Navy actually has no weapons, it should be equipped with new missiles only in 2025. Zumwalt will be the first to receive the Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) system, which allows the use of a rocket engine to launch rockets at hypersonic speeds. Thus, he will become the first carrier of hypersonic missiles in the US Navy. The two remaining ships of the series will also receive the same system.
Meanwhile, it is noted that this is the first long-distance voyage of a stealth destroyer, earlier the command of the US Navy was afraid to send these ships to the open sea, laying routes so that the ship was at a distance from the coast not exceeding 60 miles. In addition, these destroyers are not included in any groupings, they still make solo voyages, they are not involved in combat patrols, since they cannot decide in which format to use these ships.

https://vpk.name/news/635705_vms_ssha_otpravili_stels-esminec_zumwalt_k_beregam_kitaya_dlya_sozdaniya_boevogo_prostranstva_novogo_urovnya_slozhnosti.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uss-gerald-r-ford-navy-deployment-aircraft-carrier-atlantic/

I bet that its next deployment, or "Med cruise", will likely be extended for a few months to make up for all the lost time it wasn't deployed!

https://www.19fortyfive.com/2022/08/ford-class-uss-enterprise-could-be-u-s-navys-best-aircraft-carrier-ever/

US Ticonderoga class cruisers decommissioned this year;

* CG-72 Vella Gulf; The penultimate built cruiser in the class, in service from September 18, 1993 to August 4, 2022. (28 years, 320 days)
* CG-61 Monterey; In service from June 16, 1990 to September 16, 2022. (32 years, 92 days)
* CG-68 Anzio; In service from In service from May 2, 1992 to September 22, 2022 (30 years, 143 days)
* CG-66 Hue City; In service from September 14, 1991 to September 23, 2022 (31 years, 9 days)
* CG-73 Port Royal; The last built cruiser of the Ticonderoga class, in service from July 9, 1994 to September 29, 2022. (28 years, 82 days).


The plan is to decommission all cruisers of this class in 2027.

* 2023 (A total of five cruisers for next year) ; CG-52 Bunker Hill, CG-53 Mobile Bay, CG-56 San Jacinto, CG-57 Lake Champlain, CG-69 Vickburg.
* 2024 (3 cruisers) ; CG-54 Antietam, CG-55 Leyte Gulf, CG-67 Shiloh.
* 2025 (3 cruisers); CG-58 Philippine Sea, CG-60 Normandy, CG-70 Lake Erie.
* 2026 (4 cruisers); CG-59 Princeton, CG-62 Chancellorsville, CG-63 Cowpens, CG-64 Gettysburg.
* 2027 (2 cruisers); CG-65 Chosin, CG-71 Cape St. George.

I expect some of them to be transferred to other friendly navies or even to the USCG, as happened with other ships many times before.

Tsavo Lion wrote:I expect some of them to be transferred to other friendly navies or even to the USCG, as happened with other ships many times before.

There is no way the US will export cruisers or even the largest destroyers. These will just be scrapped.

Many still have at least 15-20 years life left, so could be refurbished/modernised/modified for le$$ than building new DD/CGs- I'm sure they could be useful to some NATO members, Australia, NZ, Chile, India, & Japan.
The latter plans to build big ships for BMD & these CGs could be a stop gap.
Interesting story, & it's not over yet:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/fairness-justice/americas-transition-to-a-banana-republic-is-complete-fat-leonard-escapes

Actually I would think if the UK had any brains they would buy some to operate with their new carriers, because 6 new destroyers are not enough to form a decent escort for two carriers.

Sadly the UK does not have brains though while the upgrade and clean up costs would be less than a brand new cruiser it will still likely be rather more than the British are prepared to spend on their Navy.

The operational costs alone would likely be too high for most US allies... there is a reason most countries don't have cruisers.

Time will tell! With less weapons/crew & shorter deployments their operating costs will be a lot le$$.

https://news.usni.org/2022/10/16/assault-carrier-tests-show-how-marine-f-35bs-can-operate-with-navy-aircraft-carriers-says-7th-fleet-commander

GarryB wrote:Actually I would think if the UK had any brains they would buy some to operate with their new carriers, because 6 new destroyers are not enough to form a decent escort for two carriers.

Sadly the UK does not have brains though while the upgrade and clean up costs would be less than a brand new cruiser it will still likely be rather more than the British are prepared to spend on their Navy.

The operational costs alone would likely be too high for most US allies... there is a reason most countries don't have cruisers.

US cruisers are probably expensive to operate but what about Russian cruisers? Are they cheaper to operate compared to western cruisers like US, UK, France and Germany?

Ukraine has an old Russian cruiser Admiral Flota Lobov.  Is it worth a country buying and would it have low operational cost?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_cruiser_Ukraina

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/highly-unusual-disclosure-made-of-u-s-ballistic-missile-submarines-presence-in-arabian-sea

Israel is itching to strike Iran & the US will be joining in or covering it in case things go wrong for the Zionists.
In any case, they r getting experience sailing in those waters for future contingencies.

US cruisers are probably expensive to operate but what about Russian cruisers? Are they cheaper to operate compared to western cruisers like US, UK, France and Germany?

Cruisers and carriers make sense for Russia because the west is not going to give them a free lunch... Russia needs to directly access the various countries in the rest of the world, and no by sending products to the EU to have it shipped to the rest of the world like they have been doing.

Russia needs to assure its own access to the world via the sea, which means a bigger navy and a bigger commercial fleet of cargo and oil tanker and gas carriers.

Note it doesn't need to simultaneously control the worlds oceans like the US tries to... they don't need seven fleets to operate everywhere all at once... in fact some of it will just be a dozen naval infantry on civilian ships to prevent Piracy from actual pirates but also country endorsed pirates like the US and UK and French navies too.

Ukraine has an old Russian cruiser Admiral Flota Lobov. Is it worth a country buying and would it have low operational cost?

Most countries would probably struggle to operate it with the Ukraine in the state it is in as the Ukraine can't make half the weapons and ammo it requires now, so it would have to be sourced from Russia.

The UK buying an old US cruiser is different in the sense that they can buy all the ammo and weapons they need from the US too.

More importantly they could buy several so rather than just one white elephant, they could buy a useful force... perhaps even adapt it to their own weapons too.

IMO, Australia & NZ could use them as long endurance CG vessels/OPVs in peacetime & as warships on overseas deployments. Ther good for ASW too.