Navy Gets Budget Bump But Fleet Would Shrink Under Biden Request

[nitpicker]

https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2022/03/navy-gets-budget-bump-fleet-would-shrink-under-biden-request/363720/

Navy Gets Budget Bump But Fleet Would Shrink Under Biden Request

Bradley Peniston

How do you build a bigger fleet? In 2023, U.S. Navy leaders say, part of the answer will be getting rid of two dozen ships–out of nearly 300–that are consuming funds better spent elsewhere.
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In their spending proposal, Navy leaders are asking to decommission 24 ships, “16 of which somewhat early,” Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, the service’s deputy assistant secretary for budget, told reporters on Monday.
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In the meantime, the proposed cut-list includes nine Freedom-class littoral combat ships (down from a reported 10), five Ticonderoga-class cruisers (the Navy had hoped to retire seven), two Los Angeles-class submarines, four landing dock ships, two oilers, and two expeditionary transfer docks (both less than a decade old).
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Meredith Berger, who has been performing the duties of Navy undersecretary since August, told reporters that “it’s a difficult decision” to retire these ships but that “there are real costs” to keeping them around. The Freedom-class LCS ships are consuming $50 million a year, she said. Their anti-submarine mission will be taken up by the Constellation-class frigates, the fourth of which will be ordered this year, Gumbleton said.
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[nitpicker]

1. ((future to the back))

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constellation_(FFG-62)

USS Constellation (FFG-62)[1] will be the lead ship of the Constellation class of guided-missile frigates[2] and the fifth ship in the United States Navy bearing this name. She is named in honor of the first USS Constellation, one of the original six frigates of the United States Navy, which was named for the constellation of stars on the flag of the United States.[2] The ship will be sponsored by Melissa Braithwaite, the wife of Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite.[3]

Construction of Constellation will commence in April 2022 following the final design review. The ship is expected to enter service in 2026.[4]

((I remember FFG 7 that was still in service...))

((return from LCS chasing pirates to near peer conflict))

[nitpicker]

2. US Navy reveals ships facing potential decommissioning next year

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2022/04/04/us-navy-reveals-ships-facing-potential-decommissioning-next-year/

US Navy reveals ships facing potential decommissioning next year
By Megan Eckstein
Apr 4, 09:30 AM

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy released the names of the 24 ships it hopes to decommission in fiscal 2023, eight of which have reached the end of their planned service life and 16 of which would be retired early to save money on ships that the service views as not worth their rising costs.

The Navy would like to decommission four Ticonderoga-class cruisers at the end of their 35-year service; two Los Angeles-class attack submarines at the end of their 33-year service lives; and two Kaiser-class oilers at the end of their 35-year service lives.

Those ships are:

Ship name Date of commission (or delivery for USNS ships)
USS Bunker Hill (CG-52) 09/20/1986
USS Mobile Bay (CG-53) 02/21/1987
USS San Jacinto (CG-56) 01/23/1988
USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) 08/12/1988
USS Chicago (SSN-721) 09/27/1986
USS Key West (SSN-722) 09/12/1987
USNS John Lenthall (T-AO-189) 06/25/1987
USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO-193) 09/13/1988
Of the 16 ships the Navy hopes to decommission early, nine are Freedom-variant littoral combat ships. All of them will need their combining gears replaced, as the Navy discovered a classwide defect in late 2020. Lockheed Martin and subcontractor RENK developed a replacement combining gear system, which the Navy approved in November. However, the Navy will bear some amount of the cost of the replacement effort.

The Navy announced March 28 that it would cancel the anti-submarine warfare mission package for the LCSs, meaning it would need fewer hulls in the inventory.

Decommissioning nine LCSs — every single Freedom-variant hull that has already been commissioned into service — would avoid the cost of replacing combining gears and achieve a smaller fleet responsible for two instead of three mission areas: surface warfare and mine countermeasures.

These LCSs would be retired far ahead of their planned end of life: The class is meant to operate for 25 years, but these ships are between less than 2 years old and less than 10 years old.

The Navy wants to decommission one cruiser early, the Vicksburg, which the Navy said in January had completed the dry dock portion of its cruiser modernization work but was running further behind than the rest of the cruisers in the modernization program.

The Navy also wants to retire four Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships early, as the Navy has also struggled to get these vessels through a modernization program and keep them seaworthy. The ships have a planned service life of 40 years, and the four ships considered for early retirement are 30 to 36 years old.

Lastly, the Navy will ask to retire two Montford Point-class expeditionary transfer docks. These innovative ships took a commercial tanker design and created a mobile landing platform that could ballast down to allow landing craft to come onboard and onload or offload trucks and supplies while at sea. The Navy later took this design, nixed the ballast capability and added a large flight deck across the top, creating an expeditionary sea base design that’s in high demand by fleet commanders today. The two original ESDs are 8 and 9 years old.

Those ships slated for early retirement are:

Ship name Date of commission (or delivery for USNS ships)
USS Vicksburg (CG-69) 11/14/1992
USS Germantown (LSD-42) 02/08/1986
USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44) 04/22/1989
USS Tortuga (LSD-46) 11/17/1990
USS Ashland (LSD-48) 05/09/1992
USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) 08/06/2012
USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) 11/21/2015
USS Detroit (LCS-7) 10/22/2016
USS Little Rock (LCS-9) 12/16/2017
USS Sioux City (LCS-11) 11/17/2018
USS Wichita (LCS-13) 01/12/2019
USS Billings (LCS-15) 08/03/2019
USS Indianapolis (LCS-17) 10/26/2019
USS St. Louis (LCS-19) 08/08/2020
USNS Montford Point (T-ESD-1) 05/14/2013
USNS John Glenn (T-ESD-2) 03/12/2014
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