Navy, “It saddens me to say: The Department of the Navy is in troubled waters due to many factors, primarily the failings of leadership.” By tonnage, 90% of all U.S. imports
and exports travel by sea. So, from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, America depends on keeping the sea lanes open. The Navy has sunk billions of dol-
lars into naval warships that it now admits are lemons, unable to perform their missions and too expensive to operate and maintain. Production of both the Zumwalt
and littoral combat ship (LCS) classes have been cut short because the futur- istic-looking vessels suffered chronic cost overruns, sky-high maintenance costs, and repeated engine failures. Analysts say they were ill-equipped
to properly defend themselves and couldn’t find a role in the Navy of the 21st century. Now the Navy is cutting its loss-
es and maintenance costs by moth- balling the ships, but that’s dropping the overall fleet size to what many see as unacceptably low levels. Exhibit No. 1: The LCS that cost
the Navy about half a billion each. Several that were supposed to have a service life of up to 30 years are already being retired. Critics, including some sailors,
have nicknamed the small, 3,400-ton surface combatants the “little crappy ships.” They have suffered a number of humiliating engine breakdowns. Exhibit No. 2 is the futuristic-look-
ing Zumwalt. The world’s largest sur- face combatant at about 17,000 tons, it was designed to support amphibi- ous landings by firing the long-range land attack projectile (LRLAP). But when the Navy learned the
LRLAP would cost close to $1 million per round, the program was canceled, leaving the Zumwalt without its pri- mary weapon. The program cost for the three-
ship class so far — a staggering $22.5 billion. Since then, the Zumwalt has been
CONSTELLATION-CLASS FRIGATE
French and Italians Keeping Us Afloat? A
fter pouring untold billions into ships that are already being phased
out, the Navy brass knows it can’t experience another shipbuilding failure. So, the Pentagon is looking for help
from its European allies. The Navy has based the hull design
for its new Constellation-class guided- missile ships on proven, multipurpose, Italian-designed frigates that are already in service. The ships are being built by
Fincantieri Marinette Marine, an Italian- owned shipyard based in Marinette, Wisconsin. The Navy is pushing for the first ship in the Constellation class, which will cost over $1 billion, to be commissioned in 2026. Currently, the Navy is planning to build 20 Constellation frigates. It’s a 500-foot-long, 7,300-ton ship that packs a major punch with 32 Aegis-style vertical missile launch tubes. With a speed of over 30 knots, the
called “a ship class searching for a mission” — so much so that the Navy downsized the class from 30 vessels to three — and doesn’t appear too certain how to deploy those. Ramsey, who spent three decades
in the Navy, followed by another 25 years in civil service also working for the Navy, calls the Zumwalt class “a mess.” “It’s like the world’s largest floating
portable radio,” he quips. “It doesn’t have any weapons on it.” The Zumwalt has since been ret-
rofitted with vertical launch missile tubes. The latest plan is to outfit it with hypersonic missiles, but those are not yet operational.
Constellation would be fast enough to escort U.S. aircraft carriers. Expected to specialize in antisubmarine warfare, it will be equipped with the latest sonar and the AN/SPY-6 radar used on new Arleigh Burke class destroyers. Knowing they can’t afford to whiff on the Constellation, Navy leaders are reportedly looking for a second shipyard to help build it. It’s now believed the Navy would like to add 40 to 50 Constellation vessels, in part to keep pace with robust Chinese shipbuilding.
Only time will tell if outsourcing the basic hull design to NATO allies will work, but Capt. Brent Ramsey, an outspoken critic of the littoral combat ship (LCS) class, is optimistic. “It’s a very functional ship,” Ramsey
tells Newsmax. “It’s very high tech. I think it’ll be the equivalent in quality of the Arleigh Burke class DDGs (guided missile destroyers).” — D.P.
Those shipbuilding setbacks are
even more alarming given the chal- lenges besetting the Navy’s new high- tech aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford. Built at a staggering cost of $13 billion, the Ford aircraft car- rier completed its first operational deployment last year. Most analysts believe the Ford
class carriers will eventually be the Navy’s crown jewels. But for now, the ship continues to have problems with its high-tech catapult system, arrest- ing gear, and elevators. Despite the current, inadequate
sortie rate, Ramsey predicts, “When they get the bugs worked out, it’ll eventually be one hell of a ship.”
DECEMBER 2023 | NEWSMAX 41
©FINCANTIERIMARINEGROUP
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