The U.S. Navy's Problems Keep Growing

Smoke rises from a fire on board US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. REUTERS/Bing Guan

James A. Russell, Business Insider/Responsible Statecraft: The Navy's problems keep growing as it takes a leading role against Russia and China

* As the Navy takes center stage in the US reorientation toward "great-power competition," the service seems beset with problems in its leadership and its hardware.
* These issues point to a maritime force that was long the nation's first line of defense but which is now beset with serious and systemic problems that need immediate attention

Last week's crippling fire on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard raised further questions about the state of our Navy just as the Trump administration recklessly careens down a path toward maritime confrontations with China in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

The fire on the Bonhomme Richard is only the latest in a series of damaging incidents that call into question the Navy's ability to take on the central role called for in the Defense Department's priority of re-orienting the nation's armed forces away from hunting jihadists across South Asia toward focusing on revisionist great powers in Moscow and especially Beijing.

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WNU Editor: The fire that crippled the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard last week should be a wake-up call that the US Navy is facing problems.

The Fire Aboard The USS Bonhomme Richard Signals More Troubles For The US Navy

The fire, accompanied by at least one large explosion, erupted Sunday morning in the lower cargo hold of the 844-foot-long ship, docked for routine maintenance at its home port at U.S. Naval Base San Diego. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Austin Haist

Jerry Hendrix, National Review: Burning USS Bonhomme Richard Signals More Trouble for Navy

The latest incident in a long line of recent trouble suggests continued internal weakness

The Navy suffered yet another cruel blow this past weekend when a fire broke out onboard the light amphibious carrier USS Bonhomme Richard, one of the oldest and most revered names in U.S. naval history, and then grew to massive proportions and spread throughout the ship. At one point the ship was entirely evacuated, firefighting tugboats pulled back, and the two destroyers that were tied up across the pier from the burning ship got under way as quickly as possible to escape the soaring temperatures and thick smoke. Local fire officials momentarily speculated that the ship might have to be left to burn “to the water line,” an outcome difficult to imagine for a steel-hulled vessel but not so difficult for those firefighters attempting to work in close proximity to the ship’s internal 1,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures. The flames have raged for days, and firefighting efforts finally appear to be gaining control of the situation. The ship’s aluminum island has melted and her radar masts have collapsed, while Navy and local San Diego officials worried what would happen if the flames reached the ship’s fuel tanks, located just above her keel, well below the waterline, but containing 1 million gallons of the Navy’s special blend of diesel fuel.

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WNU Editor:A sobering read on what the loss of the USS Bonhomme Richard would mean for the US navy.

Is The Gunboat Making A Comback?

The British Fairmile D motor torpedo boat. U.S. Naval Institute

Robert Owen, US Naval Institute: Bring Back a True Gunboat

After his defeat at Waterloo and surrender to the Royal Navy, Napoleon is said to have remarked, “If it had not been for you English, I would have been Emperor of the East. But wherever there is water to float a ship, we are sure to find you in our way.” This simple observation goes to the heart of littoral warfare and is as true today as it was 205 years ago. It was not the wooden wall of Britain’s great two- and three-deckers that Napoleon was referring to, but the hundreds of sloops, brigs, pinnacles, and many other types of inshore craft that sought out and denied the French the use of their own coastal waters.

Likewise, it was not the ironclads and cruisers of the Union Navy but rather the hundreds of smaller requisitioned, converted, and purpose-built craft that slowly choked the Confederacy from Vicksburg to Cape Hatteras during the Civil War. Similarly, the U.S. Navy’s PT boats did yeoman service among the islands of the Pacific, as did the brown-water riverine forces battling the Viet Cong for control of waterways of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam

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WNU Editor: Maybe now is the time for smaller warships .... Is it time for a big fleet of small ships? (Glenn Harlan Reynolds, USA Today).

Hat tip Instapundit.

Is The Era Of The U.S. Navy Having It All Coming To An End?

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Kennishah J. Maddux

Popular Mechanics: The U.S. Navy Is Facing a Choice: Nukes or Ships?

The era of having it all may be over.

The U.S. Navy may have a tough choice to make: prioritizing growing its fleet of warships or funding the next generation of nuclear ballistic missile submarines. The Navy has made growing the size of the overall fleet to 355 ships a major priority, while at the same time building the new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines. Meanwhile, the service is also being warned that the Pentagon’s defense budget will start shrinking in fiscal year 2020, making the two priorities in the eyes of many analysts an either/or proposition.

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WNU Editor:  When building a Ford aircraft carrier costs $13 billion .... the answer is yes .... the era when the U.S. can have it all is coming to an end.

Is The Chinese Navy A Threat To The U.S.?

A serviceman stands on the deck of a Chinese naval vessel in Karachi, Pakistan, on February 9, 2017. (Reuters / Akhtar Soomro)

Alfred W. McCoy, The Nation: Is a Modern Chinese Navy a Threat to the United States?

China’s rising presence in the Indian and Pacific oceans has far-reaching implications for our world order.

Amid the intense coverage of Russian cyber-maneuvering and North Korean missile threats, another kind of great-power rivalry has been playing out quietly in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The US and Chinese navies have been repositioning warships and establishing naval bases as if they were so many pawns on a geopolitical chessboard. To some it might seem curious, even quaint, that gunboats and naval bastions, once emblematic of the Victorian age, remain even remotely relevant in our own era of cyber-threats and space warfare.

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WNU Editor:  If trend lines are any indication .... in ten years the Chinese Navy will be able to project power that can (and will) easily challenge the U.S. Navy.

Is The US. Navy Failing At Its Most Basic Responsibilities?

YouTube

Bob McManus, City-Journal: Anchors Await

The Navy is failing at its most basic responsibilities.

French fur trappers reported in the sixteenth century that the St. Lawrence River freezes hard in the winter. You’d think that word might have filtered through to Washington by now. But the U.S. Navy sent one of its newest warships, the USS Little Rock, to Montreal in December—where it now sits trapped in thick ice, probably until mid-March, marking an inauspicious beginning of a new year for a sea service coming off a horrendous 2017. Indeed, news of the Little Rock’s humiliation arrived with word that the Navy has referred the commanding officers of two destroyers involved in fatal high-seas collisions last summer for prosecution on charges including criminal negligence.

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WNU Editor: A brutal commentary on the U.S. Navy.

Is The Era Of The U.S. Aircraft Carrier Coming To An End?

The USS McCampbell and aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan in the Persian Gulf. (Wikimedia Commons)

Harry J. Kazianis, American Conservative: Face It, The Mighty U.S. Aircraft Carrier is Finished

The first step is acknowledging that in a standoff, it could lose, and badly.

The U.S. Navy (and to be frank, the whole U.S. military) is living in a state of total denial. In the next great powers war, or perhaps even in a conflict with a mid-tier power like Iran, at least one of our aircraft carriers will sink to the bottom of the sea. That means thousands of lives could be lost—and there would be very little we could do to stop it.

We need to get used to a very simple reality: the decades-old age of the aircraft carrier, that great symbol of U.S. power projection, has now passed. We can deny the evidence that is right before our eyes, but innovations in anti-ship missiles over many decades—combined with advanced but short-range carrier-based U.S. fighter aircraft and missile defenses that can be easily defeated—have conspired to doom one of the most powerful weapons ever devised.

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WNU Editor:  Another article that explains why the era of the U.S. aircraft carrier is coming to an end.

Is The U.S. Navy Floundering?

Three F/A-18E Super Hornets fly in formation over the aircraft carriers USS Ronald Reagan, USS Theodore Roosevelt, USS Nimitz and their strike groups along with ships from the South Korean Navy as they transit the Western Pacific.Source: AFP

Matt Young, News.com.au: US Navy floundering under sea of crises, according to jaw-dropping reports


THE US Navy is floundering in a big way. Now, sailors are beginning to share their stories as the extent of the crisis is revealed.

“IT’S only a matter of time before something horrible happens.”

These were the ominous warnings of a shipmate taken in a survey on US Navy cruiser Shiloh in a desperate bid to be heard.

Another described it as a “floating prison”.

“I just pray we never have to shoot down a missile from North Korea,” a distraught sailor lamented, “because then our ineffectiveness will really show.”

According to the Navy Times, “these comments are not unique”.

As the desperate search for three missing American sailors lost at sea ended Friday afternoon, whispers surrounding the United States’ military strength suggest a worrying decline in competency from both sea and air.

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Previous Post: It has not been a good year for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific. And this is also not helpful .... 60 Admirals And Hundreds Of U.S. Naval Officers Are Now Being Investigated In The Fat Leonard Scandal (November 7, 2017).

Is The USS Gerald Ford Obsolete?

Tug boats maneuver Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), into the James River during the ship’s Turn Ship evolution on June 11, 2016. US Navy photo.

Thomas E. Ricks, Foreign Policy: Will the USS Gerald Ford be remembered as the doomed Yamato of the carrier era?

Commissioned by the Japanese in December of 1941, just over a week after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the Yamato was the largest, most powerful battleship that had ever existed — a title that it still holds to this day, over 75 years later. With its nine 18.1-inch guns, it could fire 3,000 pound shells up to 26 miles away — so far that it required spotter aircraft to identify targets over the horizon. In comparison, the heaviest guns on U.S. battleships were 16 inches and limited to a maximum range of 20 miles. To paraphrase President Trump, it was truly a ship to make its enemies shake with fear.

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WNU Editor: Advancements in naval aviation made the era of battleships and large surface ships obsolete. Will advancements in anti-ship missiles do the same thing for aircraft carriers? The Russians are working on developing these missiles .... Watch Russia's Only Operational Battlecruiser Launch A Massive "Shipwreck" Anti-Ship Missile (The Drive), but so is the U.S. .... Army, Pentagon Upgrade ATACMS Missile to Attack Ships at Sea (Scout Warrior).

Maybe The U.S. Navy Should Build Some Smaller Ships?

US/South Korea exercises in March. (US Navy)

James Seddon, Task & Purpose: The Navy Needs To Stop Buying Big Ships To Do All Its Small Jobs

As a Navy “blackshoe” surface warfare officer, I saw firsthand how our fleet’s leaders have more missions than they have ships to fill them. I watched flag staff in a command center wrestle with operational problems that would have been easier if they’d had more hulls, more ships, of just about any kind of surface combatant. The Navy’s go-to workhorse destroyers are too expensive to fill the gap, and its recent small-ship programs have been plagued with problems.

There is one possible solution: Steal a page from the Russian navy’s shipbuilding strategy and focus on raising a fleet of corvettes — the diminutive warships, not the sportscars that newly minted ensigns dream of sticking in their driveways. Alas, the U.S. Navy seems to be going in the opposite direction, turning small-ship plans into big, costly headaches.

To understand the way forward, first you have to dig into how the Navy got into this fix.

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WNU Editor: A good summary on why the US Navy si addicted to building big ships.

Should The U.S. Build Large (Or Small) Aircraft Carriers?

The USS Gerald R. Ford (Photo by Mark D. Faram)

Mark D. Faram and Geoff Ziezulewicz, Navy Times: What should the Navy's future carrier fleet look like?

The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford — the most expensive warship in history — was commissioned on July 22, entering the fleet amid renewed debate and questions about the role of “super carriers” in 21st century maritime warfare.

Does the sea service need more Goliaths like the Ford, or would smaller, cheaper “light carriers” be better able respond to the geopolitical realities of today?

On the light carrier side of the debate is the amphibious assault ship America, a new class of warship currently steaming across the Pacific on its first regularly scheduled deployment. While the big-deck amphib is not long enough to embark a full carrier air wing, it can deploy with a tilt-rotor V-22 Ospreys and will soon be able to carry F-35B Joint Strike Fighters.

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WNU Editor: The carrier debate continues.

Is The U.S. Navy Screwed?

Gary Wetzel, Foxtrot Alpha: The U.S. Navy is Screwed

In May, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson and acting Secretary of the Navy Sean Stackley appeared before a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to discuss the recently unveiled fiscal year 2018 defense budget and its effects on the Navy. The news was not good about the state of the Navy and where the service is headed.

Despite campaign promises to rebuild the military from the twin disasters of sequestration and the 2011 Budget Control Act combined with nearly 16 years of combat deployments, the first Trump budget for the Navy does little to look to the future. This proposed budget only begins to fix the neglect of the past, placing more emphasis on getting the ships and submarines the repairs they desperately need.

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WNU Editor: Another analysis on why the U.S. Navy will not achieve its goals of expanding the fleet.

This Is The Naval Fleet That The U.S. Needs

Wryan Clark & Bryan McGrath, War on the Rocks: A Guide to the Fleet the United States Needs

Editor’s Note: The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) required the Department of Defense to conduct three studies of the future fleet platform architecture needed by the Navy in the 2030 timeframe. The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) was selected to conduct one of the studies. The result is Restoring American Seapower by Bryan Clark, Bryan McGrath, Peter Haynes, Jesse Sloman, and Timothy Walton. Two of the authors – Bryan Clark and Bryan McGrath – preview their findings here.

Since the Cold War, the U.S. Navy has followed a well-worn template to deter aggression and respond to crises in the Middle East and the Western Pacific: a “one size fits all” carrier strike group and amphibious ready group. This approach won’t do the job any longer. China and Russia are violating international law and threatening U.S. allies even as ongoing operations in the Middle East are consuming the service lives of the Navy’s ships and aircraft. In response, the Department of Defense has deployed Navy and Marine forces longer and more frequently, creating what Navy leaders are calling a readiness crisis in the fleet. This is exacerbated by a reduction in the fleet’s size from 318 ships in 2000 to about 275 ships today.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. should first debate and define its priorities and mission .... and then decide on what we need. ,Here is another good read ... The US Navy Is in Trouble, But Building More Ships Won’t Save It (Matthew Gault, Task & Purpose).

Are U.S. Navy Ships 'Sitting Ducks'?

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Sept. 23, 2014 ) The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads a formation of ships from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 during a maneuvering exercise. Theodore Roosevelt participated in the exercise with the Peruvian submarine BAP Islay (SS 35), the guided-missile destroyers USS Winston Churchill (DDG 81), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60). Theodore Roosevelt is underway preparing for future deployments.

James Holmes, Foreign Policy: Is the U.S. Navy a Sitting Duck?

Why asymmetric warfare on the high seas is so tricky for great powers.

Outclassed adversaries have a pesky habit of refusing to admit they’re outclassed. To wit: Early this month, U.S. Navy destroyers cruising off the Yemeni coast exchanged fire with Houthi rebels armed with C-802 anti-ship missiles. The C-802 is a ubiquitous missile of Chinese origin. Among the countries fielding these missiles is Iran, the Houthis’ patron and likely supplier of anti-ship weaponry.

Two C-802s lanced out over the Gulf of Aden on Sunday, Oct. 9, prompting the crew of the USS Mason to launch two SM-2 anti-air missiles, an Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, and a Nulka radar decoy in self-defense. The Houthi missiles fell harmlessly into the sea.

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WNU Editor: The short answer is no .... but there are limits to sea power as this article explains.

A Look At Why The U.S. Navy's New Expensive Warships Are Breaking Down At Sea

JOEL PAGE / REUTERS

David Axe, Daily Beast: The U.S. Navy’s Expensive New Warships Are Breaking Down at Sea

The U.S. Navy is set to roll out a new, sleek, fast high-tech destroyer—but the ship keeps suffering from engineering glitches.

September was supposed to be a triumphant month for Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy’s high-tech new destroyer. The 600-foot-long, missile-armed stealth warship—its hull and superstructure sharply sloped to help it avoid radar-detection—was in Norfolk, Virginia, undergoing last-minute tests before her planned official commissioning on Oct. 15.

Once in service, Zumwalt will be the Navy’s most sophisticated destroyer. But only if she actually works.

On Sept. 19, Zumwalt suffered what the Navy calls an “engineering casualty.” In plain language, that means the $4 billion ship broke down. And she wasn’t alone. Across the world’s leading navy, new warships are breaking down at alarming rates.

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WNU Editor: A sobering look at the U.S. Navy's newest ships.

Are U.S. Bases Overseas More Vulnerable Than Aircraft Carriers?

The Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) (rear) conduct dual aircraft carrier strike group operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific in Philippine Sea on June 18, 2016. Courtesy Jake Greenberg/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

Loren B. Thompson, National Interest: U.S. Overseas Bases Are Much More Vulnerable Than Aircraft Carriers

There has been a raft of commentaries recently about how countries like China and Russia are pursuing so-called anti-access/area-denial strategies aimed at driving the U.S. Navy from nearby seas. Some of the more colorful accounts describe a "line of death" in places such as the Western Pacific that U.S. aircraft carriers can't cross without being in imminent peril.

These fears are greatly exaggerated. U.S. aircraft carriers are extremely resilient, and among the most densely defended assets in the world. In addition, they are always on the move, meaning it is hard to find them when they are at sea and even harder to target them. In a few minutes, a nuclear-powered carrier can be many miles from where it was first spotted -- U.S. carriers can outrun most submarines -- and in a shooting war, U.S. forces would immediately move to blind hostile sensors capable of tracking our warships.

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WNU Editor: I can understand that since bases are fixed targets .... they can be easily taken out. While aircraft carriers .... by virtue that they are mobile .... are hard to track and be targeted. But in such a major shooting war I have a suspicion that the big concern and focus of our political and military leaders will be on the use of nuclear weapons .... not targeting and sinking aircraft carriers.

The Case To Build Lethal Iowa-Class Battleships

Harry J. Kazianis, National Interest: America's Lethal Iowa-Class Battleships vs. China's Missiles: Who Wins?

Imagine this fictional showdown: It's July 2026, and the United States and China are on the brink of war in the South China Sea.

Despite years of negotiations and what amounts to a ‘frozen conflict’ on the water, China, the Philippines and Vietnam are more deadlocked than ever before when it comes to various claims and counterclaims in this hotly contested sea. Tensions are now near the boiling point as Beijing has finally begun reclamation work at Scarborough Shoal, blockaded once again Second Thomas Shoal and placed multiple oil rigs off Vietnam’s Exclusive Economic Zone in response to another loss in the international court of arbitration in the Hague, this time brought by Vietnam.

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WNU Editor: Not going to happen .... the U.S. Navy prefers high priced items like air craft carriers that do not work .... U.S. Navy's new $13B aircraft carrier can't fight (CNN), and stealth destroyers that are overpriced and already out of date .... America's Zumwalt-Class Destroyer: Too Few, Too Advanced and Too Late? (National Interest).

U.S. Navy Is Experiencing A Deployment Crisis

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Sept. 23, 2014 ) The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads a formation of ships from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 during a maneuvering exercise. Theodore Roosevelt participated in the exercise with the Peruvian submarine BAP Islay (SS 35), the guided-missile destroyers USS Winston Churchill (DDG 81), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60). Theodore Roosevelt is underway preparing for future deployments.

Washington Free Beacon: Navy Faces Deployment Crisis as Aging Ships Get Sidelined

Experts warn of U.S. inability to respond in Persian Gulf, Asian Pacific.

The U.S. Navy is suffering from an inability to deploy ships to key international conflict zones due to rising maintenance issues on an aging fleet, that is increasingly being sidelined for lengthy repairs, according to military experts and a new government investigation.

Heavy demand on the Navy’s fleet during the past decade has compromised the operational conditions of many ships, forcing military leaders to sideline these vessels for lengthy repairs that experts say will severely limit the Navy’s ability to respond to emerging threats in the Persian Gulf and Asia-Pacific regions.

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WNU Editor: Too many missions .... not enough ships. So either change the number and scope of the mission(s) .... or build more ships. My prediction .... the White House/Congress will do neither.

China's Navy Is Rising

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) transits alongside the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force Murasame-class destroyer JDS Samidare (DD 106) on Feb. 22, 2016, in the Philippine Sea. Providing a ready force supporting security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific, Stennis is operating as part of the Great Green Fleet on a regularly scheduled 7th Fleet deployment. (Photo by Ryan J. Batchelder/U.S. Navy)

National Interest: Why the U.S. Navy Could Be in Big Trouble: China Plans 351 Ships by 2020

Ongoing U.S.-China tensions in the South China Sea regarding Chinese artificial island-building are leading many at the Pentagon to sharpen their focus upon the rapid pace of Chinese Naval modernization and expansion.

While Chinese naval technology may still be substantially behind current U.S. platforms, the equation could change dramatically over the next several decades because the Chinese are reportedly working on a handful of high-tech next-generation ships, weapons and naval systems.

China has plans to grow its navy to 351 ships by 2020 as the Chinese continue to develop their military’s ability to strike global targets, according to a recent Congressional report.

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Update: New 30-year shipbuilding plan falls short of Navy goal (Politico)

WNU Editor: In regards to technology, experience, capabilities .... the U.S. will still hold the edge even though China may find itself with more ships. But the trend line is undeniable .... the Chinese want to have a navy that will match and/or surpass the U.S. Navy, and they are willing to make that commitment even if it may take a few decades to achieve it.

Is America's Navy Spread Too Thin?

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Sept. 23, 2014 ) The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) leads a formation of ships from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12 during a maneuvering exercise. Theodore Roosevelt participated in the exercise with the Peruvian submarine BAP Islay (SS 35), the guided-missile destroyers USS Winston Churchill (DDG 81), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), USS Farragut (DDG 99) and the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60). Theodore Roosevelt is underway preparing for future deployments.

Nikolas K. Gvosdev, National Interest: America's Navy Is Spread Too Thin

A handful of ships can't project power everywhere at once.

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of being on a panel as part of the Naval War College’s Regional Alumni Symposium, discussing the strategic importance of the Black Sea region, along with Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analysis and Chris Marsh of the School of Advanced Military Studies. After all, as Marsh noted, the Black Sea is assuming much greater importance as part of China’s ambitious “one road, one belt” system, designed to link the Asia-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic worlds—a point made graphically clear by Parag Khanna’s “connectography” maps, while Kofman called attention to Russia’s new power-projection capabilities emanating from Crimea. Yet for all our eloquence in calling for the Black Sea to assume greater importance in American strategic thinking, equally compelling cases were being made for why additional U.S. attention and resources need to be deployed in the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic Ocean. And without the ability to instantaneously transport equipment and personnel from one area to another, the United States must either massively increase its defense and security expenditures to increase its presence in all theaters, trust that allies will finally meet the challenge and increase their own spending to fill in the gaps, or accept risks in certain areas.

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WNU Editor: The U.S. Navy is everywhere .... maybe now is the time to redefine their mission.