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Navy offers a new argument for decommissioning cruisers: They�re not safe.
By Megan Eckstein
Mar 9, 03:08 PM
WASHINGTON � The U.S. Navy has tried to convince Congress to let it decommission the cruiser fleet by making cost-based arguments.
It�s tried readiness-based arguments, too, noting the drain on the ship repair industry.
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HII lays keel of 78th Burke-class Destroyer for US Navy
Naval News Staff 11 Mar 2022
NAVSEA press release
The ship is named for the late Senator Ted Stevens from Alaska. Stevens was the longest-serving Republican U.S. Senator in history at the time he left office and was the third senator to hold the title of president pro tempore emeritus. He was the president pro tempore of the United States Senate in the 108th and 109th Congresses.
The contemporary keel-laying ceremony represents the joining together of a ship�s modular components at the land level. The keel is authenticated with the ship sponsors� initials etched into a ceremonial keel plate as part of the ceremony. Sponsors of DDG 128 are Catherine Stevens, wife of the ship�s namesake, and Susan Stevens Covich and Lily Stevens Becker, daughters of the namesake.
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As US Navy rethinks its fleet, Ingalls Shipbuilding faces uncertain future
By Megan Eckstein
Mar 14, 06:00 AM
WASHINGTON � As recently as three years ago, the U.S. Navy�s long-term shipbuilding plan laid out a stable path for Ingalls Shipbuilding.
The Navy planned to buy two or three Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers each year, splitting the work between the Pascagoula, Mississippi-based Ingalls shipyard and General Dynamics� Bath Iron Works in Maine.
The service was also set to purchase San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks well into the future, initially at one every other year but eventually moving to one per year.
While the next America-class amphibious assault ship, LHA-6, would be stretched over a longer-than-ideal construction timeline, the Navy would eventually buy one every three or four years. And though the Coast Guard�s Legend-class National Security Cutter program was coming to an end, there were several options for the Navy to replace that work.
But over the past three years, the service has tightened its budget and changed its requirements, making the future look far less rosy for Ingalls Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
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Navy Clear to Decommission 5 Cruisers, Unclear Which Ships Will Leave the Fleet
By: Sam LaGrone
March 23, 2022 5:26 PM
Five cruisers that could be targets for decommissioning this year, according to the Navy�s latest inactivation plan.
The Navy is clear to decommission five Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers following the passage of the Fiscal Year 2022 defense appropriations bill, USNI News understands.
The overdue spending bill follows the FY 2022 defense policy bill and allows the Navy to decommission five of the seven cruisers originally requested as part of the White House�s budget request.
Congress didn�t spell out which five cruisers will leave the fleet, according to the FY 2022 defense authorization bill that was signed into law in December, and the Navy isn�t sure which ones will go.
�The Navy is moving forward with the formal process outlined in the FY22 NDAA to approve the five Ticonderoga-class Cruiser hulls that will decommission in Fiscal Year 2022,� reads a Navy statement. �The Navy will share the specific hull numbers and plans for the decommissionings as the information is available for release.�
In July, the Navy�s most recent decommissioning memo identified seven ships, two of which were to leave the service in February � Norfolk, Va.,-based USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) and USS Monterey (CG-61).
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Navy Wants to Scrap 9 Littoral Combat Ships Along with 15 Others to Pay for New Carriers and Submarines
28 Mar 2022
Military.com | By Konstantin Toropin
The Navy wants to scrap 24 ships this coming year as part of its latest budget proposal, a move designed to give military planners enough money to modernize the rest of the fleet.
The sea service explained as part of the release of its budget request Monday that its ongoing commitment to both the new Ford-class aircraft carriers and the upcoming Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine created a "pressurization," forcing the Navy to decommission the large number of ships.
Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, the Navy's budget chief, told reporters that the plan is to get rid of five cruisers, nine littoral combat ships, four landing dock ships, two submarines, two oilers and two expeditionary transfer docks.
Gumbelton explained that 56% of their $27.9 billion shipbuilding budget "is for nuclear ships" - the aforementioned Ford and Columbia - and as a result, the Navy officer said the branch was forced to think hard about where to get money to modernize the rest of the fleet.
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US Navy seeks to end San Antonio-class ship production, reducing fleet by 8 amphibious hulls
By Megan Eckstein
Mar 28, 04:36 PM
WASHINGTON � The U.S. Navy wants to buy one last San Antonio-class amphibious ship and then end the production line, the service announced in its fiscal 2023 budget request.
The LPD-17 class got off to a rough start in its construction, but transformed into a model acquisition program and a workhorse of the fleet. These ships, built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi, haul Marines and their gear as part of amphibious ready group/Marine expeditionary unit (ARG/MEU) formations.
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A ship that can�t combat threats �doesn�t do me good�
By Diana Stancy Correll
Apr 5, 01:03 PM
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has said ships that can�t combat threats to the service are dead weight � comments that come as the force seeks to decommission 24 ships next fiscal year.
When asked what the Navy is doing to grow the fleet, Del Toro said it�s outfitting ships with the right capabilities to accomplish their missions � something he considers �far more significant to me than anything else.�
�It just doesn�t do me good to have lots and lots of ships that aren�t effective against the actual threat itself,� Del Toro said at the Navy League�s annual Sea-Air-Space conference on Tuesday. �It�s a combination of the right capacity, right capability to deliver the right lethality where we need it.�
The Navy�s fiscal 2023 budget request, unveiled March 28, requests nine ships including two Virginia-class attack submarines, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, one Constellation-class frigate and one America-class amphibious assault ship.
It�s also asking to decommission 24 ships from the fleet � 16 of which would retire prior to the end of their service lives. Included in that group are nine Freedom-variant littoral combat ships, one cruiser and two expeditionary transfer docks.
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US Navy envisions larger fleet despite long-range plans reflecting budget crunch
By Megan Eckstein
Apr 29, 09:40 AM
WASHINGTON � Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday mused about a day when the U.S. Navy might be able to buy a dozen or more ships each year. The Navy would be given the funding levels, and the surface ship industrial base would have grown the capacity, to support building three destroyers a year, two or three frigates a year, an amphibious transport dock every other year, and a larger number of supply ships.
But as he made clear in his remarks this week, that day is not today.
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Navy says it will lose millions by not committing to 10 destroyers in upcoming contract
By Megan Eckstein
May 18, 07:00 PM
WASHINGTON � The U.S. Navy doesn�t want to promise to buy too many ships in the next five years, in case it can�t follow through due to budget or supply chain constraints.
But its unwillingness to guarantee work to shipbuilders will cost the sea service millions of dollars in the long run, a top official told Defense News.
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