Wharf Rat's Home - A Shipmate Who Never Made it to Sea.

'It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.'

Preserving a piece of US Maritime History - invaluable

The USS Olympia is a cruiser that fought in the Spanish American War in 1898 and has been preserved in Philadelphia. She's a one of a kind ship, a national historic monument, and in danger. She needs approximately $10-15 million in repairs to keep her a viable museum for years to come. If you have the resources, or connections to those resources, please consider helping. (full disclosure - there is no financial benefit to me to ask the question - we need to save this ship for posterity). Please contact me at 612-599-1935 or bdskon@fedex.com if you have additional questions.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Ship building news - http://www.coltoncompany.com/

The Navy took delivery of the USNS Washington Chambers, (T-AKE 11), in San Diego on Wednesday. Read the announcement from MSC here. Only three T-AKEs still to go. Bring on the T-AO program ASAP. February 26, 2011.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN DELIVERS DDG 110

The Navy took delivery of the USS William P. Lawrence, (DDG 110), today in Pascagoula. Read the announcement from Northrop Grumman here. NGSB now has no DDGs left to build. Three more were authorized in FY 2010 - two for NGSB and one for BIW - but as we all know, there has been no 2010 appropriation yet. Unbelievably disruptive: major lay-offs seem inevitable, just as NGSB is about to become HuntIng Industries. February 24, 2011.

AN SSBN THAT ONLY COSTS $6 BILLION

Defense News reports that the Navy thinks it can get the cost of a new SSBN down from the original estimate of $7 billion to a mere $6 billion. Read the story here. Well, that's certainly great news. That means that, all being well, we'll be able to afford a Navy with maybe 60 ships. Whoopy-doo.

Let's see now. According to the CBO, the Ohio class of SSBNs, which the new boats would replace, cost about $1.4 billion each, in 1983 dollars. $1.4 billion to $6 billion over 28 years, that's an average growth rate of about 5.4%. Over the same period, the Producer Price Index grew at 3.0%, giving a present value for $1.4 billion of $3.2 billion, roughly half what the Navy is aiming for. What do we conclude? First, shipbuilding costs are still going up, even in constant dollars, and, second, the Navy is still specifying gold-plated systems. Why do we need these monsters, anyway? Here's one program that is definitely going to be delayed, scaled down and stretched out. February 23, 2011.

NO FANFARE FOR LAUNCH OF LPD 23

Last week, NGSB delivered DDG 110 and started fabrication of CVN 79. Both these events were announced with the usual overblown press releases. Not so the launch of LPD 23, which took place the week before. Not only no press release, the event wasn't even covered by the New Orleans Times-Picayune. It did, however, make it into NGSB's employee newsletter, a copy of which you can read here. So, how long before she is moved to Pascagoula? Note that it took Avondale 176 weeks to erect this ship and based on past experience, as shown below, it will be another 90 before she's delivered. Disgraceful. February 27, 2011.

#	Name	Builder	Contract Award	Keel Laying	Launch	Delivery	KL-L (weeks)	L-D (weeks)	KL-D (weeks)
17	San Antonio	Avondale	17-Dec-96	9-Dec-00	12-Jul-03	20-Jul-05	135	105	241
18	New Orleans	Avondale	18-Dec-98	14-Oct-02	11-Dec-04	22-Dec-06	113	106	219
19	Mesa Verde	Ingalls	29-Feb-00	25-Feb-03	19-Nov-04	28-Sep-07	90	148	238
20	Green Bay	Avondale	30-May-00	11-Aug-03	11-Aug-06	29-Aug-08	157	107	264
21	New York	Avondale	25-Nov-03	10-Sep-04	19-Dec-07	21-Aug-09	181	87	268
22	San Diego	Ingalls	1-Jun-06	23-May-07	7-May-10		154
23	Anchorage	Avondale	1-Jun-06	24-Sep-07	12-Feb-11		176
24	Arlington	Ingalls	6-Nov-06	18-Dec-08	23-Nov-10		101
25	Somerset	Avondale	21-Dec-07	11-Dec-09
26	John P. Murtha	Ingalls
27		Ingalls