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.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

http://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/2011/10/pom-bomb.html - go read the who thing

The POM Bomb

When you consider all that happy talk as Admiral Roughead was going out the door about making sure ships can make it 30, 35, 50, 75 years - this data point should provide the real Roughead legacy, in a fashion.

Via a forwarded email, Names removed to protect pretty much everyone involved. In part;

Based upon the ALT POM changes- the Department plans to inactivate the ships below:

CG (FY 13): 60, 68, 69, 71
CG (FY 14): 59, 63, 64, 65, 66
LSD (FY 14): 41, 43, 46

While there may be some further discussion with the CGs with respect to which ones in which year- these are the hull numbers (and OPNAV concurred).

Per 10 USC 2244A, any modernization (except safety modifications or modifications costing less than $100K) is not allowed within 5 years of retirement/disposal. NAVSEA (any SYSCOM) should not provide FY 12 (or remaining FY 11) procurement funds to any of the above platforms (except safety modifications). If funds are already spent on these platforms, that is okay given that these are recent changes. The key is to ensure no new money is being spent.

+/- a year or two, this is where we are:

- USS CAPE ST. GEORGE (CG-71) was commissioned in 1993. In FY13 she will be, yes Liberal Arts math here - 20 years old.

- USS PRINCETON (CG-59), commissioned in 1989 in FY14 will be 25 years old.

- USS WHIDBEY ISLAND (LSD-41) commissioned in 1985 will in FY14 be 29 years old;

- USS TORTUGA (LSD-46) will be 24 years old.