US Navy News and updates

[hauritz]

Another day another fire, this time on the USS Kearsarge.

US Navy orders General Dynamics shipyard to stop work after small fire on the warship Kearsarge

The fire aboard Bonhomme Richard's sister ship was quickly extinguished.

www.defensenews.com

Only a small one that was quickly extinguished. It was a welding accident and it sounds like it was about as minor as it could get, but still, it does make you wonder about their work practices. Having a pile of inflatable material nearby while you are welding only a week after a major warship went up in flames seems pretty sloppy.

 

[Todjaeger]

Another day another fire, this time on the USS Kearsarge.

US Navy orders General Dynamics shipyard to stop work after small fire on the warship Kearsarge

The fire aboard Bonhomme Richard's sister ship was quickly extinguished.

www.defensenews.com

Only a small one that was quickly extinguished. It was a welding accident and it sounds like it was about as minor as it could get, but still, it does make you wonder about their work practices. Having a pile of inflatable material nearby while you are welding only a week after a major warship went up in flames seems pretty sloppy.

Given that the USS Kearsarge is also a Wasp-class LHD and sistership to the USS Bonhomme Richard, I can certainly understand the reaction by ordering a workstop. Not only is the USN now down an amphib which can impact response options and planning for future deployments and maintenance cycles, but the causes of the major fire aboard the Bonhomme Richard are still being investigated. Until more is known, so that mitigation efforts can be done, I would expect the USN to proceed cautiously.

 

[ngatimozart]

A look at the KMQ-25 fitted with the Cobham hose and drogue under wing pod. Quite a large aircraft.

This Is Our First Look At Boeing's MQ-25 Tanker Drone Carrying A Refueling Pod

Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth saw the prototype fitted with the pod during a recent tour of a Boeing facility in her state.

www.thedrive.com

 

[OPSSG]

A look at the KMQ-25 fitted with the Cobham hose and drogue under wing pod. Quite a large aircraft.

This really looks ugly — looks like it can refuel 2 fighters at the same time. The Cobham hose and drogue may serve a functional purpose but I really can’t get over how ugly it is in implementation; when compared to the sleek lines of MQ-25; I feel so shallow in saying this.

This UAV will be seen as combat power multipliers even to KC-46 and A330MRTT operators.

If the US Navy isn’t careful, its new unmanned tanker drone could face a 3-year delay

The Navy will need to carefully manage its maintenance over the coming years so as to not set back the development of unmanned carrier aviation.

www.defensenews.com

Two carriers — Carl Vinson and George H.W. Bush — have limited windows to complete the installation of unmanned aircraft control stations, if operational commitments intervene.

 

[Ananda]

US Navy’s top officer reveals grim new details of the damage to Bonhomme Richard

Fire and flooding left 11 of 14 decks damaged.

www.defensenews.com

This confirms what most already suspect that the damage of USS Bonhomme-Richard is very significant. Just as the article put, there's now the question whether the USN will even bother to ask US Congress on the amount of money needed to do repairs.

 

[John Fedup]

So

US Navy’s top officer reveals grim new details of the damage to Bonhomme Richard

Fire and flooding left 11 of 14 decks damaged.

www.defensenews.com

This confirms what most already suspect that the damage of USS Bonhomme-Richard is very significant. Just as the article put, there's now the question whether the USN will even bother to ask US Congress on the amount of money needed to do repairs.

A request for funding a new ship seems more likely, both politically and practically.

 

[ngatimozart]

An interesting design out of the US Naval Postgraduate School’s Lightly Manned Autonomous Combat Capability program, Role of lightly manned warships | The Australian Naval Institute.

Their baseline configuration is listed as:

• Name: USS Shrike
• Type: Patrol Ship, Guided missile (PCG)
• Cost: US$96.6 million
• Displacement: 600 tons (544 tonnes)
• Length: 214 feet (65.2 m)
• Beam: 29 feet (waterline) (8.8 m)
• Draft: 6.5 feet (1.99 m)
• Range: 7500+ nautical miles
• Speed: 30 knots
  • two steerable, reversible pumpjets with intake screen
  • Integrated electric propulsion
  • Diesel engines
• Crew: 15 (31 beds)
• Armament:
  • Eight LRASMs
  • SeaRAM
  • Seven Javelin pintle mounts
    • One Javelin launch tray per mount
    • Ten stored missiles per mount
    • Either a M2 Browning or Mk 47 AGL per mount
  • 105mm howitzer
  • 36 Spike NLOS missiles
  • 64 Miniature Hit-To-Kill Missiles
• COMBATSS-21 combat management system
• Latest generation full-sized AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite
• Standard decoy launchers
• Excellent optical sensor suite:
  • Visible Distributed Aperture System (DAS)
  • IR DAS
  • Visible/IR camera turret
• COTS navigation sonar
• Maximum affordable acoustic signature reduction
• Appropriate reduction of other signatures to blend into civilian traffic
  • COTS navigation radar
• L3Harris Falcon III® RF-7800W non-line of sight radio
• Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL)
• Aft launch bay
  • One 11m RHIB
  • One 11m long UUV slot (multiple UUV transportation possible)
  • Bay door doubles as launch ramp
• Small topside UAV storage and launch accommodations

They state that it's built for island hopping and other littoral patrolling so that would explain the 105 mm howitzer, which I can only surmise is for NGS in support of USMC marines operating in the locale. Quite heavily armed and would do a significant amount of damage, but I wonder if its practical on a hull of those dimensions.

 

[John Fedup]

Not sure on the hull dimensions either but 10 well armed vessels for one billion is something to like.

 

[cdxbow]

An interesting design out of the US Naval Postgraduate School’s Lightly Manned Autonomous Combat Capability program, Role of lightly manned warships | The Australian Naval Institute.

Their baseline configuration is listed as:

• Name: USS Shrike
• Type: Patrol Ship, Guided missile (PCG)
• Cost: US$96.6 million
• Displacement: 600 tons (544 tonnes)
• Length: 214 feet (65.2 m)
• Beam: 29 feet (waterline) (8.8 m)
• Draft: 6.5 feet (1.99 m)
• Range: 7500+ nautical miles
• Speed: 30 knots
  • two steerable, reversible pumpjets with intake screen
  • Integrated electric propulsion
  • Diesel engines
• Crew: 15 (31 beds)
• Armament:
  • Eight LRASMs
  • SeaRAM
  • Seven Javelin pintle mounts
    • One Javelin launch tray per mount
    • Ten stored missiles per mount
    • Either a M2 Browning or Mk 47 AGL per mount
  • 105mm howitzer
  • 36 Spike NLOS missiles
  • 64 Miniature Hit-To-Kill Missiles
• COMBATSS-21 combat management system
• Latest generation full-sized AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite
• Standard decoy launchers
• Excellent optical sensor suite:
  • Visible Distributed Aperture System (DAS)
  • IR DAS
  • Visible/IR camera turret
• COTS navigation sonar
• Maximum affordable acoustic signature reduction
• Appropriate reduction of other signatures to blend into civilian traffic
  • COTS navigation radar
• L3Harris Falcon III® RF-7800W non-line of sight radio
• Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL)
• Aft launch bay
  • One 11m RHIB
  • One 11m long UUV slot (multiple UUV transportation possible)
  • Bay door doubles as launch ramp
• Small topside UAV storage and launch accommodations

They state that it's built for island hopping and other littoral patrolling so that would explain the 105 mm howitzer, which I can only surmise is for NGS in support of USMC marines operating in the locale. Quite heavily armed and would do a significant amount of damage, but I wonder if its practical on a hull of those dimensions.

Yes, very heavily armed including 5 different missile systems!!
Do ships designs from Naval Postgraduate School get built?
How often do Howitzers get used on ships?

 

[DDG38]

An interesting design out of the US Naval Postgraduate School’s Lightly Manned Autonomous Combat Capability program, Role of lightly manned warships | The Australian Naval Institute.

Their baseline configuration is listed as:

• Crew: 15 (31 beds)
• Armament:
  • Eight LRASMs
  • SeaRAM
  • Seven Javelin pintle mounts
    • One Javelin launch tray per mount
    • Ten stored missiles per mount
    • Either a M2 Browning or Mk 47 AGL per mount
  • 105mm howitzer
  • 36 Spike NLOS missiles
  • 64 Miniature Hit-To-Kill Missiles
• COMBATSS-21 combat management system
• Latest generation full-sized AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite
• Standard decoy launchers
• Excellent optical sensor suite:
  • Visible Distributed Aperture System (DAS)
  • IR DAS
  • Visible/IR camera turret
• COTS navigation sonar
• Maximum affordable acoustic signature reduction
• Appropriate reduction of other signatures to blend into civilian traffic
  • COTS navigation radar
• L3Harris Falcon III® RF-7800W non-line of sight radio
• Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL)

Yeah, I'm gonna say this has been designed by people who have never set foot inside an Ops room, manned a radar, EW or combat system for a dog watch and have an obsession with over automated systems. All that with a ship's company of 15 ? Tell 'em they're dreaming !

 

[Todjaeger]

Yeah, I'm gonna say this has been designed by people who have never set foot inside an Ops room, manned a radar, EW or combat system for a dog watch and have an obsession with over automated systems. All that with a ship's company of 15 ? Tell 'em they're dreaming !

They might not have been dreaming as much as you think. Various chemicals smoked/inhaled, snorted, swallowed, injected or even just absorbed through the skin can cause similar such effects...

I could see a crew of 15 likely being able to operate such a vessel in a non-combat capacity, but trying to use even a fraction of that armament in a combat situation, as well as operating the sensors, machinery/power distribution, conning the vessel, etc. It does seem rather like someone was trying to pack as many things as the possibly could fit, without thought or regard being paid to whether systems fitted were sensible or would be operable.

 

[StobieWan]

They might not have been dreaming as much as you think. Various chemicals smoked/inhaled, snorted, swallowed, injected or even just absorbed through the skin can cause similar such effects...

I could see a crew of 15 likely being able to operate such a vessel in a non-combat capacity, but trying to use even a fraction of that armament in a combat situation, as well as operating the sensors, machinery/power distribution, conning the vessel, etc. It does seem rather like someone was trying to pack as many things as the possibly could fit, without thought or regard being paid to whether systems fitted were sensible or would be operable.

It'll probably be okay til it takes a hit from an RPG and then it'll burn to the water line and sink.

We've been down this route with the LCS and the first thing they had to do was add more berths because the crew were run ragged trying to stay on top of core tasks.

 

[ASSAIL]

They might not have been dreaming as much as you think. Various chemicals smoked/inhaled, snorted, swallowed, injected or even just absorbed through the skin can cause similar such effects...

I could see a crew of 15 likely being able to operate such a vessel in a non-combat capacity, but trying to use even a fraction of that armament in a combat situation, as well as operating the sensors, machinery/power distribution, conning the vessel, etc. It does seem rather like someone was trying to pack as many things as the possibly could fit, without thought or regard being paid to whether systems fitted were sensible or would be operable.

In sustained ops, two watches, 7 crew per watch leaving 7 free to run the ship! No time for sleep. I call fantasy.

 

[Terran]

been dreaming as much as you think. Various chemicals smoked/inhaled, snorted, swallowed, injected or even just absorbed through the skin can cause similar such effects

The human body can do that for a short period, a few days max after that the physical and psychological tolerance is gone. If the ship is very short range and endurance. Basically a patrol boat.

 

[Todjaeger]

The human body can do that for a short period, a few days max after that the physical and psychological tolerance is gone. If the ship is very short range and endurance. Basically a patrol boat.

Not really. 7.5k n miles, with the sort of armament which would do a corvette or light FFG proud, is really not a patrol boat.

Here is a link to the USN Fact File on the Cyclone-class PC. The length, beam and draught are comparable, while a Cyclone-class PC is only ~63% the displacement of the proposed "Shrike" PCG. More importantly the PC has a crew of 28, with significantly less armament and less complex sensors and CMS, and I suspect significantly less than the proposed 7,500 n mile range.

I have an idea of how much people can push their bodies during a time of crisis, and for how long they can sustain such efforts. I also have an idea of how many people would be required to operate a 'regular' vessel as opposed to one which has been packed to the gunnels with a total of a dozen weapons stations, of six different types... Basically unless the vessel was going to be normally tied up alongside and only venture out when tasked with engaging someone/something, a crew of 15 just is not enough personnel. This also gets compounded by the USN crewing philosophy of having dedicated damage control crew, which has generally resulted in the USN having larger crews than other navies, even when crewing the same class warships.

 

[Terran]

I wasn’t talking about the armament but the crew size and use of stimulants.

 

[Todjaeger]

I wasn’t talking about the armament but the crew size and use of stimulants.

The armaments impact the required crew size, at least if one expects them to ever be utilized. And realistically the use of most stimulants is going to have some very negative effects in fairly short order. How long could one expect the CO of a vessel to be able to exercise good decision-making in stressful situations without rest/relief from an XO or other officer able to command the vessel? Even using stimulants at some point the ability to process data properly is going to degrade and then fail. Similarly, at a certain point whoever is responsible for monitoring the radar and/or other sensors is going to have their ability to continue to do so degrade, again even using stimulants. At best, stimulants might be something which could be used for a watch or two so that those crew who should normally be off duty/resting might be able to continue to function without rest.

Any thought of using stimulants for longer periods of time is unreasonable as doing so would likely result in psychiatric and neurological issues. If for some reason a policy was adopted which permitted the use of stimulants to 'surge' the active crew of a vessel so that in periods of high activity stimulants were used for no more than 12-24 hour periods which were not consecutive, then addiction issues would also likely develop.

 

[Terran]

Which is pretty much how it played out in the German army and it’s use of Pervitin using the Second World War. Short term they were aggressive and capable but as they kept going withdrawal and health effects reversed that to the point where they started burning out.

 

[OPSSG]

The SuperHornet doesn’t have the raw power of land based fighters but it is not bad. It is comparable to the F-35C and I believe it carries more ordinance than a Rafale. It doesn’t have the interceptor performance that the Tomcat had. Kinematic performance compares reasonably well against a J-15. The future Chinese naval fighter FC-31 may be more formidable. I can’t believe there will be a navalized J-20 as some sites have suggested due to its size and weight.

More updates on the Super Hornet. First the Blue Angels, moving to Super Hornets.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1287841894454591488

Second, more info on block III and its infrared search and track (IRST) sensor — the IRST has different modes, that is more akin to a mechanically-scanned radar. This centreline pod is slated to enter operations with the USN fleet in Sep 2021. The IRST sensor scans the airspace ahead of the F-18E/F for heat signatures caused by enemy aircraft engines and/or skin friction caused by the aircraft flying through the air. Once the system detects a target, it usually has an ability to lock that target up, or a way to facilitate the crew in slaving their fighter's radar onto the point in space where that heat signature exists in order to attempt a radar lock.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1287836702380142592

For background, in the Block II Super Hornet, the USN was focused on redesigning the forward fuselage and to integrate the APG-79 AESA to get that monster radar in there. Despite the AESA radar being LPI, the largest source of electromagnetic energy on aircraft is its on-board radar, but turning the radar can instantly give away the fighter's presence. Enemy aircraft, ships and anti-aircraft ground installations have passive sensors that listen for, and are able to detect and classify, aircraft's radars' unique emission fingerprints.

 

[Volkodav]

An interesting design out of the US Naval Postgraduate School’s Lightly Manned Autonomous Combat Capability program, Role of lightly manned warships | The Australian Naval Institute.

Their baseline configuration is listed as:

• Name: USS Shrike
• Type: Patrol Ship, Guided missile (PCG)
• Cost: US$96.6 million
• Displacement: 600 tons (544 tonnes)
• Length: 214 feet (65.2 m)
• Beam: 29 feet (waterline) (8.8 m)
• Draft: 6.5 feet (1.99 m)
• Range: 7500+ nautical miles
• Speed: 30 knots
  • two steerable, reversible pumpjets with intake screen
  • Integrated electric propulsion
  • Diesel engines
• Crew: 15 (31 beds)
• Armament:
  • Eight LRASMs
  • SeaRAM
  • Seven Javelin pintle mounts
    • One Javelin launch tray per mount
    • Ten stored missiles per mount
    • Either a M2 Browning or Mk 47 AGL per mount
  • 105mm howitzer
  • 36 Spike NLOS missiles
  • 64 Miniature Hit-To-Kill Missiles
• COMBATSS-21 combat management system
• Latest generation full-sized AN/SLQ-32 electronic warfare suite
• Standard decoy launchers
• Excellent optical sensor suite:
  • Visible Distributed Aperture System (DAS)
  • IR DAS
  • Visible/IR camera turret
• COTS navigation sonar
• Maximum affordable acoustic signature reduction
• Appropriate reduction of other signatures to blend into civilian traffic
  • COTS navigation radar
• L3Harris Falcon III® RF-7800W non-line of sight radio
• Multifunction Advanced Datalink (MADL)
• Aft launch bay
  • One 11m RHIB
  • One 11m long UUV slot (multiple UUV transportation possible)
  • Bay door doubles as launch ramp
• Small topside UAV storage and launch accommodations

They state that it's built for island hopping and other littoral patrolling so that would explain the 105 mm howitzer, which I can only surmise is for NGS in support of USMC marines operating in the locale. Quite heavily armed and would do a significant amount of damage, but I wonder if its practical on a hull of those dimensions.

What they are actually talking is something the size of a Swedish corvette, bigger than a Goteborg but a little smaller than a Visby, but with a much smaller crew, i.e. operator maintainers rather than operators and maintainers. The weapons mentioned, other than the 105mm are pretty much minimal maintenance, if not maintenance free (Javelin and Spike being pretty much stored as rounds of ammunition) the HMGs and AGLs being standard light combatant fare.

Would rather something like that than junk like the Armidales the RAN uses. The seem expensive and over armed but picture the load out of a couple of modern naval helos, their sensor suits etc. and how much they cost and this concept starts looking more reasonable. At least no one suggested hydrfoils or hovercraft for the job.