US Navy and some problems they face

[skipepsi]

Decommissioning the armament and secret stuff? 

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, peterfgf said:

$30 million cost for scrapping?  I thought the scrapyards paid the seller for the deadweight of the steel.

 

8 hours ago, skipepsi said:

Decommissioning the armament and secret stuff? 

I suspect the cost is mostly in the handling of hazardous materials. While modern ships like this one won't have the PCBs and asbestos like older ones they will no doubt have a lot of dodgy materials including electronics and wiring - more so with the fire, presumably there are lots of oxides of various metals.

 

The cost to fully decommission the USS Enterprise is $1.5 Billion. This is after the reactor fuel was removed by the USN. Handling how to remove and dispose of the reactor is very expensive. 

[peterfgf]

15 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

I suspect the cost is mostly in the handling of hazardous materials. While modern ships like this one won't have the PCBs and asbestos like older ones they will no doubt have a lot of dodgy materials including electronics and wiring - more so with the fire, presumably there are lots of oxides of various metals.

 

The cost to fully decommission the USS Enterprise is $1.5 Billion. This is after the reactor fuel was removed by the USN. Handling how to remove and dispose of the reactor is very expensive. 

Agreed, and my remark was a little tongue in cheek.  Presumably part of this is also due to high costs in the USA.

[peach james]

On 01/12/2020 at 10:00, Ozexpatriate said:

 

I suspect the cost is mostly in the handling of hazardous materials. While modern ships like this one won't have the PCBs and asbestos like older ones they will no doubt have a lot of dodgy materials including electronics and wiring - more so with the fire, presumably there are lots of oxides of various metals.

 

The cost to fully decommission the USS Enterprise is $1.5 Billion. This is after the reactor fuel was removed by the USN. Handling how to remove and dispose of the reactor is very expensive. 

 

8 of them !  6 which were in use, 2 which were carried around as ballast due to defects...  Even though the reactors are defueled, the rest of the hot loops will still be radioactive to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the "shine" on the parts.  So there will be plenty of specialized clean up required, and this wasn't something that was given a lot of fore-thought.  I'd assume the reactors and steam generators will end up cut out, and shipped to WA state for burial. 

My ship cost the RCN about 20 million to scrap in 2017, so I'm not at all shocked that breaking a ship in an environmentally responsible way is a - not a + to the bank accounts.

James

[pete_mcfarlane]

As a layman, am I right in thinking that there's now a lot of focus on cleanly/safely disposing of warships that didn't happen in the past?

[MarkC]

29 minutes ago, pete_mcfarlane said:

As a layman, am I right in thinking that there's now a lot of focus on cleanly/safely disposing of warships that didn't happen in the past?

Not just warships, tbh.

 

Breaking ships in a responsible way is expensive.

 

Mark

[J. S. Bach]

NYCTA (supposedly) strip down old NYC subway cars and dump them in the ocean as artificial reefs. The TA used to sell them to scrappers, now they pay out the a** nose to reef them.

Edited December 3, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[Ozexpatriate]

14 hours ago, peach james said:

8 of them ! 

Shortly after posting, I was tempted to edit my post to change "reactor" to "reactors"  but didn't bother.

[peach james]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Shortly after posting, I was tempted to edit my post to change "reactor" to "reactors"  but didn't bother.

Well, it was the most Russian   Kerbal of designs, when in doubt, add more boosters

The Nimitz class carriers have 2, much larger reactors, rather than the 8 that Enterprise had.  First has it's price - no other ship comes close to the # of reactors.

James

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, peach james said:

Well, it was the most Russian   Kerbal of designs, when in doubt, add more boosters

It was the first. Clearly design of the Nimitz Class learned from mistakes made on Big E.

[cunningduck]

On 04/12/2020 at 00:53, Ozexpatriate said:

It was the first. Clearly design of the Nimitz Class learned from mistakes made on Big E.

Rumour has it that the number of reactors was because Rickover refused to allow a carrier specific (bigger) reactor to be designed. 

[Ohmisterporter]

This article from Defense News tells how the USN is finding some difficulties keeping the fleet in the condition that was planned. Every navy has the same problems, the bigger the navy the more costly it is to keep it all running properly. Hope you find this of interest and there are some interesting links within it.

 

https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2020/10/05/the-us-navys-aging-surface-fleet-struggles-to-keep-ships-up-to-spec-report-shows/

[J. S. Bach]

A friend sent this about the USS Bonhomme Richard fire:

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/29/1022514854/sailor-charged-arson-uss-bonhomme-richard-navy-san-diego

[KeithMacdonald]

On 07/10/2019 at 15:27, Ohmisterporter said:

Bearing in mind the title of this topic here is an article from Task & Purpose  that definitely is a problem for the USN.  The anti-sonar tiles on all submarines are a major part of their defences, to imply that the manufacturers knowingly supplied inferior product is about as serious as it gets. As is usual in these cases major efforts will be put into dealing with the whistleblower rather than problem. As an aside, does anyone know who supplies the tiles for British submarines? Hope you find this of interest.

 

https://taskandpurpose.com/lawsuit-huntington-ingalls-whistleblower

 

In Britain, we now have a Cunning Plan to prevent that being made public. By making it too frightening to report anything a whistleblower has said.
 

Quote

 

Journalists could be treated like spies for reporting on matters of public interest under planned reforms to the UK’s Official Secrets Act.

The Home Office consultation (which closes on Thursday 22 July) suggests journalists should be treated in the same way as those who leak information and those committing espionage offences.

 

 

https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/official-secrets-act-reform-harsher-penalties-for-journalists/

[alastairq]

6 minutes ago, KeithMacdonald said:

As an aside, does anyone know who supplies the tiles for British submarines?

 

Marley?

[KeithMacdonald]

17 hours ago, alastairq said:

 

Marley?

 

With a one-year warranty?

[Ozexpatriate]

On 30/07/2021 at 06:06, J. S. Bach said:

A friend sent this about the USS Bonhomme Richard fire:

I think we've known it was arson for a long time. The question is one of motive, which at this point, if known, is not disclosed.

 

If I remember correctly, fire suppression systems were disabled at the time as part of the refit activity.

 

Edited August 1, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[WessexEclectic]

This article reveals near the end that " ...several other smaller fires broke out aboard three other San Diego-based ships in the 15 months leading up to the fire that eventually saw the Bonhomme Richard scrapped."

 

[APOLLO]

On 30/07/2021 at 17:34, alastairq said:

 

Marley?

 

Bob Marley and the Whalers ?

 

Brit15

[Ohmisterporter]

Something that may have slipped your attention from The Drive/The Warzone about two years ago is this article about the sinking of the former USS America. When the breaking up of redundant big carriers reportedly costing $1.5 billion and more could this be the cheapest option for disposal? Hope this is of interest.

 

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/22639/this-is-the-only-photo-of-a-u-s-navy-supercarrier-being-sunk

[Ozexpatriate]

On 30/07/2021 at 06:06, J. S. Bach said:

USS Bonhomme Richard fire

Naval investigation of the fire is complete:

 

Navy investigation says fire that destroyed US warship was caused by a chain of errors and was 'clearly preventable'

 

Much unhappiness there for a lot of brass.

[KeithMacdonald]

On 03/10/2021 at 17:06, Ohmisterporter said:

could this be the cheapest option for disposal?

 

Like the RN did with HMS Scylla?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/news_features/2004/scylla_sinking.shtml

 

Now an artificial reef in Whitsand Bay and popular with divers.

[peach james]

On 20/10/2021 at 12:38, Ozexpatriate said:

Naval investigation of the fire is complete:

 

Navy investigation says fire that destroyed US warship was caused by a chain of errors and was 'clearly preventable'

 

Much unhappiness there for a lot of brass.

Much unhappiness there !

 

[Ozexpatriate]

USN has relieved from duty the CO, XO and Master Chief of the USS Connecticut (a Seawolf class, attack boat submarine) that hit an uncharted seamount in the South China Sea* on October 2.

 

* As originally reported

 

There are only three Seawolf class submarines. They are nuclear powered, as are the newer Virginia class attack boats.

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ohmisterporter]

Widely reported accident to a USN F-35C that crashed into the sea whilst trying to land on USS Carl Vinson is being put down to pilot error. These pictures in Taskandpurpose.com are confirmed as genuine. Hope this is of interest.

 

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/navy-confirms-video-photo-f35-crash-uss-carl-vinson-south-china-sea/