USS Philippine Sea (CG-58) transits the Atlantic Ocean in 2019. US Navy Photo
The Navy continues to make improvements on its overall ship maintenance performance, but the cruisers undergoing modernization overhauls are running behind schedule and contributing to expected delays this fiscal year, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command told reporters today. Read More
USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) during construction at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. BIW photo
Two senior lawmakers said they don’t have enough information to evaluate the Trump administration’s “hard rudder turn” on its shipbuilding budget that was presented last month to Congress. Read More
Tripoli (LHA-7) is launched at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. on March 1, 2017. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to include information from a Feb. 10 budget briefing with Rear Adm. Randy Crites, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget.
The proposed Navy shipbuilding plan that cuts a Virginia-class submarine, a frigate and an oiler that were previously planned for FY 2021 received immediate bipartisan pushback from the House and the Senate. Read More
The Austal USA EPF medical concept would accommodate a MV-22 Osprey. AUSTAL USA Image
Finding $653 million for a trio of submarines that the Navy is trying to repair in private yards and $49 million to convert a Military Sealift Command ship into an ‘ambulance’ for naval forces top the Navy’s unfunded priorities list that was delivered to Congress on Friday. Read More
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) transits the Strait of Gibraltar on March 31, 2015, as part of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. US Navy photo.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Navy’s new focus on distributed maritime operations and the incorporation of high-end weapons is prompting a re-look at the future Large Surface Combatant program and an apparent delay in the planned start of the new ship class. Read More
Zumwalt (DDG 1000) transits the Atlantic Ocean on April 21, 2016. US Navy Photo
HAMPTON, VA. – Lessons learned on the Littoral Combat Ship’s modularity and the Zumwalt-class destroyer’s power management will help guide discussions on a future family of surface combatants, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command said Tuesday. Read More
USS Jackson (LCS-6) during its christening ceremony at Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. in 2014. US Navy Photo
The Navy released its 30-year shipbuilding plan to supplement the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request, which continues the service’s request to put its remaining cruisers into a phased modernization plan and notes the requirement for 52 small surface combatants despite Defense Secretary Ash Carter curtailing the program at 40 Littoral Combat Ships and frigates. Read More
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54), right, steams alongside USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in November 2015. US Navy photo.
SAN DIEGO — When the Navy once again asked Congress to approve a years-long phased modernization plan for its unmodernized cruisers – a request that has been denied for several years now – service leaders included two provisions to allay lawmakers’ ongoing fears: More than half a billion dollars to fund cruiser operations and modernization and legislation that would force the Navy to return the cruisers to the fleet. Read More
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) transits the Strait of Gibraltar on March 31, 2015, as part of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. US Navy photo.
The Navy revived its cruiser phased modernization plan in the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request, asking Congress to let the sea service put the remaining seven un-modernized ships into maintenance now instead of following Congress’s two-a-year directive.
The following is a May 18, 2015, memo from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert on the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (CG) and Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship (LSD) modernization programs. Read More
