SecNav sounds off on firings, carriers, crew size

[unhappycamper]

Secretary of the Navy Donald Winter said Jan. 12 during an editorial board meeting with the Navy Times that he has been asked to stay on as SecNav for two months.


SecNav sounds off on firings, carriers, crew size
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jan 19, 2009 6:05:36 EST

The Navy’s long-term ability to take on its worldwide missions depends on maintaining a force of 11 carriers, according to the service’s top civilian.

The force can make do with fewer flattops for a while, Navy Secretary Donald Winter added, but in the long run, the Navy may not be able to fulfill its commitments if the permanent number drops to 10.

“We have a series of commitments that we’ve made. Those have been worked out with the combatant commanders. On average, we believe that we can meet all of those commitments with 11 carriers,” Winter said.

Winter reaffirmed his support for the Navy’s current carrier force in a Jan. 12 interview with Navy Times reporters and editors, less than a month before the Navy is expected to request a short-term exemption from its legal requirement to maintain 11 carriers.

The Navy is seeking an official sanction for the 33-month gap between the scheduled decommissioning of the Enterprise in 2012 and the commissioning of the Gerald Ford in 2015. It will be the second year the Navy has made that request, after Congress turned down the first one, and it will be a time in which fiscal hardship and a strengthened Democratic Congress appear likely to generate discussion of fewer carriers.


Rest of article at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/01/navy_winter_011909w/%2e



uhc comment: The new Ford-class carriers are going to cost $11+ billion as opposed to the USS GHW Bush, which priced out to $6.5 billion. (Note people and planes not included in those numbers.)

[Captain Hilts]

1. The Nimitz Class still gets the job done and is better than anything else the world produces...

I see no need for the Ford class at all.

I conducted the survey of VIPS for Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock about aircraft carrier design and procurement.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. The real issue is that as the older carriers retire its getting harder to replace them

There are some things coming in the Ford class that are needed improvements. However like you think a mod to the Nimitz class may have been enough. It would have reduced risk and cost

[Captain Hilts]

3. I'd rather have three Nimitz than two Fords. nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. I fully agree

Some of the Ford enhancements could be built into an Nimitz hull without significant cost.

[Captain Hilts]

5. Exactly. nt

[Angleae]

6. It isn't the hull change that's costing so much.

It's all those fancy electronic gizmos they are throwing in, such as radar sets from DDG-1000 (SPY-3).