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Road to 350: What Does the US Navy Do Anyway?
- Thread starter Randy Daytona
- Start date
Thought this was an interesting interview with Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister of Australia.
I had left Australia by the time he became Prime Minister, but he was (and is) a very interesting - and obviously very intelligent - person. But his time as PM was not exactly an unmitigated success, and I don't think a ton of people shed tears when he was ousted by his party. And I am ideologically with that party!
I'm very glad he has reentered the public eye; Australia needs his opinions especially given the string of previous anti-intellectual prime ministers such as Scott Morrison.
Plus Rudd also did this, which you can't help but love.
This does not appear good.
Navy Dry Dock Closures Make a Bad Problem Worse
Interesting. I know the Navy routinely uses the large dry dock in South Boston MA all the time. It used to be part of the broader USN Boston Navy Yard but I’m not sure who owns it now. Also, does the yard at Electric Boat do repairs?
hlg6016
A/C Wings Here
https://nashiprepair.com/boston-ship-repair/ These guys do stay busy over there. I see all kinds of vessels in there.
I could have sworn there was a dry dock at Ballast Point, though not a full on "ship yard". Has that closed? The article makes no mention of it when discussing submarine maintenance delays. I recall taking my kids to see it.
Like Point Loma Ballast Point? There's a floating drydock (ARDM 5) there, but it doesn't have a permanent one.
Yup, that's it. Was very cool for the kids to see up close. Now it makes me think. As a floating dry dock it is has a hull number, ARDM-5. How does that work? When under way ( I know rarely if ever ) does it get a provisional crew, with something like a commanding officer/master, or does the tow vessel's crew man it with that CO responsible.
Years and years back I met the XO of the dry dock at a CoC. He said it's a commissioned command, the CO's an O-4, and CO and the rest of the wardroom are usually all Sub force LDO engineer types.
Of course that was a long time ago, they may well have gone to contractors by now.
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exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
These dry docks have been in use for a very long time and just now there are concerns? It seems that the realistic risk is almost non-existent.
These dry docks have structural issues that go back nearly 100 years. They are badly in need of overhaul and modernization. This work needed to be accomplished sometime. Now is about as good a time as any.
The issue is that there is certain nuclear work that can ONLY be accomplished at public shipyards (i.e. shipyards commanded and owned by the Navy). Puget Sound is unique also in that they do all of the nuclear decommissioning work and no other yard can do it (at least not right now). This means that shutting down their dry docks makes life very difficult since PSNS is the only public yard on the West Coast. We used to have Mare Island in Oakland and Long Beach near LA, but of those were both closed down by BRAC in the 90s.
This illustrates a much larger strategic problem of not having enough shipyards in the United States and definitely not enough to handle the amount of maintenance work we need as a Navy. We are reaping the whirlwind of the "peace dividend" right now.
exNavyOffRec
Well-Known Member
I agree, this seems like a case of putting all of your eggs in one basket.
Also helps that the Hanford Site is relatively near to PSNS. The less time that stuff spends on a rail car, the better.
Doesn’t help that subsidies were pulled during the Reagan administration. Hard to play Steven A on that decision due to time since the decision was made, but we are obviously paying for it now.
The PRC has the benefits of cheap labor, government subsidies, and a prolific commercial shipbuilding industry to support.
We also poured gas on the fire by dumping trade apprenticeships and pushing for college with a public high school system that didn’t prepare kids for college. So in the place of trade journeyman, we have a bunch of overdue college loans. Think the trade issue is getting attention but will certainly not be fixed next week, no matter how much money we throw at the problem.
As for the docks, pay me now or pay me later. Better to fix them now while not at war.
The PRC has the benefits of cheap labor, government subsidies, and a prolific commercial shipbuilding industry to support.
We also poured gas on the fire by dumping trade apprenticeships and pushing for college with a public high school system that didn’t prepare kids for college. So in the place of trade journeyman, we have a bunch of overdue college loans. Think the trade issue is getting attention but will certainly not be fixed next week, no matter how much money we throw at the problem.
As for the docks, pay me now or pay me later. Better to fix them now while not at war.