Subscribe via RSS

Archives by Date
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009

See all Archives
Archives by Category
'Canes
Afghan Update
Ammo and Munitions
Armor
Around the Globe
Av Week Extra
Axe in Iraq (and Elsewhere)
Bizarro
Blimps
Blog Bidness
Body Armor Blues
Bomb Squad
Brownshoes in Action
Bubbleheads, etc.
Cammo Green
Catch the "Buzz"
Chem-Bio
Civilian Apps
Cloak and Dagger
Commandos
Comms
Contingency Ops
Cops and Robbers
Cyber-warfare
Data Diving
Defense Tech Poll
Defense Tech Radio
Dissent Tech
Door Kickers
Drones
DT Administrivia
Eat DT's Dust
Extra! Extra!
Eye on China
Fast Movers
FCS Watch
Fire for Effect
FOS Files
Friday Funnies
Gadgets and Gear
Going Green
Grand Ole Osprey
Ground Vehicles
Guns
Homeland Security
In the Weeds with Eric
Info War
Iraq Diary
Jarhead Jazz
JSF Watch
Just War Theories
Lasers and Ray Guns
Less-lethal
Logistics
Los Alamos and Labs
M4 Monopoly
Medic!
Mercs
Missiles
Money Money Money
Most Wanted
MRAP Edge
Net-Centric
Nukes
Old Skool
Our Shrinking Planet
Planes, Copters, Blimps
Podcast
Politricks
Polmar's Perspective
Popular Mechanics
Rapid Fire
Raptor Watch
Red Team
Retro-Futuro
Robots
Roll Your Own
Sabra Tech
Ships and Subs
Snipertech
Soldier Systems
Space
Special Ops
Star Wars
Strategery
Stray Trons
Tactical Development
Terror Tech
The Deadlies
The Defense Biz
The Peoples' Site
The Sunday Paper
The Tanker Tango
The View from Av Week
Those Nutty Norks
Training and Sims
Trimble on the Case
Video Lounge
War Update
Ward'z Wonderz
You can run...

See all Archives
Newsletters

Edited by Christian Lowe | Contact

Attack sub fleet

ssn-708_retired.jpgNavy Bids Farewell to Minneapolis-St. Paul:

After more than 23 years of service, the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (SSN 708) inactivated in a ceremony June 22 at Pier 3 at Naval Station Norfolk.

Concerns remain that our shrinking fleet is going to leave us with our pants down at some point, and that our anti-sub warfare capabilities (or, rather, our lack thereof) could leave serious gaps waiting to be exploited. Two world wars showed that submarine fleets were able to have a drastic effect on the wider military and economic efforts of the combatants.

While no one is going to challenge our supremacy in the realm of carrier-centered naval power, even just the threat of submarines could potentially keep those carriers from operating when and where we need them to. We've seen anti-mine capabilities whither over time. Are ASW capabilities going to suffer the same fate?

The attack sub fleet is part of the ASW effort, and when you couple the shrinking hunter fleet with the retirement of the S-3 Vikings, the delays in the P-3 Orion's follow-on (the P-8A Poseidon MMA), and questions about the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, I suspect that we've got reason to be concerned about our ability to combat enemy submarines that could threaten our surface forces and logistics fleet, let alone commercial ships.

The USS Hawaii (SSN 776) was just commissioned last month, so it's not like the fleet just shrank the other day. USS North Carolina (SSN 777) will join the fleet next year. But the long-term plan is to reduce the number of attack boats in the fleet by a significant number. Not every boat retired in the coming years will be replaced by a new one. We currently have 53 operational attack subs in the fleet.

A 2005 study by the Navy itself said that 48 is the "minimum number of attack submarines needed to maintain an acceptable level of risk at an acceptable cost." But the current plan to acquire Virginia-class subs like the Hawaii and North Carolina will put us under the 48-boat level for sixteen of the twenty-seven years between 2007 and 2034, bottoming out at 40 boats in 2028 and 2029. For more, see the Heritage Foundation articles The Navy Needs to Close the Projected Gap in the Attack Submarine Fleet and Congress Should Accelerate Submarine Procurement.

--Murdoc

Comments

Replica A Lange & Sohne
Replica Accutron
Replica Audemars Piguet
Replica Baume & Mercier
Replica Bell & Ross
Replica Breitling
Replica Bvlgari
Replica Cartier
Replica Chanel
Replica Chopard
Replica Christian Bernard
Replica Christian Dior
Replica Citizen
Replica Coach
Replica Concord
Replica Corum
Replica D&G
Replica DKNY
Replica Ebel
Replica ESQ
Replica Fendi
Replica Fila
Replica Franck Muller
Replica Girard Perregaux
Replica Givenchy
Replica Gucci
Replica Guess
Replica Hamilton
Replica Haurex
Replica Invicta
Replica IWC
Replica Jacob & Co
Replica Jacques Lemans
Replica Jaeger LeCoultre
Replica Levis
Replica Longines
Replica Mont Blanc
Replica Movado
Replica Omega
Replica Orient
Replica Oris
Replica Panerai
Replica Patek Philippe
Replica Piaget
Replica Rado
Replica Rolex
Replica Sector
Replica Seiko
Replica Skagen
Replica Swatch
Replica Swiss
Replica Swiss Army Victorinox
Replica Tag Heuer
Replica Technomarine
Replica Timberland
Replica Tissot
Replica Ulysse Nardin
Replica Vacheron Constantin
Replica Wenger
Replica Wittnauer
Replica Zenith
Replica Zodiac ecommerce
open source
shop
online shopping
Rolex Sports watches
Rolex Datejusts watches
A Lange & Sohne watches
Aigner watches
Alain Silberstein watches
Audemars Piguet watches
Bell & Ross watches
Breguet watches
Breitling watches
Bvlgari watches
Cartier watches
Chanel watches
Chopard watches
Concord watches
Corum watches
Dior watches
Dolce & Gabbana watches
Ebel watches
Emporio Armani watches
Glashutte watches
Gucci watches
Hermes Watches
IWC watches
Jacob & Co watches
Jaeger LeCoultre watches
Longines watches
Louis Vuitton watches
Mont Blanc watches
Movado watches
Omega watches
Oris watches
Panerai watches
Patek Philippe watches
Philip Stein watches
Porsche Design watches
Rado watches Roger
Roger Dubuis watches
Sarcar watches
Tag Heuer watches
Technomarine watches
Vacheron Constantin watches
Zenith watches ecommerce
open source
shop
online shopping

Posted by: luxury watch at April 17, 2009 02:29 AM


I've been a sub builder all my life, so understand how difficult this question is for me. How will more of the things help our current conflict challenges ?

Posted by: Polaris at November 27, 2008 11:51 AM


Haw-haw !It is a very beaufitul writing! The moderator is really a man of intention. I

really appreciate his wisdom and philosophy of life
replica watch

http://www.watchinstyle.com/rolex-datedate-white-diamondsswiss-eta-2836-p-768.html?

zenid=teg6g8jtnlurrhkmbomsugkuj7
http://easyforbuy.com/002-puma-shoes-all-black-p-4029.html
http://lowestmall.com/9826-nike-king-black-sapphire-p-5367.html?

zenid=iu1fq75j2cmr6534iltfb807i5
http://onestoptown.com/

Posted by: replicawatches at October 8, 2008 11:27 PM


fake watches

Posted by: fake watches at August 22, 2008 01:15 AM


watches replica

Posted by: watches replica at August 22, 2008 01:13 AM


I always Buy Runescape from the company http://www.gameim.com. Because the company provides us Cheap runescape Gold.

Posted by: Cheap runescape Gold at August 16, 2008 03:59 AM


You can use runescape money or rs gold to upgrade and buy your favourite equipment.

Posted by: rs gold at August 16, 2008 03:55 AM


At last I tell something to you on this game the Runescape Gold is very useful.

Posted by: Runescape Gold at August 16, 2008 03:52 AM


To buy NosTale Gold win you must not only use your strength as a team, with the new features they plan to add cheap NosTale gold late. So no player will have to worry about ever losing their NosTale money account.

Posted by: cheap NosTale gold at August 16, 2008 03:43 AM


I see this store is accepting some employees, I am being subject to duty and make some holic online gold.

Posted by: holic online gold at August 12, 2008 08:05 PM


Do you know that I am so heart-struck? But I still will buy imvu credits for your equipment.

Posted by: buy imvu credits at August 12, 2008 08:04 PM


Some people said how them to make mabinogi online gold. Unexpectedly I thought that life only was mediocre.

Posted by: mabinogi online gold at August 12, 2008 08:02 PM


I also thought that I was not RMB players, did not know how to lead our brothers, and I also did not have a large of hero online money.

Posted by: hero online money at August 12, 2008 08:01 PM


If we do not have the good fortune this life, we will see with each other and that time I will buy last chaos gold enough for you in next life.

Posted by: buy last chaos gold at August 12, 2008 07:58 PM


But others actually need to practice the level laboriously from the first floor, make cheap Hellgate gold to buy the equipment laboriously, all the times upgrade to the high rank.

Posted by: cheap Hellgate gold at August 12, 2008 07:56 PM


Finally, I gained have sufficed the LOTRO Gold, had the family. We were in together finally.

Posted by: LOTRO Gold at August 12, 2008 07:54 PM


As your apprentice, I always waste your cheap Habbo Coins. But I really not to think that you left so suddenly, then am duty-bound not to turn back!

Posted by: cheap Habbo Coins at August 12, 2008 07:51 PM


On the first point, the metallurgical stone! It also belongs to the category of stone, (and stones, to use the same), consumables, can be used only once!More importantly, it is to 30 points (equivalent to 30 yuan RMB) a, you also can be used to purchase Xiah Gold,And the stones were put forward what 1-2 (Anyway, I was raised to 47 pieces by the explosion goods, but fortunately left hand), only two Whitehead!

Posted by: Xiah Gold at August 7, 2008 09:10 PM


Although you may use cheap Lord of the Rings Gold to solve! Sometimes you do not want to know the outcome. Because of how there may be a happy ending in so many terrible things, how could return to this world Former terrible shadow over the final, eventually will disappear.

Posted by: cheap Lord of the Rings Gold at August 7, 2008 09:08 PM


one would suppose that significant progress has been made in underwater, robot forces...unmanned, to take up the slack?

Posted by: 出会い at August 7, 2008 09:14 AM


I have been of great success at finally, my rank already practiced 43 levels and we have own a large of fiesta Gold.

Posted by: fiesta Gold at August 4, 2008 11:36 PM


In the Beach City is such fearfulness, I am owning many Archlord money in my pocket.

Posted by: Archlord money at August 4, 2008 11:26 PM


We provide all wow goldservices. You can buy World Of Warcraft gold Cheap WOW Gold here ! Age of Conan gold(buy aoc gold)is on sale on wow7gold.com.We provide cheap aoc Gold aoc gold Lord of The Rings Online gold Lotro Gold buy warhammer gold diablo3 gold games gold

Posted by: World Of Warcraft gold at July 10, 2008 12:02 AM


nice to meet you

Posted by: cheap wow gold at April 13, 2008 08:29 PM


Museumize this sub (minus reactor) for Tourisim.
Major PR for Navy & Sub Forcesalone.
Nice.
Too few subs to tour anyway.
Big draw anyplace.
(remove cypher equip, comm, nuke plant).
For Long Beach Harbor,CA.

Posted by: stephen russell at December 31, 2007 06:48 PM


wow gold
wow gold
wow gold
wow gold
wow power leveling
wow powerleveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
翻译公司
rolex
翻译公司
rolex replica
wow gold
wow gold
World of Warcraft Gold
World of Warcraft Gold
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling

powerleveling
powerleveling
powerleveling
powerleveling
power leveling
power leveling
powerleveling
powerleveling
power leveling
power leveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
rs Gold
rs Gold
Runescape Gold
Runescape Gold
rs powerleveling
rs powerleveling
Runescape powerleveling
Runescape powerleveling

lotro gold
lotro gold
LOTRO US Gold
LOTRO US Gold
LOTRO EU Gold
LOTRO EU Gold
buy lotro gold
buy lotro gold
cheap lotro gold
cheap lotro gold
LOTRO Powerleveling
LOTRO Powerleveling
LOTRO Power leveling
LOTRO Power leveling
SilkRoad Gold
SilkRoad Gold
SilkRoad Powerleveling
SilkRoad Powerleveling
SilkRoad Power leveling
SilkRoad Power leveling
SR Gold
SR Gold
SR Powerleveling
SR Powerleveling
SR Power leveling
SR Power leveling

Posted by: 121 at November 6, 2007 03:15 AM


we clearly need a certain minimum number of open ocean (read: nuclear powered) attack boats. Every carrier group should have at least 2 at all times.
this implies 24 ssn's just for carrier duty. 6* 2* 50% time on station.

we also could really use some smaller litoral subs.

but one of the problems is mission creep where the navy is trying to give everything a bazillion missions. in this case they are also supposed to deliver swimmers, and carry a dozen land attack missiles and carry enough torps to take out the whole chinese navy.

what we need is a new generation of attack boats that are as small, and quiet as possible, and have around 8 torpedoes, possibly in external launch tubes (one shot only no reload). that are fast and have good sensors. and a crew of 20-30 and that are litoral capable.
If the result was a non nuclear boat, then by all means lets still have a seperate open ocean force also.

Posted by: Aaron at June 29, 2007 02:00 PM


Ever seen the sub orbat of most SE Asian countries -

lots of DE subs!

Posted by: rob at June 29, 2007 05:05 AM


Good Morning Folks,

In response to sgrover,everything you mention is true these and along with numerious unmentioned defects (such as not enought bunks for all the enlisted crewmen to have their own rack to sleep in) in the Los Angeles Class boats, were know in 1979 and nothing has changed in nearly fourty years, doesn't this tell you something, like maybe nobody really cares that we were putting inferior submarines to sea?

Even a man as pasionate about submarines as former CNO Adm. James "...there are submarines and everything else is a target." Watkins can't keep the for more profit American Defense Industry from putting out a shoddy product for Americans to go to war in.

The recent example of the current shortage of avable sumbarines is the recent surfacing of a Chinese diseal sub, for a Kodak Moment and to make some postcards to send to Bejing, with in the Kitty Hawk Battle Group in the Pacific. Although the Group was on a training exercise prior to deployment the fact that it appears that there was no U.S. Attack submarine in the neighborhood is very telling about the current scaracerty of submarines in the U.S. fleet. I have no doubt that Rogue nations or even goups who as considering add submarines to there menu of terrorists weapons took note.

ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

Posted by: Byron Skinner at June 27, 2007 12:36 PM


@ Davids, Diesel subs are just mines with the potential for human collateral damage. We don't do choke point control, we go through them.

@ Max, By the time you put in a new crappy S6G reactor core, upgrade the sonar, install a VLS system to make the thing useful, and etc. you might as well just buy a new one. 23 years is actually a pretty long time for these things. I did three years on one that was 30 years old and had been through a major overhaul only three years earlier; you wouldn't believe how much stuff broke (and how spectacularly).

Posted by: Jim S at June 26, 2007 09:05 PM


time to first start buying some advanced diseal electric subs. Then start building our own to support our nuclear subs. Advanced conventional subs are a lot cheaper to build and with naval bases in quam, deigo garcia and other bases around the world we would be able to support them.

Posted by: davids at June 26, 2007 01:40 PM


Er, what enemy subs, exactly, are you worrying about? The Russian fleet is a disaster, the Chinese fleet is a primitive joke, the Iranian fleet is worse... are you concerned that the Royal Navy is going to try to burn Washington again or something?

Posted by: ajay at June 26, 2007 01:24 PM


(former surface squid) I can scarcely believe that the Navy is retiring a perfectly good submarine after only 23 years of service. The only way to replace it is to spend probably twice as much or more for another one. How stupid is that? Why not extend the service life of the older subs and just not build new ones as fast if you want to save money? It reminds me of the folly of spending $2,000 every year for a brand new PC just so that you can have all the latest bells and whistles when the old one was working just fine, even if it might have needed a little updating.

Posted by: Max at June 26, 2007 12:57 PM


If we were to suddenly lose all our carriers in some future war, we would still possess these excellent underwater stealth boats to defend the nation, and take the war to the enemy.

Though not a perfect substitute for surface warships, in a future war involving the new precision bombs and cruise missiles, the attack sub may be our last hope for victory.

Posted by: Mike Burleson at June 26, 2007 12:45 PM


"Although the problems with the L.A. Class are many starting with a under powered reactor that hasn't changed in 40 years, the inability to lay under sea mines or to operate under the Polar Ice cap, where Russian Boomer will run in any time of crisis the big item is money."

Wow, the internet must be lagging today. This comment seems to have been posted round about 1979 or so..... One of the early ARPA experimental transmissions, maybe?

"The American pople have to be told and made aware that to maintain and adequate defense structure to maintain our way of life will cost a few bucks. A half trillion defense budget is simply to small buy a factor of 100%."

Beyond parody.

Posted by: sglover at June 26, 2007 12:42 PM


Good Morning Guys,

Although I agree that an attack submarine fleet of 48 boats is way to small, 72-84 attack boats seems to be a more reasonable number baised on current and the projected future world wide profileration of threat, but the Los Angeles Class simply must go.

Although the problems with the L.A. Class are many starting with a under powered reactor that hasn't changed in 40 years, the inability to lay under sea mines or to operate under the Polar Ice cap, where Russian Boomer will run in any time of crisis the big item is money. There Turkies are comming up for refueling at a cost of about $1.5 Billion a pop, thats about 60% of the cost of the far more capable Virginia Class that most likely won't need refueling during the projected 30-40 service life of each boat.

The American pople have to be told and made aware that to maintain and adequate defense structure to maintain our way of life will cost a few bucks. A half trillion defense budget is simply to small buy a factor of 100%.

ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

Posted by: Byron Skinner at June 26, 2007 12:36 PM


one would suppose that significant progress has been made in underwater, robot forces...unmanned, to take up the slack?

to many quiet boats out there, especially Far East Pacific waters.....

Posted by: campbell at June 26, 2007 11:44 AM


Post a comment




Remember Me?


Please enter the code as seen in the image below to post your comment.