Welcome to MSW’s Scuttlebutt! Here’s the news for the day.



German Type XXVIIB Seehund

Jan Klarbæk (MrMox) shares a fine gallery of images of his build of ICM Models German Type XXVIIB Seehund, in this "On Display" feature.




The Long-Term Outlook for the U.S. Navy's Fleet
Source: Congressional Budget Office

Testimony of Eric J. Labs, CBO Senior Analyst for Naval Forces and Weapons, before the Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives (excerpt)


Mr. Chairman, Congressman Akin, and Members of the Subcommittee,

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the challenges that the Navy is facing in its plans for building its future fleet.

Specifically, the Subcommittee asked the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to examine three matters: the Navy’s draft shipbuilding plan for fiscal year 2011, the effect that replacing Ohio class submarines with a new class of submarines will have on the Navy’s shipbuilding program, and the number of ships that may be needed to support ballistic missile defense from the sea.

CBO’s analysis of those issues indicates the following:

-- If the Navy receives the same amount of money for ship construction in the next 30 years that it has over the past three decades—an average of about $15 billion per year in 2009 dollars—it will not be able to execute its fiscal year 2009 plan to increase the fleet from 287 battle force ships to 313.1 As a result, the draft 2011 shipbuilding plan drastically reduces the number of ships the Navy would purchase over 30 years, leading to a much smaller fleet than either the one in the 2009 plan or today’s fleet.

-- The draft 2011 shipbuilding plan increases the Navy’s stated requirement for its fleet from 313 ships to 324, but the production schedule in the plan would buy only 222 ships, too few to meet the requirement. The Navy’s current 287-ship fleet consists of 239 combat ships and 48 logistics and support ships. The 2009 plan envisioned expanding the fleet to a total of 322 ships by 2038: 268 combat ships and 54 logistics and support ships. In contrast, under the draft 2011 plan, the fleet would decline to a total of 237 ships by 2040: 185 combat ships and 52 logistics and support ships.

-- CBO’s preliminary estimate is that implementing the draft 2011 shipbuilding plan would cost an average of about $20 billion per year for all activities related to ship construction (including modernizing some current surface combatants and refueling ships’ nuclear reactors). A more detailed estimate will follow after the Navy formally submits its final 2011 plan to the Congress in February with the President’s budget request.

-- Replacing the 14 ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) of the Ohio class—which are due to start reaching the end of their service lives in the late 2020s—with 12 new SSBNs could cost about $85 billion. If the Navy received that amount in addition to the resources needed to carry out the draft 2011 plan (which includes funding for those new submarines), it could probably purchase the additional ships identified in the “alternative construction plan” that accompanied the draft 2011 plan, because CBO’s preliminary estimate of the cost of that alternative plan is an average of about $23 billion per year over 30 years.

-- Sea-based ballistic missile defense, a relatively new mission for the Navy, could require a substantial commitment of resources. That commitment could make it difficult for the Navy to fund other ship programs.


France Lays Keel of Third Mistral-class BPC
Source: French Navy

The keel-laying ceremony for Dixmude, the third Mistral-class Bâtiment de Projection et de Commandement (Projection and Command Ship, BPC) ship ordered by the French Navy, took place January 20 in Saint Nazaire, western France.

Admiral Pierre François Forissier, the chief of the naval staff, kicked off the proceedings by moving the keel into position. Following an ancient custom, several coins were dropped into the keel’s central section, whose 439 tonnes dwarfed the attendees representing the Navy staff and the DCNS and STX shipyards.

The BPC ships are new-generation vessels that have demonstrated their operational relevance during Operation Baliste off Lebanon. They are nicknamed the Navy’s "Swiss army knife” because of their versatility and their joint mission.

Dixmude is the third ship of the BPC class, and was ordered as part of the French government’s economic recovery plan. Awarded by DGA (Directorate General of Armaments), its construction contract involves STX France as prime contractor for the hull and for equipment installation, as well as DCNS, the co-contractor, which is responsible for the combat system.

The ship’s name was chosen by Defence Minister Hervé Morin last December, and refers to the 1914 victory by French marine infantry during a battle in the eponymous town in Belgium.

The acquisition contract for Dixmude was awarded in April 2009. Designed to replace the Landing Craft Transport Foudre, Dixmude will be launched in late 2010. It will then take on its crew and steam to its home port of Toulon, on the Mediterranean, in mid 2011 to complete its sea trials. Its commissioning is planned for 2012.




Find 'Em. Chase 'Em. Sink 'Em

Today’s website is the Find 'Em. Chase 'Em. Sink 'Em, The Mysterious Loss of the WW II Submarine USS Gudgeon. Enjoy.


This Day in U.S. Naval History

1942 - USS Gudgeon is the first U.S. sub to sink an enemy submarine in action, Japanese I-173.
1945 - Commissioning of USS Higbee (DD 806), the first U.S. Navy ship named after a women member of the U.S. Navy.
1967 - Fire in a command module at Cape Kennedy during simulation countdown. Lunar module pilot Lt. Cmdr. Roger B. Chaffee and two other crew members died.
1973 - Paris Peace Accords signed, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War.


Photo of the Day



An F/A-18 Super Hornet jet engine is tested aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75).

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