Posts tagged as:

SSN

Let’s Build a New National Shipyard, Part II

by Craig Hooper on February 9, 2019

In continuing the discussion sparked by my recent DefenseOne.com proposal to build a new National Shipyard, let’s take a few minutes to examine maintenance work-load estimates. Even though low-balling the cost of operations and maintenance is an old, long-standing habit in certain parts of the Pentagon, the game is no longer fun, and it needs […]

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Let’s Build A New National Shipyard, Part I

by Craig Hooper on January 22, 2019

I published a commentary over at DefenseOne.com last week, suggesting that the Navy commission a new public shipyard. You can read it here, but the general gist is this: The U.S. Navy’s four public shipyards are overwhelmed. Budget documents show that their workload exceeds their capacity by 117 to 153 percent — that is, there’s too much to get done […]

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Inside the CBO’s Attack on Public Naval Shipyards

by Craig Hooper on September 24, 2018

The misguided drumbeat to privatize America’s four remaining public shipyards is proceeding apace. The latest volley, fired by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), is a September 2018 report, “Comparing the Costs of Submarine Maintenance at Public and Private Shipyards.” CBO researchers looked at the DSRA costs (Docking Selected Restricted Availability) for SSN-688s over the PAST […]

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Unpopular Opinion: Russia’s Sub Fleet is Dying

by Craig Hooper on July 7, 2018

For all the dire talk about Russia’s undersea resurgence and phoenix-like re-emergence from post-Cold War disarray, Russia’s nuclear sub fleet is dying. There is no denying it. Despite all the hand-wringing over increased undersea activity and fretful talk of new sub designs and weapons, nothing of substance has changed since the Cold War. Outside of […]

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Appreciate the Un-deterrable Sub

by Craig Hooper on April 23, 2018

Future undersea attackers will become far less deterrable. That’s a big shift–the idea that attacking submarines are deterrable has been enshrined in ASW Doctrine since World War I, and, even today, the idea that undersea attackers can be forced to break off their attack (or other mission) informs the resourcing and posture of ASW assets. […]

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Salvaging Sub Tech From A Sinking Rolls Royce?

by admin on December 30, 2015

I have a real soft spot for the soon-to-be-dismantled Rolls-Royce Holdings (slow-moving, ossified, and un-repentant 19th-Century holdover that it is).  And though I would hate to see Rolls sold for parts, some creative disassembly of Rolls Royces’ sinking Maritime Division will be required for the company to survive. And that’s a shame. The ocean-focused division […]

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Did A Quest For Efficiencies Almost Sink PCU North Dakota?

by admin on April 18, 2014

It has been great to see Virginia Class sub builders race each other to drive down cost and schedule. But when these competitive pressures start to impact crew safety, we all need to step back, take a few deep breaths, and re-evaluate. For the PCU North Dakota, the pressure to make schedule–and improve upon the […]

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Kill SSBN(X) and Give The Virginia Class Subs SLBM Capability

by admin on October 28, 2013

U.S. ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) have done a great job maintaining America’s second-strike nuclear capability–lurking at sea, undetected, every day. But their era of invulnerability is coming to a close; once SSBNs lose their ability to hide in the oceans, these single-purpose arsenal ships are finished. The sea is already a crowded place, and hiding […]

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