"Big Navy Supply Ship Inactivated" Topic

"Weeks of disagreement over the future of the Navy's biggest supply ships has ended with a decision to inactivate one of the four vessels.

"We've been told to continue with the program of record for the USNS Bridge and continue her on course for inactivation," Tom van Leunen, a spokesman for the Military Sealift Command (MSC), which operates the ships, said Wednesday.

The Bridge is one of four fast combat support ships operated by MSC. With a full load displacement of over 50,000 tons, length of 754 feet and powered by gas turbines, the ships — designated T-AOEs — commonly operate with deployed carrier strike groups, carrying fuel, ammunition and other stores to supply warships at sea…"
Full article here
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Amicalement
Armand

Hmmm…..and so it goes…..not enough troops, not enough tanks in the right locations, so now we have to ship more, but oh wait…we are deactivating our supply ships also….

Yeah…we're gonna get a REAL bad wake up call here in the near future….

Unfortunately the politicos that make these decisions will be out of office (retired), and living on fat pensions when the fiddler comes around wanting to be paid….

Sad… but true!.

Amicalement
Armand

'Yeah…we're gonna get a REAL bad wake up call here in the near future….'

I don't think that the country that spends nearly 40% of the World's total military budget is really going to be that short…

I might point out that Bridge is getting close to 20 years old, so getting close to her 'use by'date. Still, the support side of the navy is getting light.

"I don't think that the country that spends nearly 40% of the World's total military budget is really going to be that short…"

Yeah…that's why we don't have enough tanks in Europe…because the Cold War is over and the Sov…errr…Russia is just a big friendly bear, right???….

Before you go moaning about the politicians doing in the military, note that Congress forced the Navy to accept the 4 roll/on, roll/off transports that took our armor to Desert Storm. The Navy wasn't interested in transports that carried army stuff. They wanted fighting ships.

An older case of politicians getting something right that the military got wrong: Lloyd George made the Admiralty start using convoys in WWI, over strong protests. The rate of sinking dropped immediately.

I might point out that Bridge is getting close to 20 years old, so getting close to her 'use by'date. Still, the support side of the navy is getting light.

According to Wiki, the problem was fuel costs. The Bridge has gas turbines, which suck a lot more fuel than the steam plants the Sacramento-class AOEs have. Means that the Bridge was faster than the Sacramentos, but more expensive to operate.

I suspect that their replacements are going to be massively overgrown catamaran ferries or SWATH designs. Actually, a Trimaran as the hull design might work, too. Any of the three would use less fuel for the same speed. However, those designs are significantly wider than others, with a 4:1 length:beam ratio or lower. That means any of those more efficient hull-types would have a beam of 200 feet(!) or so. That's a problem because it would prevent the ships from transiting the (existing) Panama Canal. However, the expanded 3rd locks will allow beams of up to 160ft.

As far as transports for troops goes, the US Army still operates 50 ships: 35 Runnymede-class LCUs, 6 large tugs, 8 GEN Besson-class LSTs (though the Army calls them 'Logistics Support Vessels,' they're beachable like an LST), and one of those high-speed catamaran ferries fitted with a big helicopter deck that is supposed to be the first of a class of 17 'theater support vessels.'

Oh, and one Stalwart-class SURTASS ship that they use as the Kwajelin Mobile Range Safety System.

So there are a decent number of transports to get troops and tanks from the US to a combat theater.

Each LST can carry a company of Abrams tanks, the big LCUs can carry 3 Abrams or 850 troops, and the Incat ferries should be able to deliver ~4 Abrams and a battalion of infantry.

I just hope the Army Incat is quieter than the Joint Venture. You could hear the thunder of the Joint Venture's engines 15 miles away on sonar (drowning out closer contacts!) and I could clearly hear her engines with my bare ears at about 5 miles when she roared past us as I was standing lookout one day. Don't think she was really going all that fast, probably no more than 15-20 knots. But dang she was loud, I actually had to raise my voice to talk to the Officer of the Deck!