Fifteen of the US Navy's fast attack submarines -- the hunter-killer boats that go out and find enemy subs as well keep them away from US ballistic missile subs ("boomers" -- "long, black and don't come back") -- have been idled by the sea service due to a maintenance backlog. Unfortunately, the Navy's plan to address the backlog is also being held up by a budget gridlock in Congress.
Part of the issue is that the Navy is reluctant to use anything but Navy-owned and operated shipyards and drydock facilities when it comes to submarine overhauls and maintenance, and there's a bottleneck due to an insufficient number of such Navy shipyards. Recently, the sea service decided to start utilizing nearby Newport News Shipbuilding, a civilian shipyard that builds plenty of Navy ships, to overhaul at least one of the 15 submarines (the USS Boise). Apparently, the delay will add 31 more months to the total time in which Boise will be out of service.
I don't know how much of a hit to readiness a given Navy fleet will experience having that many (15) fast attack subs down for maintenance at one time because there are always several such boats out of action for such things at any time. Mister Slowguy would no doubt be able to fill in my (considerable) knowledge gaps about that. My guess is it'll affect operational tempo of other boats and their crews, with more at-sea and patrol times for the fast attack subs available for duty, as well as wider patrol and coverage areas for the boats that are out there.
15 Subs Kept Out of Service: 177 Months Of Drydock Backups « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
Part of the issue is that the Navy is reluctant to use anything but Navy-owned and operated shipyards and drydock facilities when it comes to submarine overhauls and maintenance, and there's a bottleneck due to an insufficient number of such Navy shipyards. Recently, the sea service decided to start utilizing nearby Newport News Shipbuilding, a civilian shipyard that builds plenty of Navy ships, to overhaul at least one of the 15 submarines (the USS Boise). Apparently, the delay will add 31 more months to the total time in which Boise will be out of service.
I don't know how much of a hit to readiness a given Navy fleet will experience having that many (15) fast attack subs down for maintenance at one time because there are always several such boats out of action for such things at any time. Mister Slowguy would no doubt be able to fill in my (considerable) knowledge gaps about that. My guess is it'll affect operational tempo of other boats and their crews, with more at-sea and patrol times for the fast attack subs available for duty, as well as wider patrol and coverage areas for the boats that are out there.
15 Subs Kept Out of Service: 177 Months Of Drydock Backups « Breaking Defense - Defense industry news, analysis and commentary
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."
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big kahuna: Nov 1, 17 18:32