To the Navy welding fiasco at Newport News…
Navy leaders this week identified an aircraft carrier and two submarines affected by faulty weld issues during work at the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, but say that the substandard work did not take place on components that affect ship safety or operations.
In a letter to House and Senate armed services committee members Thursday, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said impacted ships include the recently-revamped aircraft carrier George Washington and the brand-new attack submarines Hyman G. Rickover and New Jersey.
Full article, HERE from Military Times.
And apparently another TWENTY-THREE ships/subs are still to be checked… WTH???
This appears to have been going on for a ‘while’, maybe years. And of course, they are pushing the mantra that “malicious intent” has been ruled out. My question is, BY WHOM???
A lot of the Navy boards I’m seeing or hearing about, etc. are, shall we say, less than happy with this mess, as it is those sailors asses that are on the line on those ships, NOT the shipyard workers or bosses.
The one thing we are NOT hearing is what the Navy is finding, and whether SUPSHIPS is involved in the review/investigation.
I can’t help but wonder if HII and Newport News are betting on the Navy burying this to protect Newport News’ contracts…
Sigh ! The Navy sure has troubles . The Zumwalt , the Littoral Combat Ship , the Virginia class subs , and now welds . Welds…makes me wonder if I was on a ship with faulty welds . I never went on a tour bow to stern , kinda did getting my ESWS I guess. Every weld I looked at looked top notch , I’ve seen shit bubbled up welding but never on a ship , must be some spec shit that’d be some metallurgic shit way over my head . The Virginia class subs are modular I believe, a long tube with whole internal sections being slid into place , with differing ones for different purposes or missions , the idea being (I’m simplifying here) pull one into covered dry dock , yank out the modules , and put in some different ones TA DAH !!! New boat . I watched a video of the Littoral Combat Ship doing a towed array anti sub operation , watching them retrieve the thing was a fucking rigging night mare looked like to me weird angles , weird supports (or lack thereof), whole deal looked over engineered . Had some crazy ass rails that came out the back like drawer slides over some kind of well deck or something , again this ship has interchangeable “modules” for varying mission or purpose . The Zumwalt , while not a thing of beauty , looked kinda cool, but I think they only completed 3? and opted to build more Arleigh Burkes . I checked out one of the Arleigh Burkes as a guest at a Change of Command , never was on one. You know what is weird about that ship ? and I like em’ , not knocking them, on the bridge , looking forward , you can’t see the bow cept from one spot way in the corner , can’t remember which side . You can from the bridge wings if you step outside , but it freaked me out, not seeing the pointy end from the bridge , but they are super cool boats and seem capable and well designed , had a cool double door entry for CBR defense I guess . We had a cool tour guide from the OOD , a female E4 , that seemed quite fit following her up the ladders (wink) , Hey I am a civilian , and a southern gentleman, Ladies First after all! Oh.. forgot we were talking welds…hope they figger it out and no one gets hurt .
Since I am rambling anyway , always,always wanted to ride in an LCAC , bucket list I guess , don’t see it ever happening though.
Boats- I’ll defer to your expertise. My rides were usually short duration and I had ‘other’ issues I was worrying about.