Since Fleet maintenance/readiness appears to be a problem, and production is behind schedule, do we need to build a new class of ship? We are short of our L Class ships. It's time, now, to cancel the Landing Ship Medium program for FD. This will become another naval boondoggle like the Littoral Combat Ship program was.
Having just caught up with the saga of the “temporary Gaza humanitarian aid pier” and further details not only of the fire in the engine room of the USNS 2nd Lt. John Bobo, but equally the failure of the US Army support vessels to make any progress towards the Gaza port, further reading makes it clear things are worse than any could imagine. Further, as the US House of Representative’s approved yet another massive spending bill, for “aid” to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on the way to the US Senate and POTUS’s desk for confirmation, our erstwhile DoD with a budget of some $883 Billion can’t get 3-4 deep water vessels from point A to point B. (By the way when has the USA ever done anything in the way of a temporary anything?? Bagram airbase the worlds largest self licking ice cream comes to mind as the last temporary anything…) Most distressing though, having just read the Medal of Honor citation for Second Lieutenant John Bobo USMCR is that the Navy and the crew aboard the ship in a sense dishonor the memory and honor of John Bobo. Imagine how his family still alive might take the news. The Bobo is the laughing stock of the fleet, well sort of, the Wasp and Boxer are vying for that title and moniker. But imagine the anguish someone might feel that so great a sacrifice made for his Marines would be for lack of a better word so desecrated. The rot in the Navy Department is rife and smells bad. We don’t just need more ships, we need a Navy ready to support the ships needed. Heads ought to be rolling but doesn’t look likely. One of the problems is to many stars chasing too many bars. Senator Cotton’s report on the surface warfare navy was chilling in many ways. Chief among them that the bridge on many warships has closed circuit TV monitoring capabilities. So that the Admiral in charge sitting at his desk can monitor in real time the effects of his zero defects “management” style. As the report points out, under the current arrangements at sea, and zero defects mentality, Admirals Halsey, Nimitz and King would have been left ashore and cashiered out of the Navy before the start of WWII for some mistakes made as young officers. Of course at the time we had a Department of War and Navy Department back then and a funny word “accountability” was often heard in business, government and the military.
The underlying here is as has been mentioned, the Corps needs to take on more responsibility for the status and nature of the seagoing vessels it needs. If nothing else the memory of Lieutenant Bobo among others demands it.
Thanks - I am sure a lot of us remember making the multiple turns to get to and from Bobo chow hall. Not to mention the one time we received direction to double time across the train tracks because lightning was 'within 5'. That chow hall is gone now, but his memory and example endures.
HQMC needs to be monitoring ship maintenance status if it is not already doing so. Sometimes, the competing priorities of the admirals differ from CMC priorities. Also, if possible, the Marine Corps needs to reduce the number of ships required to support the MEU to reduce the impact of ship maimtenance requirements.
All I remember is a 4 rifle company Bn...two on the LPH, 1 on the LPD, 1 on the LST and combat service support group in a LSD. Ahh...the goods old days when the Navy understood how important a deployed amphibious force was...Hell! ...during a real contingence operations they would even throw in an LCC. At one point I thought the Commandant was asking for the small amphib to replace the LST...but that was when I thought we had towed arty to drive off over the beach.
Good Sir, Would you consider 2 LHDs per MEU. If 2 LHDs are acceptable, the MAGTF, amphibious ship total required becomes 24 vice 31 or 38. The 2 LHDs give you CFROGs cube required. Then ask for an AEGIS DDG for escort.
Sir, I remember the debate over the drop to 3 ship ARGs from the 5. The internet seems to have been cleansed of any reference to those days. In retrospect, I understand the 'why', but it still was a shame. On the bright side, I learned the difference between horizontal cubes and vertical cubes from some sources that tried to assert that total cubic space available didn't really change with the drop to 3 ships. [edit: to be clear, I most enthusiastically think a 4 or 5 ship ARG should be the goal in the modern era...3 ship ARGs just make the Log O's complain to the MEU CO]. One modern note from my perspective is that the USMC does have to take a different approach to the Navy's handling of shipbuilding, maintaining, and repairing then we have in times past. Along the same lines, we need to work with the Navy to find the practical solutions if the Navy is so hamstrung on fleet wide readiness that they have to focus on the platforms that deliver effects on target at the expense of Amphibs. Destroyers have berthing and a helodeck....
Since Fleet maintenance/readiness appears to be a problem, and production is behind schedule, do we need to build a new class of ship? We are short of our L Class ships. It's time, now, to cancel the Landing Ship Medium program for FD. This will become another naval boondoggle like the Littoral Combat Ship program was.
What happened to all of the equipment in the Norwegian Cave Storage!
Where did all of the MPS equipment for several MEBs go… Ukraine? Barstow? Reserves?
Having just caught up with the saga of the “temporary Gaza humanitarian aid pier” and further details not only of the fire in the engine room of the USNS 2nd Lt. John Bobo, but equally the failure of the US Army support vessels to make any progress towards the Gaza port, further reading makes it clear things are worse than any could imagine. Further, as the US House of Representative’s approved yet another massive spending bill, for “aid” to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on the way to the US Senate and POTUS’s desk for confirmation, our erstwhile DoD with a budget of some $883 Billion can’t get 3-4 deep water vessels from point A to point B. (By the way when has the USA ever done anything in the way of a temporary anything?? Bagram airbase the worlds largest self licking ice cream comes to mind as the last temporary anything…) Most distressing though, having just read the Medal of Honor citation for Second Lieutenant John Bobo USMCR is that the Navy and the crew aboard the ship in a sense dishonor the memory and honor of John Bobo. Imagine how his family still alive might take the news. The Bobo is the laughing stock of the fleet, well sort of, the Wasp and Boxer are vying for that title and moniker. But imagine the anguish someone might feel that so great a sacrifice made for his Marines would be for lack of a better word so desecrated. The rot in the Navy Department is rife and smells bad. We don’t just need more ships, we need a Navy ready to support the ships needed. Heads ought to be rolling but doesn’t look likely. One of the problems is to many stars chasing too many bars. Senator Cotton’s report on the surface warfare navy was chilling in many ways. Chief among them that the bridge on many warships has closed circuit TV monitoring capabilities. So that the Admiral in charge sitting at his desk can monitor in real time the effects of his zero defects “management” style. As the report points out, under the current arrangements at sea, and zero defects mentality, Admirals Halsey, Nimitz and King would have been left ashore and cashiered out of the Navy before the start of WWII for some mistakes made as young officers. Of course at the time we had a Department of War and Navy Department back then and a funny word “accountability” was often heard in business, government and the military.
The underlying here is as has been mentioned, the Corps needs to take on more responsibility for the status and nature of the seagoing vessels it needs. If nothing else the memory of Lieutenant Bobo among others demands it.
I met the Bobo family in 1984 while assigned to Marine Corps OCS in Quantico. A new mess hall was dedicated and named after this heroic Lieutenant.
Thanks - I am sure a lot of us remember making the multiple turns to get to and from Bobo chow hall. Not to mention the one time we received direction to double time across the train tracks because lightning was 'within 5'. That chow hall is gone now, but his memory and example endures.
HQMC needs to be monitoring ship maintenance status if it is not already doing so. Sometimes, the competing priorities of the admirals differ from CMC priorities. Also, if possible, the Marine Corps needs to reduce the number of ships required to support the MEU to reduce the impact of ship maimtenance requirements.
Beforre the more capable "big deck" ships and the LPD-17 there were five ships in a typical ARG. Today there are only three.
All I remember is a 4 rifle company Bn...two on the LPH, 1 on the LPD, 1 on the LST and combat service support group in a LSD. Ahh...the goods old days when the Navy understood how important a deployed amphibious force was...Hell! ...during a real contingence operations they would even throw in an LCC. At one point I thought the Commandant was asking for the small amphib to replace the LST...but that was when I thought we had towed arty to drive off over the beach.
Good Sir, Would you consider 2 LHDs per MEU. If 2 LHDs are acceptable, the MAGTF, amphibious ship total required becomes 24 vice 31 or 38. The 2 LHDs give you CFROGs cube required. Then ask for an AEGIS DDG for escort.
Sir, I remember the debate over the drop to 3 ship ARGs from the 5. The internet seems to have been cleansed of any reference to those days. In retrospect, I understand the 'why', but it still was a shame. On the bright side, I learned the difference between horizontal cubes and vertical cubes from some sources that tried to assert that total cubic space available didn't really change with the drop to 3 ships. [edit: to be clear, I most enthusiastically think a 4 or 5 ship ARG should be the goal in the modern era...3 ship ARGs just make the Log O's complain to the MEU CO]. One modern note from my perspective is that the USMC does have to take a different approach to the Navy's handling of shipbuilding, maintaining, and repairing then we have in times past. Along the same lines, we need to work with the Navy to find the practical solutions if the Navy is so hamstrung on fleet wide readiness that they have to focus on the platforms that deliver effects on target at the expense of Amphibs. Destroyers have berthing and a helodeck....