Compass Points - Thanks Gerald Ford!
Funding for 20 new amphibious ships.
Compass Points - Thanks Gerald Ford!
Funding for 20 new amphibious ships.
May 30, 2024
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The Marine Corps may need to give a special thanks to former President Gerald Ford.
The Marine Corps needs many, many more amphibious ships. The Navy does not have the funding. What to do?
Perhaps the solution lies in the special relationship between the Navy's newest aircraft carrier and the amphibious ships the Marine Corps needs.
The Navy's CVN 78, the first of the Gerald Ford class of nuclear aircraft carriers, is the biggest and most powerful aircraft carrier ever built. But some commentators are asking if the Ford is too big and too vulnerable.
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The U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, intended to replace the aging Nimitz-class, are the largest and most expensive warships ever built, costing $13.3 billion each.
Despite advanced technology and automation reducing crew requirements, these carriers face challenges due to anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) systems deployed by potential adversaries like China. The new carrier's high cost and potential vulnerability to cheaper A2/AD systems raise concerns about its effectiveness in future conflicts.
. . . In other words, no matter its own lethality, if this $13.3 billion monstrosity gets too close to those A2/AD systems, it will be destroyed or severely damaged.
The Navy knew this going into the design and production of the Gerald R. Ford. Yet, like trying to turn a speeding aircraft carrier on a dime, trying to get the acquisitions office for the Navy to make adjustments to their carefully laid plans was nearly impossible. The bureaucracy didn’t even try.
The Navy intends for the Gerald R. Ford class to have a 50-year service life. So, as the Nimitz class is decommissioned over the next decade, the Navy may have just invested in a giant boondoggle that is a large, easy target for China’s A2/AD systems.
-- The National Interest
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There is only one Ford class carrier today. The construction and certification of the Ford has been an extended process with one delay and problem after another.
There are dangers in having only one of a large weapon system. There is safety in numbers. A single Ford class super carrier, no matter how advanced, is still just one carrier. No matter what new technology it might feature, one carrier is just one carrier. One carrier is limited. One carrier can still never be in two places at once.
It is the same with other large weapons systems. At what point does the cost of a new jet become too expensive? When is one 5-star rated jet not as useful as a half dozen 4-star rated jets? When are a half dozen older subs better than one expensive new sub? A single ship, plane, or sub can never provide the redundancy and resiliency that a greater number can.
During his years of active duty in World War II, Gerald R. Ford, the person, served in combat in the Pacific aboard the light aircraft carrier Monterey. The Monterey was an Independence class light aircraft carrier. The Independence class light aircraft carriers gave the Navy more ships and more capabilities in more places instead of relying solely on a few big carriers.
If only the Navy had something like the Independence class light aircraft carriers today. The good news is the light aircraft carrier exists today. The Wasp/America amphibious assault ships are the largest of all amphibious assault ships and even the Navy says each one "resembles a small aircraft carrier." Is there value in an updated and enhanced Wasp/American light aircraft carrier?
The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) is a defense and security think tank with its headquarters in London. RUSI has been providing high level analysis of critical defense issues for nearly 200 years. Years ago, RUSI did a study on the value of the Wasp/America amphibious assault ships.
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With an overstretched nuclear supercarrier force, the US Navy’s Wasp and America class amphibious assault ships are increasingly being relied on to serve as light expeditionary aircraft carriers. This is a role in which these ships, perhaps unexpectedly, excel.
On 1 August 2016, the US initiated an air campaign against the Libyan chapter of Daesh (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, ISIS). The ongoing Operation Odyssey Lightning does not have a specific timeline; rather, it seeks to enable the UN-backed Libyan Government of National Accord to evict Daesh from the coastal city of Sirte. The campaign currently involves both fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft deployed on the amphibious assault ship, the USS Wasp, as well as remotely piloted air systems flying from land bases. As a result, Odyssey Lightning is a demonstration of the US Navy’s LHDs (landing helicopter docks) as de facto aircraft carriers for this kind of limited-intensity operation. These regularly feature in the contemporary operating environment, particularly in the Arc of Crisis – a region which, loosely defined, includes the coastal regions of the Indian Ocean.
The rising operational demands placed on the US Navy’s large-deck carrier force mean that the LHDs might be called on in the future to function as light aircraft carriers to cover any carrier ‘gap’ that might surface again.
-- RUSI
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The Marine Corps, the Navy, and the Nation need more amphibious assault ships. Is there any way funding could be found for more ships? Yes. One possible answer might be to let Gerald Ford pay.
Each Ford class super carrier costs about $13.3 billion each. Amphibious assault ships like the San Antonio class LPD and the Wasp class LHD and America class LHA cost about $1.3 billion. So roughly one Ford class super carrier could pay for 10 amphibious assault ships. Two Ford class super carriers could pay for 20 amphibious assault ships.
If the Navy, with the help of Congress, simply delayed the construction of the next two Ford class super carriers, then that funding could pay for 20 amphibious assault ships -- a mix of perhaps 8 new San Antonio class LPDs and a dozen new updated Wasp/America light aircraft carriers.
Right now, the Navy is planning to invest $26.6 billion to get two Ford class super carriers. Is this a good plan? The National Interest has called the gigantic Ford class carrier "a giant boondoggle that is a large, easy target for China’s A2/AD systems." If the Navy simply delayed acquiring the next two Ford class super carriers, not only would the Navy gain time to see the Ford in action, but the Navy could also use the $26.6 billion to acquire 8 San Antonio class LPDs as well as a dozen new upgraded Wasp/America light aircraft carriers.
Is an amphibious assault / light aircraft carrier the same as a Ford class aircraft carrier? Absolutely not. But a dozen new light aircraft carriers give the US redundancy and resiliency as well as the flexibility to have more carriers in more places around the globe.
The Marine Corps needs many, many more amphibious ships. The Navy does not have the funding. What to do?
One way to gain more funding is for Congress to allocate more funding. Recently a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee advocated that Congress immediately allocate an additional $55 billion on defense.
Another way to find funding for more amphibious ships is to let Gerald Ford pay!
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The National Interest - 05/28/2024
The Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier Nightmare Is Beyond Fixing Now
The U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers, intended to replace the aging Nimitz-class, are the largest and most expensive warships ever built, costing $13.3 billion each.
by Brandon J. Weichert
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US Navy - SURFPAC
Amphibious Assault Ship (LHD/LHA)
https://www.surfpac.navy.mil/Ships/By-Class/Amphibious-Assault-Ship-LHD-LHA/
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Defense News - 03/31/2023
Ingalls nabs $1.3B deal to build next San Antonio-class amphib ship
By Megan Eckstein
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RUSI - 08/25/2016
The Utility of the US Navy’s Amphibious Assault Ships as Small-Deck Carriers
By Ben Ho Wan Beng
A real American Sea Story.
Kaiser shipyard in Vancouver launches its first escort aircraft carrier on April 5, 1943.
By Kit Oldham Posted 2/21/2003 HistoryLink.org Essay 5266
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On April 5, 1943, the Kaiser shipyard in Vancouver, Clark County, launches the Alazon Bay (later renamed Casablanca), the first of some 50 escort carriers the yard produces in little over a year. All told, the Vancouver shipyard, opened in early 1942, turns out more than 140 ships and two drydocks during World War II.
Kaiser's Empire
When the United States entered World War II in December 1941, following the Pearl Harbor attack, industrialist Henry Kaiser, who had been involved in constructing the Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams on the Columbia River, turned his attention to producing ships for the war. Kaiser operated seven shipyards on the West Coast. His son Edgar became general manager of the Vancouver yard and two across the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon, which all opened in early 1942.
The three shipyards rapidly boosted employment, and population, in the Vancouver-Portland area. In 1940, the largest payroll in Portland was 1,100 workers. By the end of 1942, when Edgar Kaiser was named Portland's first citizen of the year, employment at the three yards had reached 76,000. Employment peaked a year later, when 97,000 men and women worked at the three yards, 38,000 at the Vancouver facility. More than 10,000 workers in the Vancouver yard were women.
There were only around 18,000 people in Vancouver in 1941. In order to provide for the new shipyard workers recruited from across the country and their dependents, six housing projects, accommodating 45,000 people, were constructed in the area during the war.
The Kaiser shipyards, using prefabrication and special construction methods, were able to substantially reduce the time it took to produce ships. By the time the war ended, the Vancouver yard had constructed more than 140 ships for the United States Navy and Maritime Commission, including Liberty cargo ships, LSTs (tank landing crafts), AP-5 troop transports, C-4 transports, and C-4 cargo ships, along with 50 escort aircraft carriers.
Look at Active US Navy ship history.
12/31/1944. 2147 Amphibious Ships
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/us-ship-force-levels.html