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Air Force Brat said:

I know you love this thing as much as I love the F-22ski, but which end is the aft end??? It just doesn't look seaworthy, or should I say see-worthy. Especially since destroyers etc, are always so "trim" and fleet of foot??? looking like poetry in motion??? I can't wait to see if it will make 30 knots???

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Jeff Head said:

Oh, it will be extremely sea worthy, fast, maneuverable, and very, very stealthy as ships go.

It will be the F-22 and FB-111 of the seas all combined.

Here's a couple of different views that makes it clear:

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Gulf shipbuilders gained a new amphibious ship late Friday, and the US Navy has agreed to add a destroyer at a key Maine shipyard. The moves reflect the resolution of a long-standing “hull swap agreement” involving the ships and the Navy’s two biggest shipbuilders.

Huntington Ingalls Industries received a $200 million not-to-exceed undefinitized contract action (or UCA) to order long-lead time material and perform design work on LPD 28, a yet-to-be-named 12th ship in the LPD 17 San Antonio class of amphibious transport dock ships. The ship, which the Navy did not request, was added by Congress to increase the fleet’s amphibious fleet and better meet US Marine Corps requirements.

The total cost of a “fully-scoped” LPD 28 is expected to be around $2.023 billion, the Navy said last year.

As a result of the award, General Dynamics will receive another DDG 51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyer beyond the batch already on order.

By creating a 12th LPD 17, the government invoked a hull swap agreement dating back to 2002, when a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Navy and its shipbuilders transferred the contracts of three LPDs that would have been built at the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works (BIW) yard in Bath, Maine, to what was then Northrop Grumman’s Ingalls and Avondale yards in Louisiana and Mississippi. Bath, in exchange, received three DDG 51s originally assigned to the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Since then, the LPD program was cut from 12 to 10, then back up to 11 ships, ending with LPD 27. Northrop got out of the shipbuilding business and a new entity — HII — was formed, including Ingalls and the now-closed Avondale shipyards. The DDG 51 program was also scheduled to end at DDG 112, but was subsequently restarted by the Navy, awarding contracts to both Ingalls and BIW. As of now, all destroyer contracts through DDG 126 in fiscal 2017 have been awarded, split between Ingalls and Bath.

The MOU was reaffirmed by the Navy in 2009, when another swap agreement was signed between the Navy, BIW and Ingalls over work on DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyers.

But the original MOU included a phrase that would come into effect should a twelfth LPD materialize: “A fourth DDG 51-class ship or equivalent workload would be awarded to [BIW] preceding, or concurrent with the award of LPD 28.”

With Congress’ action to add long-lead funding for LPD 28, the Navy and the shipbuilders worked to resolve the issue.

“Consistent with the ‘swap agreement,’ the Navy will award BIW a corresponding DDG 51 ship,” said Capt. Thurraya Kent, spokesperson for the Navy’s acquisition directorate. “This ship would be in addition to the currently contracted multiyear ships, subject to congressional authorization and appropriation.”

Based on the current 10-ship multiyear buy, which runs through DDG 126, the next ship could wear hull number DDG 127, although that determination is not yet official. Since LPD 28 was not requested by the Navy and added by Congress, the extra destroyer for Bath might also be outside the Navy’s existing multiyear destroyer buy.

Congress, however, still needs to authorize and approve funding for the destroyer, Kent cautioned.

Complicating the assignment of a specific hull number for the destroyer is the situation at Bath, where all destroyer building schedules — including DDG 51s and three DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class ships — are under review. It is not clear where the extra ship could fit into the yard’s production schedule.

General Dynamics declined to comment on the award, but Steve Sloan, Ingalls’ LPD 28 program manager, was enthusiastic about keeping the LPD 17 production line going and filling a gap until the new LX(R) amphibious ship program comes online in a few years.

“LPD 28 is a transition ship from LPD to LXR,” Sloan said. “We’ll have those shipbuilders rolling off LPD 26 and 27 and into 28 on a hot production line.”

LPD 26, the John P. Murtha, is 95 percent complete and scheduled to begin sea trials in early 2016. LPD 27, the Portland, is 70 percent complete and will launch in January. About 2,000 employees typically work on an LPD, Sloan said.

Compared with previous ships, LPD 28 will have several modifications, Sloan said — most coming from Ingalls’ proposed LX(R) design. The most visible changes will be elimination of the towering enclosed masts, which had been built of composite material at HII’s now-closed Gulfport, Mississippi, facility.

“LPD will have an open mast, similar to DDG 51,” Sloan said. “No more composite enclosures. And we borrowed the platform mast from [the assault ship America design] for the air search radar on the aft mast.”

The schedule for the ship’s construction is still being finalized, but Sloan expects the Navy to issue a request for proposal in early 2016.

“Our intent is to turn that proposal around pretty quickly,” he said. “We expect a contract award late in 2016, and start-of-fabrication in December 2016.”

Delivery, he added, would likely come in the second half of 2021.

The Ingalls shipyard builds more kinds of ships than any other yard doing major government work. Under construction now are the large amphibious assault ship Tripoli, four DDG 51-class destroyers and three National Security Cutters for the US Coast Guard.

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its newest independence-variant littoral combat ship, USS Jackson (LCS 6). The ship honors the city of Jackson, Mississippi, which was named for the seventh president of the United States, Andrew Jackson. The new ship is not equipped with a traditional propeller; instead it uses water jets to for propulsion making it faster and easier to maneuver especially in shallow water.
The Department of Defense said this about the new ship, “Jackson is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation. It is designed to defeat asymmetric ‘anti-access’ threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines, and fast surface craft.

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Jackson is the third in its class of littoral combat ships and will crew approximately 50, although will accommodate an additional 35 if necessary. Initial construction began in 2011. Her permanent assignment has not been released by the military, but immediately,

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Air Force Brat said:

I think its clear that Marine Corp General Joseph Dunford was absent because Ash Carter's unilateral move is a slap at the Marine Corps well studied and fair analysis that there are now and will remain many roles in the military that women in whole or in part are ill equipped to fill.

General Dunford is the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he is being undermined by a political hack, one Ash Carter! with the support of his boss, BHO, this administration is going to hack up the military, undermine the military, and act as a politically correct "Dictator", until the American people have the gonads to throw the Bums OUT.

It does however bring aide and comfort to our enemies, and tell them about our lack of will to accomplish "the MISSION". Excuse me while I go "wretch my guts out", brat.

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Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s decision Thursday to lift the ban on women serving in combat is a major milestone in a process that is likely to continue for years to come.

“Were going to get there, but it is going to take some time,” said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Kate Germano, former commander of the Marine Corps’ female recruit training battalion at Parris Island, South Carolina.

“Until we recruit more fit women and we hold those women accountable to being stronger and faster and tougher, I think we are going to struggle to get women into the infantry in large numbers,” Germano said in an interview shortly after Carter’s announcement.

Carter said the military will open all combat jobs to women early next year with “no exceptions," and the new rules will take effect as early as Jan. 2. About 220,000 jobs, or about 10 percent of the entire active and reserve force, are now restricted to men only, mostly in Army and Marine Corps infantry and armor units.

Yet other military officials estimate it will take up to two years before women will be "recruited, accessed, trained, tested and assigned" to combat arms units, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

Before that happens, a series of cultural, political and practical hurdles remain.

Thursday’s decision from the Pentagon’s top civilian leader came despite internal opposition from the Marine Corps; Carter rejected the Corps' request to keep some positions limited to men, including infantry, machine gunner, fire support, reconnaissance and others.

Carter made the historic announcement at a Pentagon press briefing. Absent from the event was Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, the newly installed chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was serving as commandant of the Marine Corps earlier this year when the Corps made its pitch to keep some gender restrictions in place.

Dunford was in the Washington area Thursday attending a series of meetings, his office said. The absence of the military's top uniformed officer raised questions about his support for Carter's decision, and he issued a statement that stopped short of agreeing with the move.

"I have had the opportunity to provide my advice on the issue of full integration of women into the armed forces. In the wake of the secretary's decision, my responsibility is to ensure his decision is properly implemented," Dunford said in the brief statement.

Carter also may face a challenge from Capitol Hill. Congress has 30 days to review the move, and leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services committees on Thursday promised to give “proper and rigorous oversight” to the decision's potential long-term effects on the force.

The influential lawmakers offered no firm support or opposition to the move. Instead, they said they want defense officials to quickly turn over all research and rationale — including a 1,000-page Marine Integrated Task Force report critical of allowing women in combat roles — to ensure that lawmakers fully understand the process that led to Carter's decision.

"In the end, Congress does have the authority to weigh in on this situation," said one senior defense official.

Carter acknowledged the significant challenges ahead in an internal memo to top Pentagon leaders issued Thursday.

“Equal opportunity may not always equate to equal participation by men and women,” Carter wrote in the memo, noting that leaders in the ranks initially may find it difficult to manage and mentor small cadres of women.

arter pointed to studies from both the Army and Marine Corps that show women sustain injuries at higher rates than men, especially in jobs that involve carrying heavy loads, and said those concerns “must be addressed in the implementation of the full integration of women in the armed forces,” according to the memo.

Carter also noted that not all military men will immediately accept women in traditionally male-only jobs. “The integration of women in combat may require a cultural shift in previously all-male career fields,” he wrote.

Women, who make up about 14 percent of today's force, may face some cultural challenges too, Germano said.

She has been outspoken about those cultural challenges since her removal from her post as head of the Parris Island female recruit training battalion amid allegations that she was "hostile, unprofessional and abusive." She said she was only trying to raise standards amid a culture of lowered expectations for female Marines.

“There should be no reason to have an expectation for a woman not to qualify on the range,” she said.

“They need to look at screening and enlisting a tougher candidate — physiologically and mentally — and they need to hold them accountable. If you change that, you see women demanding more from themselves. We saw great progress just because there was a higher expectation for performance.”

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Air Force Brat said:

I think its clear that Marine Corp General Joseph Dunford was absent because Ash Carter's unilateral move is a slap at the Marine Corps well studied and fair analysis that there are now and will remain many roles in the military that women in whole or in part are ill equipped to fill.

General Dunford is the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he is being undermined by a political hack, one Ash Carter! with the support of his boss, BHO, this administration is going to hack up the military, undermine the military, and act as a politically correct "Dictator", until the American people have the gonads to throw the Bums OUT.

It does however bring aide and comfort to our enemies, and tell them about our lack of will to accomplish "the MISSION". Excuse me while I go "wretch my guts out", brat.

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Future wars will be won far more by out-thinking enemies than by out-muscling them, and including women in every part of the U.S. military makes America’s defenses stronger.

On Thursday, Carter

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that all jobs in the U.S. military will now be open to women. Positions will no longer be closed exclusively because of gender; allmembers of the military will now be able to serve in any position for which they meet the standard. This decision will take effect on or around January 1, after the legally required 30-day congressional-review period ends.

Carter’s announcement is long overdue. As women in uniform have been fighting and dying in the wars of the last 15 years, their opportunities within the military have remained deeply constrained. Yet their remarkable performance in those same bloody conflicts has reinforced the beliefs of all who saw this day as both inevitable and right. And it has convinced many who were once skeptics.

This change will open the 10 percent of military specialties, totaling more than 200,000 individual positions, that had previously been available only to men—including many in

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. Carter explained that opening these positions will ensure that the U.S. military will have access to the broadest possible range of talent, an edge that he considers critical to win the nation’s future wars and that is consistent with his broader

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.

Carter clearly and unambiguously noted that there would be “no exceptions” to this policy. In January 2013, then-Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that all military positions would be open to women, but gave the military services three years to assess the positions that were still closed, conduct studies and experiments, and request any permanent exceptions to that policy. None of the civilian-service secretaries requested any exceptions, nor did the uniformed chiefs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, or the four-star general who heads the U.S. Special Operations Command. The commandant of the Marine Corps, however,

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: one for specific operational specialties (including infantry officers, machine gunners, and special operations officers) and a second for whole types of units (including infantry regiments and reconnaissance battalions). The commandant at the time was General Joseph Dunford, and this request was one of his final actions before he assumed his current position as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The Marines based this request on a two-and-a-half year, $36 million study they commissioned to assess an experimental integrated Marine unit. However, the methodology and conclusions of the study’s 978-page final report (which has not been officially released but is available

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)

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, both for failing to establish clear job-specific standards and for focusing on the average performance of all women in the unit rather than the far more relevant metric of how well individual women performed. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, who oversees both the Navy and the Marine Corps, publicly questioned whether Marine leaders had compromised the effort from the start. Mabus told

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that the study “started out with a fairly large component of the men thinking this is not a good idea and women will never be able to do this. When you start out with that mindset you’re almost presupposing the outcome.” After studying the Marines’ request, Carter rightly chose not to grant those exceptions. The study, he explained, was “not definitive, not determinative,” because averages “do not determine whether an individual is qualified to participate in a given unit.”

The Marines’ basic argument was even more deeply undercut by the strong support for integration by the other services. In effect, the Marines were claiming that Marine riflemen, reconnaissance specialists, and machine gunners were somehow fundamentally different from their counterparts in Army infantry and paratroop units, Ranger battalions, Navy SEAL teams, and other elite special-operations units. The graduation of

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from the

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earlier this year further undermined the Marine Corps’ argument that women would not perform well under the toughest field conditions. Carter clearly found the Marines’ separatist logic unpersuasive. In his announcement, he deliberately reinforced that the U.S. military is a joint force that will operate with a single set of standards.

Carter also noted that approving the policy change is only a first step. His announcement made clear that he is focused on effective implementation. In his speech, Carter outlined seven principles to guide the implementation of the policy change across the force, and strongly emphasized that force effectiveness would not be compromised as the changes went into place on January 1. These

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recognizing that changing ingrained cultures may prove challenging and that some segments of the services expect that standards and combat effectiveness will be compromised. Carter also tasked Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Paul Selva with leading the effort to monitor the implementation process and report back to him with any issues that arise, thus reinforcing the importance of getting the follow-up right.

But now that the decision has been made, effective implementation becomes primarily a matter of good leadership across the force. The Department of Defense stressed the

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in implementing the 2010 repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which was widely seen as a smooth process that successfully integrated openly gay and lesbian service members into the force. That remains equally true for integrating women into these newly opened positions—and every service has plenty of leaders who can follow through to get that mission accomplished.

Despite the concern about the drawbacks of integrating units, though, this decision opens the doors for the U.S. military to draw upon the broadest possible assortment of talented young men and women, and put them in a meritocracy where their aspirations are only limited by their abilities, not their gender. This century’s conflicts will be won far more by out-thinking enemies than by out-muscling them, and including women in every part of the U.S. military makes America’s defenses stronger. This long-awaited and hard-earned policy change may turn out to be a vital advantage in America’s future wars.

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The largest destroyer ever built for the U.S. Navy headed out to sea for the first time Monday, departing from shipbuilder Bath Iron Works and carefully navigating the winding Kennebec River before reaching the open ocean where the ship will undergo sea trials.

More than 200 shipbuilders, sailors and residents gathered to watch as the futuristic 600-foot, 15,000-ton USS Zumwalt glided past Fort Popham, accompanied by tugboats.

Kelley Campana, a Bath Iron Works employee, said she had goose bumps and tears in her eyes.

"This is pretty exciting. It's a great day to be a shipbuilder and to be an American," she said. "It's the first in its class. There's never been anything like it. It looks like the future."

Larry Harris, a retired Raytheon employee who worked on the ship, watched it depart from Bath.

"It's as cool as can be. It's nice to see it underway," he said. "Hopefully, it will perform as advertised."

Bath Iron Works will be testing the ship's performance and making tweaks this winter. The goal is to deliver it to the Navy sometime next year.

"We are absolutely fired up to see Zumwalt get underway. For the crew and all those involved in designing, building, and readying this fantastic ship, this is a huge milestone," the ship's skipper, Navy Capt. James Kirk, said before the ship departed.

The ship has electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature. Advanced automation will allow the warship to operate with a much smaller crew size than current destroyers.

All of that innovation has led to construction delays and a growing price tag. The Zumwalt, the first of three ships in the class, will cost at least $4.4 billion.

The ship looks like nothing ever built at Bath Iron Works.

The inverse bow juts forward to slice through the waves. Sharp angles deflect enemy radar signals. Radar and antennas are hidden in a composite deckhouse.

The builder sea trials will answer any questions of seaworthiness for a ship that utilizes a type of hull associated with pre-dreadnought battleships from a century ago.

Critics say the "tumblehome" hull's sloping shape makes it less stable than conventional hulls, but it contributes to the ship's stealth and the Navy is confident in the design.

Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's "Guide to Combat Fleets of the World," said there's no question the integration of so many new systems from the electric drive to the tumblehome hull carries some level of risk.

Operational concerns, growing costs and fleet makeup led the Navy to truncate the 32-ship program to three ships, he said. With only three ships, the class of destroyers could become something of a technology demonstration project, he said.

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A French flag officer embarked in the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle took command of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command's Task Force 50 Dec. 7, leading coalition naval strike operations for Operation Inherent Resolve -- the fight to degrade and ultimately destroy the ISIL terrorist organization.
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This integration of France's premier naval strike force into a critical leadership role in the NAVCENT command and control structure demonstrates its exceptional interoperability with U.S. and other coalition forces.

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