August 25, 200817 yr From Navy Times San Antonio shipping out After delays and nearly $1 billion in cost overruns, amphib’s maiden voyage nears By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer Posted : Monday Aug 25, 2008 11:22:04 EDT NORFOLK, Va. — The banner on the brow of the amphibious transport dock San Antonio reads, “Never Retreat. Never Surrender.” And for a while there, it also looked as if the ship would never deploy. But after years of design problems and delays, the San Antonio finally is ready to head overseas. The ship, the first of the LPD 17 class, is scheduled to depart Norfolk this week as part of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, Navy officials say. “She is ready for deployment,” 2nd Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Herman Phillips said. The San Antonio class represents a totally new design for amphibious warfare ships inside and out. And the first ship in the class will be closely watched during its maiden voyage. “Allowing the operators to explore how this ship can be used will be very, very important,” said Bob Work, senior defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “I am anxious to hear the after-action reports.” At a hefty 25,000-tons displacement with a 105-foot beam — just a foot narrower than a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship — the San Antonio-class is replacing four “legacy” L-classes. It has a well deck, flight deck, and massive space for supplies and vehicles. It also has berthing for 720 Marines that, unlike the very spare quarters in older ships, features racks with enough headroom to sit up. From the very beginning, Marines were allowed to give input to the ship’s design. But the San Antonio had a troubled fleet debut. After arriving late and over-budget in 2005, an initial inspection report revealed major problems. Board of Inspection and Survey officers found the ship “incomplete” and unsafe for crew members to board in a July 5, 2005, report. Inspectors found “poor construction and craftsmanship ... throughout the ship.” Wiring was also problematic. “Poor initial cable-pulling practice led to what is now a snarled, over-packed, poorly-assembled and virtually uncorrectable electrical/electronic cable plant,” the report states. The San Antonio made headlines again in April 2007, after the ship was deemed “unsuccessful” because of several equipment failures and “unreliable” steering during March sea trials. However, the report commends the crew for presenting the ship “professionally.” Still, the catalog of problems prompted Navy Secretary Donald Winter to write a June 22, 2007, letter to shipbuilder Northrop Grumman complaining that two years after commissioning, the fleet “still does not have a mission-capable ship.” Over its early life, San Antonio’s price also rose from a 1996 estimate of $876 million to $1.85 billion, once all of its discrepancies were corrected. “All first ships of a class have problems, and LPD 17 has more than its share,” Work said. “And it was delivered in shockingly bad condition.” Now ready for deployment after extensive work by the crew and shipbuilder, Work said the test will be how the ship functions and whether it lives up to its flexible design. “We have to see if the ship performs well, and an operational deployment is where the rubber meets the road,” he said. “There’s never been a question in my mind that the design is solid.” Its wide beam and vast spaces, capable self-defense systems, advanced communications and electronic warfare gear mean it can serve as an amphib, a command ship or a hospital ship, he said. In addition to its well-deck and large-vehicle bays for Marine vehicles and equipment, the San Antonio is built with a forward space to hold 16 vertical launch system missile tubes. “If you wanted to put them in, in the future, it’s nice to have the space for it,” Work said. The San Antonio had been scheduled to deploy in March with the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group, but it was taken out of that rotation when new systems were installed and further crew training was needed, Phillips said. The 38-year-old amphibious transport dock Nashville made the deployment, even after being delayed for two days on the pier due to a problem in its aging steam plant. The Navy recently announced that the aging Austin-class Nashville will be decommissioned. The San Antonio is expected to deploy with the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, dock landing ship Carter Hall, cruiser Vella Gulf, destroyers Ramage and Roosevelt, and attack submarine Hartford. The ESG will carry the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
August 25, 200817 yr Author And, in related news ... From Navy Times Latest in LPD series headed for delivery By Alan Sayre - The Associated Press Posted : Monday Aug 25, 2008 10:37:41 EDT AVONDALE, La. — The fourth in a series of amphibious warships is about to be turned over to the Navy and for everyone associated with the LPD 20, there’s a sense of awe. The Green Bay — it officially becomes the USS Green Bay when commissioned Jan. 24 at Long Beach, Calif. — is scheduled to be delivered to the Navy on Aug. 29 by the Northrop Grumman Corp. shipyard in this New Orleans suburb. Like its three sisters already in service — the San Antonio, New Orleans and Mesa Verde — the 25,000-ton Green Bay is 684 feet long and 105 feet wide, suitable for a naval crew of 360 and 800 Marines. It can carry landing vessels and helicopters to deliver the Marines to shore. The vessel, which cost more than $1 billion, recently completed sea trials successfully. “I love it,” said Northrop Grumman electrician Susie Davis, one of the company workers who went on the sailing trials. “To actually see it all come to a conclusion is breathtaking. It makes me want to join the military.” The Green Bay is the final project for electrician Gerald Dufrene, who will retire in September. “I’m going out with a bang,” he said. The vessel will be around Avondale a while after the Navy takes delivery. Naval inspectors must certify the crew as ready to handle the vessel and will put them through a series of drills. If all goes well, the process should wrap up by November and the Green Bay will head to California. Cmdr. Joe Olson, the Green Bay’s prospective captain, will have his first command after 17 years in the Navy. “Every ship I’ve served on has been great,” said Olson, a native of Madison, Wis. “But this is a fantastic opportunity. I’m very excited.” The Green Bay is the second Navy vessel to carry the name. The first was a patrol gunboat commissioned in the 1960s. The fifth ship in the LPD series — the New York — was christened on March 1 at Avondale and is in the final stages of construction. The San Diego is being built at Northrop Grumman’s yard in Pascagoula, Miss., while the seventh ship, the Anchorage, also is being built at Avondale. Initial work is under way on the eighth and ninth ships — the Arlington at Pascagoula and the Somerset at Avondale. Funding for a 10th LPD is pending before Congress. A House committee has earmarked $1.8 billion in full funding, while a Senate committee has signed off on $170 million, which when combined with other funds, would provide $323 million in pre-construction expenses. A conference committee will decide on funding for the next federal budget later this year. The Pascagoula yard has 11,500 employees, while 5,500 work at Avondale. Northrop Grumman also has 200 workers at its Gulfport, Miss., yard and 120 at a yard in Tallulah, La.
August 27, 200817 yr Author From DefenseNews Mechanical Failure Keeps Troubled LPD-17 at Pier By andrew scutro Published: 26 Aug 15:20 EDT (19:20 GMT) NORFOLK, Va. - Hydraulic problems have delayed the maiden deployment the amphibious transport dock San Antonio (LPD-17), which was supposed to leave Aug. 26 with the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The ship, which has endured lengthy delays and cost overruns, had to stay back in Norfolk due to a broken stern gate that will take days to repair, said U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Herb Josey, spokesman for Naval Surface Force Atlantic. The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima left the pier at 11 a.m. without San Antonio and is headed to North Carolina to onload the rest of the Camp Lejeune-based 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Capt. Brian Smith, Amphibious Squadron 4 commander, said the problem with San Antonio was discovered Aug. 24 and he expects the new amphib - the lead ship of the LPD 17 class - to be repaired and outbound by the end of this week. "There is nothing that will keep San Antonio from getting underway," he said. The problem is a mechanical failure in a ram cylinder piston that controls the stern gate, he said, crucial for conducting well-deck operations, an amphib's very reason for existence. San Antonio's fleet debut has been a rocky one. It underwent two scathing inspection reports and had to miss its first shot at deployment in February with the Nassau ESG. Smith defended both San Antonio and the San Diego-based amphib New Orleans, the second ship in the class, which was deemed "degraded in her ability to sustain combat operations" by a recent Navy inspection. "Any new ship is going to be scrutinized and discrepancies will be generated," he said. The remaining ships of the strike group - destroyer Ramage, cruiser Vella Gulf, destroyer Roosevelt and dock landing ship Carter Hall - will deploy through the week. Ramage will be the first Atlantic-based destroyer to deploy with a full-up Ballistic Missile Defense capability, Smith said.
August 29, 200817 yr Author From Navy Times LPD 17 underway after mechanical problems Staff report Posted : Friday Aug 29, 2008 9:46:10 EDT The amphibious transport dock San Antonio got underway on its first deployment Thursday morning, two days after a problem with its stern gate forced the troubled ship to stay behind in Norfolk, Va.,, while other ships deployed. The problem was discovered Sunday night, and involved a mechanical failure in a ram cylinder piston that controls the ship’s stern gate, said Capt. Brian Smith, commander of Amphibious Squadron 4. San Antonio will join the remaining ships of the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group, which includes the dock landing ship Carter Hall, cruiser Vella Gulf and destroyers Ramage and Roosevelt. The flotilla will transport members of the Camp Lejeune, N.C.-based 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit for its scheduled deployment. About 1,700 MEU Marines were bused up to Norfolk to leave with the ships, which are heading to North Carolina to load their vehicles, aircraft and other cargo. Those who didn’t leave aboard Iwo Jima and Carter Hall were forced to stay behind until San Antonio was deemed ready to deploy.
November 9, 201015 yr Author A predictable result ... From Janes Defect-ridden USS San Antonio should not have sailed, court martial told Lieutenant Commander Sean Kearns, a former executive officer in USS San Antonio, was found not guilty by a military jury on 5 November at the end of a trial at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, which highlighted design flaws and system failures in the first San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. [excerpt]
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