The USS Detroit sails off into the sunset, and the Navy won't miss it

[Lowell]

Boondoggle: noun: work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.

Wow. Only seven years after the big brouhaha of commissioning the USS Detroit at Hart Plaza, it has been decommissioned and likely faces scrapping, so bad of a design the half billion dollar ship has been.

Like the other ships in its class, the USS Detroit had an innovative propulsion system that never worked right. Its anti-submarine package turned out to be too big to install. The niche it was designed to fill when its program was conceived in 2002 was already bordering on irrelevance by the time it set sail.

And you know how owners refer to boats as holes in the water you pour money into? The USS Detroit swallowed $440 million before it left the Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, across the Menominee River from the U.P.

Rather than siphon more of its budget into keeping balky boats afloat, the Navy opted in the last few months to permanently park the USS Detroit, USS Little Rock, USS Sioux City and USS Milwaukee.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/col...e/71160399007/

[Bubblehead]

An example of defense contractors, congress, and top military officers - a.k.a, the Military Industrial Complex - spending money we don't have on ships the Navy doesn't need.

But there's some pretty neat videos and pics of the ship at https://content-static.detroitnews.c...ctive-tour.htm.

[JBMcB]

Too long, didn't read version:

The Detroit, and a couple of other ships, were the first of a new class meant for near-shore operations. These first ships have been plagued with drivetrain issues. As in, the engines completely stop working from time to time. Replacing them means cutting the hull open, at which point you may as well scrap it and build another one.

Boondoggle is an appropriate term. I find it fascinating when the armed forces say they want to stop using or buying a piece of gear or ship, and they are overruled by Congress. No, you can't have upgraded body armor, but you can buy another 500 M1 tanks you don't need.

They need to restart BRAC and start closing down bases again. Sorry, but the Air National Guard has said they don't need Selfridge any more, and if you want to cut the military budget, everything needs to be cut.

[401don]

They need to restart BRAC and start closing down bases again. Sorry, but the Air National Guard has said they don't need Selfridge any more, and if you want to cut the military budget, everything needs to be cut.

Nobody ever wants to cut the military spending in their own district. Remember these:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/o...ing-waste.html

[Richard]

Look at the bright side,after decontamination they will sell for $1 scrap.

They were working prototypes,if they had worked they would have held an advantage.

$440 million sounds like a lot to us but in the grand scheme of the government it’s like $10,but it is government money,so it is free money anyways.

[canuck]

All in the ships in that class are decommissioned. I just remembered one of them had started its first tour from Buffalo through the St Lawrence seaway to Montreal in 2018. The commander realized the ship might be compromised by navigating through the ice that had built up around New Year’s 2018. The USS Little Rock was stuck in the Port of Montreal for 3 months. I think the problem was not the ice but the engines. Those ships are very fragile, apparently. Anyways, that one eventually made its way to its home base in Florida.

The navy is trying to sell them to other countries.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4601103

[JBMcB]

All in the ships in that class are decommissioned.

It's the Freedom class, and there are still eight in active service, three being built out, and no immediate planes to decommission them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedo...al_combat_ship

The first few, including the Detroit, were reclassified as "test ships" and decommissioned as they were very unreliable. Even the newer ships have problems, but they are apparently fixable without cutting the hull open.

[canuck]

It's the Freedom class, and there are still eight in active service, three being built out, and no immediate planes to decommission them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedo...al_combat_ship

The first few, including the Detroit, were reclassified as "test ships" and decommissioned as they were very unreliable. Even the newer ships have problems, but they are apparently fixable without cutting the hull open.

You're right, my bad.

The article also mentions the transmission is the major flaw in that class. They are working on an upgrade that may bring the retired ships back to commission [[?)

[mikeg19]

It would be cool to have them as a sightseeing or tourist attraction, once decommissioned, on the Detroit River like the Intrepid.

[Richard]

It would be cool to have them as a sightseeing or tourist attraction, once decommissioned, on the Detroit River like the Intrepid.

Or even as a deterrent against future Canadian aggression,but even if just slipped it would be like another Belle Isle because they require a lot of maintenance.

Fresh water not so bad.

[Bubblehead]

The US Naval Institute - USNI - News says the USS Detroit - LCS-7 - and the USS Little Rock - LCS-9 - are both "designated for foreign military sales, according to the Navy's long range shipbuilding plan".

[JBMcB]

You're right, my bad.

The article also mentions the transmission is the major flaw in that class. They are working on an upgrade that may bring the retired ships back to commission [[?)

I've read a few articles about the issue, and from what they say the first ships have engine problems as well as the transmission issue, so they are retiring them. IIRC two are being scrapped, as their engines are toast, but they are going to try to sell two as their engines can be refurbed, but the navy isn't interested in [[or Congress isn't allowing them to) spending the money on doing so.

[Burnsie]

You're right, my bad.

The article also mentions the transmission is the major flaw in that class. They are working on an upgrade that may bring the retired ships back to commission [[?)

Ships have sat for decades after decommissioning, then gotten spruced up and recommissioned. That happened to the Iowa-class battleships, which were reactivated under Reagan. Then decommissioned again, and finally struck from the Naval registry. Sounds like the USS Detroit isn't a candidate for mothballing for many years, though.

[Richard]

Nobody ever wants to cut the military spending in their own district. Remember these:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/o...ing-waste.html

That’s why they are referred to as congressional ships,they were not actually originally ordered by the navy,congress choose them to provide economical stimulus to their regions.

Not to be confused with special ordered replacement obsolete toilet seats where the manufacturer had to gear up to produce a limited number for replacement.

These are high maintenance,so not many countries can afford to maintain them,even at that okay for peace time operations but worthless under battle.

Thats the problem with technology,it makes things obsolete pretty quick no matter what their original cost was.

When I was in service personnel preformed maintenance and repairs,now anymore it is all contracted out,union shops, so very expensive,the amount of rust in the fleet is an embarrassment and shows little pride.

[One Shot]

When your playing with house money it doesn’t matter
we the working stiffs are paying for it

[Richard]

When your playing with house money it doesn’t matter
we the working stiffs are paying for it

Thats the way the government works,spend it or lose it budget wise.

It creates a lot of wasteful spending.

When it comes to the military it becomes a matter of national security and based on history of spending on that aspect it it was actually up to the people we would be Bows and Arrows,so waste is a necessary evil.

Then it becomes widespread across all forms of government as standard practice.

If We The People could agree that a certain level of funding in the name of national security is necessary,then we could rein it in.

But there are forces internally and externally that would prefer to see us without that deterrent so they can impose their will on us,so I guess the value is in what price does one put on the ability to sleep at night without the fear of bombs raining down on us or being subjected to the other evils that exist in a world outside of ours.

That comes at a price,those that cannot afford it usually end up being slaughtered in their sleep or subjected to living under conditions that most Americans do not have a clue about.

We could become cost effective lean and mean across the board when it comes to the government,but jobs and votes would be the sacrifice,so we will not.

It’s not a perfect system,I do not like it anymore then the next person but given the alternatives and considering our way of life is still far superior to a majority of the rest of the world it is a small consistent sacrifice in the bigger picture.