RE: Update on Status of US Navy
I'm just not sure the LCSs can be patched into anything useful in a deployed state.
I've bee kind of dropping hints around, so here is my proposed structure.
12 2-carrier carrier battle groups (CVBG) which can be merged into 6 of Marc Mitscher's WWII carrier task forces (CT?F)--Fords ($14B) are too expensive for these numbers, so make each CVBG 1 Nimitz CVN ($9B) and 1 updated Kitty Hawk CV ($6B); until the Kittys start coming in (about 2035) convert the exiting LHAs/LHDs to interim Lightning Carriers ($1.5B), with service lives to expire as Kittys come in--total cost $198B.
8 surface action/hunter-killer (SAG/HUK) groups, each consisting of a battleship ($4.5B) and an ASW helicopter cruiser ($1.5B).--Total cost $48B.
20 escort squadrons (CortRons), one for each CVBG and each SAG/HUK, consisting of 1 cruiser (larger Tico, $3.5B), 2 AAW destroyers (Burkes, $1.8B), 3 GP FREMMs ($1.0B), and 4 ASW frigates ($500MM)--Total cost $12.1B/CortRon or $242B total.
10 amphibious squadrons/ampibious ready groups (PibRons/ARGs), each consisting of one smaller LHA/LHD (like SP Juan Carlos/AU Canberra, $1.5B), 1 LPH (like FR Mistral, $800MM), 1 LPD/LST (like RN Albion, $600MM), 1 LST (conventional LST beaching bow, $500MM), 1 LPA/LKA (could be modified merchant, $500MM), and 1 NGFS gun/rocket land attack ship ($500MM)--Total cost $4.4B/PhibRon (about cost of one current Navy LHA/LHD) or $44B total.
12 SSBNs (Columbia, $7.9B), 20 SSGNs (Ohios, $5.5B), 30 SSNs (Virginia VPMs, $3B), 30 smaller SSNs (maybe FR Barracuda, $2B)--Total cost $354.8B.
Coastal/Littoral force consisting of 30 Corvettes ($350MM), 30 missile patrol boats ($250MM), 30 mine countermeasures ships ($200MM), and 30 SSKs ($800MM)--Total cost $48B.
Convert 12 of the current LPDs to the HII proposed ABM/BMD ships ($1.5B)--Total cost $18B.
That's a total combat fleet of 524 ships at a total cost of $956.8B. or to build by 2050, over 30 years, $32B/year. Of course there are a number of legacy ships that would still be around in 2050--5 CVNs ($45B), 20 Burkes ($36B), and possibly others, and we'd only be about halfway to building the CVs by 2050, so that's another $36B tat we wouldn't spend by then, making the new construction cost about about $840B, or $28B/year over 30 years. Recent Navy shipbuilding budgets are running $22B/year, so the money would have to come from somewhere. Or perhaps stretch out the construction period to 40 years and spend the current $21B/year. Of course, we would also need to add some auxiliaries, probably about 80 oilers, supply ships, tenders, tugs, survey ships and the like, at about $500MM a pop, or $40B, so add another billion a year to those numbers.
The CVNs would just be continuing current production, and replacing 1-for-1 with new ones as old ones reach the ends of their service lives. The Lightning Carriers could come over in some form immediately, and be upgraded over the next 10-15 years. The CVs would probably start coming in around 2035, and about 1 every 3 years, so by 2050, there would be about 6 of them and 6 Lightning Carriers remaining. The battleships could probably start coming in around 2030 and one every 2 years until 2046. Same for the ASW helo carriers. The new cruisers could probably start coming in around 2030, and one a year thereafter, each one replacing a Tico. The Burkes are basically here. The FREMMs could come in starting in 2025 or so, and about 2/year, with 4/year LCSs rolling off. The ASW frigates could probably be a short term design and production effort, with maybe 3/year coming in starting around 2028. The subs would require a new sub manufacturing yard. If we did the Barracudas, perhaps we could talk Naval Group into building or buying a US yard, preferably on the west coast, to build them, just as they did with Brazil. We would probably hit a minimum of about 60 subs by 2030 or so, and then grow about 1 a year until we got back to 90. The amphibs and coastal/littoral ships would probably require bringing additional yards into play. Fortunately the coastal/littoral ships could be build by a bunch of smaller yards that don't presently build naval ships. HII could probably build the smaller amphibs fairly easily. For the bigger ones, perhaps we could do like for the Barracudas and get Naval Group and Navantia to build or buy USA yards to build them here. Obviously these timetables don't get us to the full 524 by 2050, probably somewhere around 450 or so. And there would be a dip between 2025 and 2030 until some of the new designs start rolling off, but that's pretty much already baked into the cake, and this plan would get us over it ASAP.
If we had a two-front war with a rogue nation in the Mideast (worst case scenario), I would send two 4-carrier CTFs to WestPac--one outside the range of China's A2/AD systems, to launch aircraft with sufficient range and/or tanking to fly combat sorties as far as the first island chain) and one down south by Malacca and Sunda to interdict Chinese shipping--one CTF to the Mideast, and two CTFs to Europe--one Med and one North Sea--with 2 CVBGs in reserve/surge mode in CONUS. I would have two SAG/HUK groups in the Pacific, two in the Indian Ocean, one in the GIUK gap, one in the mid-Atlantic, and two stateside in reserve/surge mode. I would have 2-3 ARGs in WestPac, 2-3 in the Indian Ocean (to do port seizures of China's String of Pearls ports), 2-3 in Europe, and 2 in reserve/surge in CONUS. And the CortRons would escort those groups as appropriate.
Anyway, that's kind of my full plan.
(This post was last modified: 06-23-2021 09:30 PM by Owl 69/70/75.)
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