Tag Archives: USS John S. McCain (DDG 56)

Elderly Burkes Get Reprieve

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200304-N-NK931-1001 PHILIPPINE SEA (Mar. 4, 2020) Landing Signalmen Enlisted (LSE), assigned to the Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52), directs night flight operations of an MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter, assigned to the “Saberhawks” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 77, during the U.S.-Japan Bilateral Advanced Warfighting Training exercise (BAWT). (U.S. Navy photo by Ensign Samuel Hardgrove)

The SECNAV this week announced he has given the green light to keep operating yesterday’s destroyer tomorrow.

The idea is to squeeze another 48 ship years out of 12 early Flight I Arleigh Burke-class (DDG 51) destroyers, pushing each beyond their 35-year expected service life.

The oldest hull, the Ingalls-built USS Barry (DDG-52), left Pascagoula in 1992 and was set to retire in FY28 at age 36, and will instead be stretched out to FY31. The newest, USS The Sullivans (DDG-68), which left Bath in 1997 and was scheduled to head to mothballs in FY32, will instead linger until FY35.

There will be no extensive service life extension program for these ships, just the determination “to maximize the service life of each ship before it required another extensive and costly docking availability.”

The feeling is that this is a move that had to happen, rather than a move that the Navy wanted to happen. After all, these early short-hull Burkes are really nowhere near the same capability as their recent Flight IIA and Flight III sisters, which really should have been designated different classes. 

While not addressed, you can be sure this early raiding of the future mothball fleet is due to the inexcusable delays in the Constellation-class multi-mission guided-missile frigates, which was supposed to take a proven off-the-shelf (Italian FREMM) program and make it here in the states to speed up the acquisition process, at least until Big Navy got involved and wanted to change every compartment. The program is currently at least three years behind schedule and you can bet that will lapse even further as the first ships have to be rebuilt after initial trials.

The CNO rubber-stamped the DDG 52-68 extension as one would expect of a good CNO, saying:

“Today’s budget-constrained environment requires the Navy to make prioritized investments to keep more ready players on the field,” said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. “The Navy is actively pulling the right levers to maintain and grow its Battle Force Inventory to support the United States’s global interests in peace and to win decisively in conflict.”

As detailed by Breaking Defense, the ships and their associated life extensions included in the announcement are:

  • USS Barry (DDG-52) – three years – FY28 to FY31
  • USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) – five years – FY28 to FY33
  • USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) – five years – FY29 to FY34
  • USS Stout (DDG-55) – five years – FY29 to FY34
  • USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) – five years – FY29 to FY34
  • USS Laboon (DDG-58) – five years – FY30 to FY35
  • USS Paul Hamilton (DDG-60) – five years – FY30 to FY35
  • USS Stethem (DDG 63) – one year – FY30 to FY31
  • USS Carney (DDG-64) – one year – FY31 to FY32
  • USS Gonzalez (DDG-66) – five years – FY31 to FY36
  • USS Cole (DDG-67) – five years – FY31 to FY36
  • USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) – three years – FY32 to FY35

Burke Updates

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A few interesting pieces of news when it comes to everyone’s favorite current class of destroyers.

When it comes to contracts, two recent DoD announcements highlight the very real difference in cost between giving the early Flight I Burkes a service life extension to keep them in the fleet for at least 35 years (which includes baseline nine upgrades through the DDG Modernization program) and the much more extensive MOD 2.0 modernization of “middle-aged” Flight IIA Burkes which includes the new SPY-6 radar and hulking AN/SLQ-32(V)7 system.

Thus:

USS Pinckney (DDG 91) Arleigh Burke-class Flight IIA guided missile destroyer leaving San Diego after a two-year DDG MOD 2.0 upgrade with SEWIP Block 3 – November 7, 2023, via the San Diego Warship Cam

For reference, DDG 56 entered service in 1994– making her 30 years young– while DDG 97 came along in 2005.

Emphasis mine:

BAE Systems – San Diego Ship Repair, San Diego, California, is awarded a $177,821,136 firm-fixed-price, undefinitized contract modification to previously awarded undefinitized contract action N00024-24-C-4423 for the repair, maintenance, and modernization of the USS Halsey (DDG 97), a Chief of Naval Operations Fiscal 2024 Depot Modernization Period (DMP). The scope of this procurement includes all labor, supervision, facilities, equipment, production, testing, and quality assurance necessary to prepare for and accomplish the USS Halsey (DDG 97) Fiscal 2024 DMP. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $225,596,312. Work will be performed in San Diego, California, and is expected to be completed by April 2026. Fiscal 2024 other procurement, Navy funds in the amount of $82,826,616 (98.3%); fiscal 2024 operation and maintenance, Navy (OMN) funds in the amount of $1,409,569 (1.7%); and fiscal 2024 defense-wide procurement funds in the amount of $21,203(.03%), will be obligated at the time of award, of which $1,409,569 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured, but in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204 (a) (3) (Industrial Mobilization). Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-24-C-4423).

Vigor Marine LLC, Portland, Oregon, is awarded a $76,102,395 firm-fixed-price contract action for maintenance, modernization, and repair of USS John S McCain (DDG 56) Fiscal 2025 Docking Selected Restricted Availability. The scope of this acquisition includes all labor, supervision, equipment, production, testing, facilities, and quality assurance necessary to prepare for and accomplish the Chief of Naval Operations Availability for critical maintenance, modernization, and repair programs. This contract includes options that, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $84,194,754. Work will be performed in Portland, Oregon, and is expected to be completed by November 2025. Fiscal 2024 other procurement, Navy funds for $76,102,395. This contract was competitively procured using full and open competition via the System for Award (SAM) website, with two offers received. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N0002424C4407).

For those keeping track at home, the keel for the future USS William Charette (DDG 130), the 80th Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, was laid during a ceremony last week at General Dynamic Bath Iron Works (BIW). The fifth Flight III Burke, she is expected to be commissioned around 2029. The last Burke on the schedule, the future USS Michael G. Mullen (DDG 144) will be the 93rd of her class.

190318-N-DM308-001 WASHINGTON (March 18, 2019) An artist rendering of the future Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS William Charette (DDG 131). (U.S. Navy photo illustration/Released)

Meanwhile, money is flowing to bring the planned Burke replacement, DDG(X), online, scheduled to enter production in 2032 (don’t hold your breath):

Huntington Ingalls Inc., Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, Pascagoula, Mississippi, is awarded a cost-plus fixed fee not-to-exceed $10,601,959 undefinitized order to previously awarded contract (N00024-22-C-2319) for the computer aided design product lifecycle management proof of concept Phase Two in support of the DDG(X) Guided Missile Destroyer Design. Work will be performed in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is expected to be completed by February 2026. Funding in the amount of $7,951,469 was obligated at the time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The statutory authority for this sole source award is in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii) – only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-22-C-2319).

Indianapolis arriving, Delaware delivered, Finally Ford, McCain in play, and the Tulagi Shuffle

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Over the weekend in the freshwater Great Lakes harbor at Burns Harbor, Indiana, USS Indianapolis (LCS-17), the latest Freedom-class littoral combat ship, commissioned. She is the fourth such vessel, and second surface combatant, to carry the moniker. While I would personally have liked to see a cruiser, LHA, or destroyer carry the name due to the legacy of CA-58, the second Indianapolis, I am nonetheless happy to see the name on the Navy list once again. Indy is the 19th LCS to be commissioned and is expected to be assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two in Mayport. She is the fifth such Freedom assigned to LCSRON2.

USS Delaware

Elsewhere in U.S. Navy news last week, the latest Virginia-class attack submarine, PCU USS Delaware (SSN 791) was delivered to the Navy by Ingalls. Notably, when she is fully commissioned as the 7th Delaware, it will end a nearly century-long drought on the Navy List for that name which was last issued to Battleship No. 28 in 1909, a vessel that was broken up for scrap under the 1921 Washington Naval Treaty. SSN-791 is the 18th Virginia and last of the Block III boats.

USS Gerald R. Ford

Further, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) finally departed Newport News Shipbuilding and returned to sea for the first time since beginning their post-shakedown availability in July 2018 (!) to get back to the business of conducting sea trials, now well over a year since she was commissioned. Navy officials hope she will be ready for regular fleet service by 2024.

John S. McCain

Speaking of gone for a while, USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) is underway to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing. She has been sidelined for repairs and extensive, accelerated upgrades over the last two years, following a collision in August 2017.

“This whole crew is eager to get back to sea, and that’s evident in the efforts they’ve made over the last two years to bring the ship back to fighting shape, and the energy they’ve put into preparing themselves for the rigors of at-sea operations,” said CDR Ryan T. Easterday, John S. McCain‘s commanding officer. “I’m extremely proud of them as we return the ship to sea, and return to the operational fleet more ready than ever to support security and stability throughout the region.”

Tulagi?

And in South Pacific news, the planned 75-year lease on the entire island of Tulagi (Tulaghi) in the Solomon Islands looks like it is going to fall through. Well known to students of WWII, the Japanese occupied Tulagi in May 1942 in the days just before the Battle of the Coral Sea and was captured by the 1st Marine Raiders that August, forming an important PT-boat base during the Guadalcanal Campaign (JFK’s PT-109, part of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 2, operated from there.) They proved important in winning control of “The Slot” during that campaign. Likewise, if the Japanese had held Tulagi that summer, the whole operation would have been just that much harder to pull off.

Japanese Navy Type 1 land attack planes (Betty) make a torpedo attack on the Tulagi invasion force, 8 August 1942. The burning ship in the center distance is probably USS George F. Elliott (AP-13), which was hit by a crashing Japanese aircraft during this attack. U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph. Catalog #: NH 97766

As the crow flies, Tulagi could have been a strategic key to that part of the region as it is directly between Hawaii and Australia. This is especially true if you could pick up those keys for cheap on an extended multi-generational lease.

”I want to applaud the decision of the Solomon Islands attorney general to invalidate the Chinese effort to lease the island of Tulagi for 75 years,” said Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper. “This is an important decision to reinforce sovereignty, transparency, and the rule of law. Many nations in the Pacific have discovered far too late that Chinese use of economic and military levers to expand their influence often is detrimental to them and their people.”