Tag Archives: USS The Sullivans (DDG-68)

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

The Queen Waves Goodbye to her most Powerful Consort

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How’s this for a great photo-ex? Triple flattops.

HMS Queen Elizabeth, USS Carl Vinson, and JMSDF Izumo-class helicopter destroyer JS Kaga transiting in formation with an airborne flypast comprising (left to right): F-35B (617 Sqn), F-35C (VFA-147), F/A-18E Super Hornet (VFA-192), E/A-18G Growler (VAQ-136), E-2D Hawkeye (VAW-113), F/A-18F (VFA-2), F/A-18E (VFA-113), F-35C (VFA-147) and F-35B (USMC VMFA-211). In the background, the eagle-eyed will see pair of Sea Hawk helicopters.

One of the most unsung members of the UK Carrier Strike Group 21 (CSG21), formed for the inaugural deployment of the largest British aircraft carrier in history, has been the guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68). While a 24-year-old Flight I Burke, Sully’s Aegis suite and SM-2 missiles are still much more effective against high-end threats than the other two air-defense escorts of the task force, the Type 45 destroyers HMS Diamond (D34) and HMS Defender (D36)— which are reportedly plagued by “technical issues” as a class.

Sailing from her DESRON 28 homeport at Mayport on 19 April 2020, bound for the United Kingdom in order to join the British carrier strike group for deployment, Sully finally broke away from CSG21 on 20 October 2021, headed home after some 18 months on loan to the RN.

RN photo

“Thank you and fair winds,” noted First Sea Lord, ADM Tony Radakin.

Of course, and somewhat ironically, Sully is named for a five-pack of tough Irish-American brothers. Who better to escort the Queen?

The Sullivan brothers on board USS Juneau Joe, Frank, Al, Matt, and George. NH 52362

British, American, and Japanese flattops at play

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As part of Exercise Noble Union/Large Scale Global Exercise (LSGE), units of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, U.S. Navy’s America Expeditionary Strike Group (with the 31st MEU aboard), and the Royal Navy’s CSG21 task group have been operating together this week.

Notably, this put the 65,000-ton British carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), the 45,000-ton Lightning carrier/gator USS America (LHA-6), and the 19,000-ton Hyūga-class “helicopter destroyer” JS Ise (DDH-182) side-by-side.

Both HMSQE and America have F-35s on deck, while Ise is sticking with rotary-wing assets, although it is theorized that she and her sister Hyuga could someday operate the little 5th Gen fighter. (Royal Navy photo)

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Aron Montano, 210824-N-BG089-0596)

Of interest, RN FAA Merlin helicopters of 820 Naval Air Squadron cross-decked from HMSQE to America during the exercise, as did Marine F-35s of VMFA-211, a historic moment for each type and class.

RN Flattops Echo History in the Med

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Moving on to the second leg of the Royal Navy’s 28-week CSG21 deployment (which has already seen combat sorties), HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), along with her task force, on 6 July passed into the Suez Canal from the Med and into the Red Sea and firmly inside the Middle East on her way, eventually, to the Pacific.

“Flanked by the spectacular scenery of Egypt’s desert landscape, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her escorts and auxiliaries have passed through the Suez Canal, marking a new chapter in the operational deployment of the UK Carrier Strike Group,” photo/caption by RN. Note the American Aegis destroyer (The Sullivans) behind her.

With an airwing made up of RAF, RN, and USMC aviators flying a mix of 40 AEW, strike fighter (F-35B), and ASW/ASuW helicopters (Wildcats), the 65,000-ton carrier is escorted by the RN Type 23 ASW frigates HMS Richmond (F239) and HMS Kent (F78); Type 45 air defense destroyers HMS Defender (D36) and HMS Diamond (D34); Royal Fleet Auxiliaries RFA Fort Victoria and RFA Tidespring; the Burke-class destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68), the Dutch frigate HNLMS Evertsen (F805); and the (largely unseen) attack boat HMS Artful (S121).

As the task force has a company of 42 Royal Marine Commando spread out in dets across the various ships, you can bet eyeballs are peeled and magazines are loaded, if needed.

Royal Marines of 42 Commando have been on intensive training missions as part of their role on the Carrier Strike Group deployment (Photo/caption, RN)

Enter player #2 

On the same day as HMSQNLZ ran the Suez, 6 July, her sistership, HMS Prince of Wales (R09) entered Gibraltar with a rotary-wing group of Apache attack helicopters of the British Army’s 656 Squadron and Wildcats of 825 Naval Air Squadron (as the ship is still in shakedown and the Brits don’t have any “spare” F-35s currently)

HMS Prince of Wales, Gibraltar July 6, 2021

Still, this makes it the first time two British large-deck carriers (not Invincible-class through-deck destroyers/Harrier carriers) were in the Med in the same year– much less the same time– was circa 1970, when both of the operational 40,000-ton Audacious-class flattops of the Royal Navy– HMS Eagle (R05) and HMS Ark Royal (R09)— passed through the sea with active air wings. Alternatively, Ark Royal and the smaller 23,000-ton HMS Hermes (R12) were both in Gibraltar at the same time in 1970 immediately before Hermes was downgraded to a helicopter-only “Commando Carrier” (that would later carry Harriers in the Falklands) and still had an airwing that included a squadron each of Blackburn Buccaneer S.2s (801 NAS) and De Havilland Sea Vixen FAW.2s (893 NAS).

But the history of last week’s evolution by the Royal Navy goes further.

“Hello, Gibraltar!” noted Prince of Wales‘ social media feed on the occasion of sighting The Rock. “It’s been a fair few years since the name @HMSPWLS has graced your shores. We are looking forward to it.”

Indeed, the last HMS Prince of Wales, the famed King George V-class battleship that, although not fully complete, engaged in the epic Hunt for the Bismarck in May 1941, called at Gibraltar during WWII twice that same year, in September, as bookends of a series of convoys to Malta.

That makes it an almost 80-year gap, shy of just a couple months. 

King George V-class battleship HMS Prince of Wales (53) in Gibraltar, 1941.

The battleship, just over two months later, was famously lost to strikes from ground-based Japanese aircraft off the coast of Malaya as part of Force Z when she was sunk on 10 December 1941, two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Echos of USS Robin

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In November 1942, with the U.S. Navy down to just two fleet carriers in the Pacific– Saratoga and Enterprise— the Royal Navy helped out its ally with the loan of the Illustrious-class aircraft carrier HMS Victorious (R38).

Using the code name USS Robin, Victorious picked up American equipment and a very Yankee camo scheme in Norfolk in January 1943 and, with 36 Martlet IVs (British F4F-4B Wildcats) of 822, 896 and 898 NAS, and 12 Avenger TBF-1s of 832 NAS, she arrived at Pearl Harbor in March 1943 where she was fitted with heavier arrester wires for the big TBFs as well as more AAA guns.

By May, she formed Carrier Division 1 along with Saratoga and the next month, chopping her Avengers and 832 NAS over to Sara, welcomed aboard two dozen F4F-4 Wildcats from the Tomcatters of Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3) to provide air cover for U.S. landings in the Solomon Islands while Sara concentrated her efforts on strike.

HMS Victorious in 1943 as USS Robin. She has Wildcats of VF-3 from USS Saratoga on deck and an Atlanta-class lighter cruiser, either USS San Diego (CL-53) or San Juan (CL-54), on the outside of the tanker USS Cimmaron. Photo via Armoured Carriers. 

Victorious spent the next three months in the West Pac, operational with her joint Commonwealth-U.S. airwing, steamed some 23,000 miles and conducted 2,101 deck landings, many of which were done in combat. While VF-3 left the British carrier after that summer, and “Robin” returned to the Atlantic and Admiralty use by September 1943, it was an interesting page in carrier warfare that hasn’t been repeated…

…until this week.

F-35B fighter jets have flown their first operational sorties from the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), striking targets in Syria with aircraft provided by the joint RN FAA/RAF-manned 617 “Dambusters” Squadron and the “Wake Island Avengers” of the USMC’s VMFA-211.

Three F-35B Lightning, one of RAF 617 and two of VMFA-211, on the deck of HMSQE in the Med off Syria, June 2021 (MoD photo)

“The Lightning Force is once again in action against Daesh, this time flying from an aircraft carrier at sea, which marks the Royal Navy’s return to maritime strike operations for the first time since the Libya campaign a decade ago,” Captain James Blackmore, Commander of the Carrier Air Wing, noted.

“This is also notable as the first combat mission flown by US aircraft from a foreign carrier since HMS Victorious in the South Pacific in 1943. The level of integration between Royal Navy, Royal Air Force, and US Marine Corps is truly seamless, and testament to how close we’ve become since we first embarked together last October.”

 

A Look at the Biggest Royal Navy Deployment in at least 10 Years

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The Queen Elizabeth carrier task force is set to leave on its first operational deployment on Sunday, May 2nd.

HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) has spent the past 40 months in a series of workups, trials, and visits to the yard to correct issues and is ready to head out on an Indo-Pacific cruise on what has been termed “the UK’s largest deployment of sea and air power for a generation.”

Besides the 65,000-ton carrier, the task force will be protected by six escorts to include a Dutch frigate and the Burke-class destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) as well as an Astute-class SSN and two auxiliaries. Although she could theoretically carry as many as 40 aircraft, Queen Elizabeth will be carrying 18 F-35Bs (10 of which are from the USMC’s VMFA-211 “Wake Island Avengers” with the balance from the joint RN FAA/RAF-manned 617 Squadron), and, counting those of her escorts, 14 helicopters. Of note, this is the largest F-35 deployment for the type as a whole so far.

Marine Wake Island Avenger F-35B BuNo 169610 of the British Carrier Strike Group, with HMS Queen Elizabeth markings

The Joint British force stacks up nicely compared to a traditional American CSG, although with much fewer aircraft and more escorts.

However, it is impressive for the RN in the respect that the country retired their last flattop, the Harrier carrier HMS Illustrious (R06), in early 2014 and the final British GR9/A Harriers themselves were withdrawn in 2010 with the disbanding of the Naval Strike Wing. Even so, the Invincible-class “carriers” were actually designed in the 1970s as something of a through-deck destroyer with limited aviation capacity and rarely deployed with more than eight Harriers (with a few notable exceptions such as the Falklands.)

With that, Queen Elizabeth is really replacing the capability lost to the Admiralty when the 53,000-ton Audacious-class carrier HMS Ark Royal (R09) flew off the last of her 892 NAS McDonnell Douglas Phantom FG.1s in November 1978. For those wondering, Ark’s “warload” was two squadrons of Phantoms and one of Buccaneers at the time, which would put her with 36~ combat aircraft. 

Physical size comparison between HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08), of today, and the old HMS Ark Royal R09, on the right