Samee Ulhaq
FULL MEMBER
New Recruit
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2013
- Messages
- 81
- Reaction score
- 0
- Country
- Location
What Would Trump's 350-Ship Navy Look Like?
More of the same, but that's not a bad thing..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of a 350-ship U.S. Navy. While some of Trump's campaign promises are unlikely to come to fruition, there's widespread support for increasing the ship size of the Navy. But what would a bigger Navy look like?
First, some context. The U.S. Navy current sits at 273 battle force ships. During the campaign, Trump's web site claimed that the Navy is "among the smallest it has been since World War I." Although technically true, it's a misleading comparison that simply counts ship hulls—no matter how big or small they are.
Currently, the Navy's major warships include 10 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, 10 big deck amphibious assault ships, 22 cruisers, 76 destroyers, and 52 attack submarines. That's nine more carriers than the next country. Only one other country—Russia—operates cruisers, and the Navy has the largest, most modern collection of destroyers and attack submarines in existence. The U.S. Navy is probably more powerful than the next four or five navies combined.
If the Navy grows, what ships will be a priority? Trump can set an agenda for four years, and possibly eight, so if he wants to start growing the Navy right away he can't build new ships that currently exist only on paper—modern warships can take a better part of a decade to develop. Instead, the Navy will build more of what it is already building. Fortunately, that's not a bad thing.
---------------
AIRCRAFT CARRIERS
The U.S. Navy currently fields 10 aircraft carriers, a number that will increase to 11 when the USS Gerald R. Ford enters service. (Exactly when that is, nobody knows.) Another two carriers would be useful, relieving the strain on existing ships that often push deployments past six months. Each carrier would carry a mixture of Super Hornet and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets, E-2D Hawkeye Airborne Early Warning airplanes, and various support aircraft and helicopters.
How much would the carriers cost? The USS John F. Kennedy, the second Ford-class carrier currently under construction, is projected to cost $11.35 billion. Fifty-four Super Hornets, Joint Strike Fighters, and Growlers would cost approximately $5.4 billion dollars, and the rest of the aircraft on the ship probably brings the cost of the air wing up to $6.5 billion. Total cost for the ship and planes: $17.85 billion.
But the aircraft carrier itself is only part of the package. A full carrier strike group also includes one Ticonderoga-class cruiser, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, a nuclear attack submarine, and a replenishment ship for carrying fuel and ammunition. Ticonderoga-class cruisers aren't built anymore, so we'll settle for three destroyers at $1.65 billion each. A Virginia-class submarine purchased as part of a bulk buy would probably cost $1.8 billion. And a Supply-class replenishment ship would cost, in today's dollars, $541 million dollars.
Total cost for two carrier battle groups (12 ships): $50 billion.
SUBMARINES
The U.S. Navy's submarine fleet has been underfunded for some time. The current fleet of 52 attack submarines, composed of a mixture of older Los Angeles, newer Seawolf class, and brand-new Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines should probably go up to 70 ships.
In 2014, the U.S. Navy awarded contracts to shipbuilders General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls amounting to $17.6 billion for ten Virginia class submarines. That's a fantastic deal, which adjusted for inflation is still only $1.8 billion each. We're already buying two Virginias to operate as part of the new carrier battle groups, so we'd need 16 more attack subs to hit the 70 mark.
Total cost for 16 Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines: $28.8 billion.
AMPHIBIOUS SHIPS
The U.S. Navy currently has a fleet of 31 amphibious ships to support the U.S. Marine Corps at sea. The Navy and Marines agree that a 38-ship amphibious force would be ideal, but the money isn't there. If it was, we could buy two more America-class amphibious assault ships for $6.8 billion, and five more San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks for $10 billion. Assuming those ships can form two expeditionary strike groups filled with Marines, those ships will need protection. Let's buy another three Burke-class destroyers for each group, so six ships for $9.9 billion.
Total cost for approximately two expeditionary strike groups (13 ships): $26.7 billion.
FRIGATES
The U.S. Navy's experiment with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) concept has been just that—an experiment that hasn't yielded a fully operational ship. Despite billions spent and six ships in service, none of them are armed and equipped to original expectations. "Mission modules" that could quickly change a ship's mission from anti-surface to anti-mine, anti-submarine, and irregular and amphibious warfare with easy have all spent a decade or more in development with not a single one ready for action.
The Navy is planning on buying an up-gunned version of the LCS and calling it a frigate, and here's where we'll buy the remainder of the 350 ship fleet. We'll purchase 38 frigates to do the low-end of Navy work—chasing pirates, patrolling the littorals such as the South China Sea, and conducting presence missions in low priority areas such as South and Central America. The new frigate will have missile silos for Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles and Naval Strike Missiles, and a larger 76-millimeter gun. All of the ships will carry a MH-60S helicopter, but half will be optimized for anti-submarine warfare and half will be optimized for minesweeping.
Currently littoral combat ships cost $450 million each, but that's with only a single 57-millimeter gun. Adding the rest of the equipment, such as the new gun, missiles and helicopters, will probably add another $100 million per ship.
Total cost for 36 frigates: $19.8 billion.
OUR 350-SHIP NAVY
It has two more carrier battle groups full of fighters, two more expeditionary strike groups carrying a total of 4,000 Marines, 18 nuclear attack submarines, and nearly three dozen frigates. It covers the full spectrum of operations, from all-out war to low intensity conflict. Total cost for this naval buildup: $126.4 billion dollars, or slightly more than one-fifth of the annual defense budget.
Is there a way we could do some cost-cutting (something we know Donald Trump loves to do)? We could just buy 77 frigates for $42.3 billion dollars, but that doesn't buy us much capability against larger navies like China or Russia's. Nor could we conduct long range operations the way carriers and amphibious assault ships can, put a meaningful number of Marine Corps boots on the ground, or have nearly the stealthy ship-killing potential of Virginia-class subs. All that capability costs money.
Now Trump just needs to figure out how to pay for it.
