The Day On The Future Of Submarines
The New London Day has a series of articles on the future of the Submarine Force in the Sunday paper -- read it today, though, because you'll have to register to see them tomorrow. The articles include a case for Force growth, an overview of current threats, a discussion of EB's role, a call for submariners to be "louder", and one saying that subs are worth the money it costs to build them. The one I found most interesting on first reading was this one discussing the future Force numbers for various construction scenarios, including this excerpt:
The Navy projects that the SSN force will drop below 48 boats, a level the Navy has identified as necessary, in 2020 and remain below that number through 2033, a period of 14 years. In 2028 and 2029, when the force is projected to bottom out at 40 boats, it will be lacking one boat out of every six that the Navy has stated are required. The bottom will occur just as the Navy's four converted Trident cruise missile submarines (SSGNs) are scheduled to leave service, so the SSGNs will not be available to compensate for the reduced number of SSNs when the force bottoms out, and in the years after that.I'll look over the articles again when I'm more awake and see what other interesting tidbits they might have; of course, you're invited to bring up any salient points in the comments.
Bell-ringer 0627 25 Sep: SonarMan has more over at his place.
posted by Bubblehead at 6:40 AM
2 Comments:
My reaction? Ehh. Some interesting glossed-over points, at least one counterfactual statement from a senior captain, a lot of the same stuff we've heard before, and several calls to go read "Blind Man's Bluff".
The Day is certainly in the submariner's corner--or EB's, anyway. But this ain't a-gonna convince someone trying to spend more money on, say, SOF.
Ron O'Rourke's consistent, and brings up the good point that build rate equals small force structure. That said, how many ships total got built and struck last year?
Doesn't look good for the home team unless the arguments change somehow.
9/24/2006 7:30 PM
I posted in depth about those articles, sort of. Yes, they were 8X10 glossies for the Submarine Force and EB, but this is our regions bread and butter. The best article of them all is the one about getting more publicity for the submarine force. Then and only then will they start getting the funding it needs to be effective. You gotta advertise your product. If the submarine force doesn't learn how to do that better, it's going to become the Edsel of the military.
9/24/2006 9:11 PM
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