Giant waste of money... boat edition.

[elysiantraveller]

Must be a slow day when CNN has this gigantic money pit on its front page. This is one that I agree with the anti-military spending peeps on.

USS Zumwalt (http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/14/tech/zumwalt-operations-center/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)

[cj's dad]

Maybe the USN should go back to the days of deck cannons and oars.

[Robert Goren]

The first of any new military plane, ship etc is always plagued by cost over runs, but the rest of them are generally pretty much in line with projected costs. The trick is to get them built before they are obsolete. I suppose we need a few of these things, but I have hard time seeing their usefulness in this age where our enemies are small bands of terrorists and drones do our fighting.

[cj's dad]

What the feds could do is stop building ships entirely. This would expedite the closing of the few remaining shipyards in the USA which are capable of new ship construction.

What do you expect to be built, ships made from 80's to 90's specs ?

[DJofSD]

I guessed wrongly. I thought the thread was going to be about Ellison's racing boats and the America's Cup.

[TJDave]

Dude, it's got a railgun.

Waay cool.

[elysiantraveller]

The problem isn't the cost overruns or the shipbuilding yards needing work. Ordering more Flight III Arleigh Burkes would solve the shipyards. The problem is the two things this boat was supposed to do ballistic missle defense and air defense it simply doesn't do all that well. Furthermore because of those deficiencies it can't operate independently essentially negating any value the stealth adds.

TJD nailed it with the railgun comment. This boat is built to mount railguns and the air defense laser battery. Both are weapon systems that if lucky are 8 years away from operational. The only thing it can do well is land force support because of the Advanced Gun System but that was never its intended purpose.

[elysiantraveller]

Dude, it's got a railgun.

Waay cool.

Not yet... but those are way cool.

[davew]

Some of the military innovations eventually make it for commercial use for every citizen.

That 'rail-gun' technology will be helpful in a few years with high speed rail and roller coasters...

[plainolebill]

I don't get the 'All the eggs in one basket' concept. These are ships that the Navy can't afford to lose - they cost too much, just like some of the planes being built. I guess they must think no one will ever attack them.

[newtothegame]

The problem isn't the cost overruns or the shipbuilding yards needing work. Ordering more Flight III Arleigh Burkes would solve the shipyards. The problem is the two things this boat was supposed to do ballistic missle defense and air defense it simply doesn't do all that well. Furthermore because of those deficiencies it can't operate independently essentially negating any value the stealth adds.

TJD nailed it with the railgun comment. This boat is built to mount railguns and the air defense laser battery. Both are weapon systems that if lucky are 8 years away from operational. The only thing it can do well is land force support because of the Advanced Gun System but that was never its intended purpose.

B.S. .......not even remotely close on that time frame Elysian. You may wish to revisit that time frame. Not sure where you got that info but I "believe" it to be way off. You might want to think around 1/8th of the time frame you mentioned. And I know someone will come on here and say to prove it...(meaning the 1/8th time frame). I have to prove nothing...I can only say that I know 8 years is way past the information I know to be true.

For example,
Look at this article from the department of the navy that is PUBLIC information. And, if anything is known about the military, by the time the public gets the info, its usually already outdated.....

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=80055

"The U.S. Navy plans to install and test a prototype electromagnetic railgun aboard a joint high speed vessel in fiscal year 2016, the service announced today".

Yeah, I know it says prototype but the work in progress already works.

[elysiantraveller]

B.S. .......not even remotely close on that time frame Elysian. You may wish to revisit that time frame. Not sure where you got that info but I "believe" it to be way off. You might want to think around 1/8th of the time frame you mentioned. And I know someone will come on here and say to prove it...(meaning the 1/8th time frame). I have to prove nothing...I can only say that I know 8 years is way past the information I know to be true.

For example,
Look at this article from the department of the navy that is PUBLIC information. And, if anything is known about the military, by the time the public gets the info, its usually already outdated.....

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=80055

"The U.S. Navy plans to install and test a prototype electromagnetic railgun aboard a joint high speed vessel in fiscal year 2016, the service announced today".

Yeah, I know it says prototype but the work in progress already works.

That actually fits quite well with the 8 years dude. 2 years until a prototype, 2 more of testing, then another 2 of redeveloping and awarding a contract, then 2 more years until the ship thats ready to mount it steams out to sea.

Hell, the boat in the OP is still two years away from joining the fleet in any forward action.

[newtothegame]

That actually fits quite well with the 8 years dude. 2 years until a prototype, 2 more of testing, then another 2 of redeveloping and awarding a contract, then 2 more years until the ship thats ready to mount it steams out to sea.

Hell, the boat in the OP is still two years away from joining the fleet in any forward action.
I understand where you're coming from Ely, I just know that my time in the Navy was just as I explained. We would have things that the public was not even aware of at the time.

In the case of the Rail Gun, I stay in contact with a master chief, who works semi close to the program and even he laughs when I mentioned the 8 yr time frame.

But either way, its an awesome technology.......