Welcome to the CavasShips Podcast with Christopher P. Cavas and Chris Servello…a weekly podcast looking at naval and maritime events and issues of the day – in the US, across the seas and around the world. This week…It was a big week for the US Navy and Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipbuilding as the first steel was cut for the first ship of the new Constellation-class frigates. We’ll talk with Mark Vandroff, CEO of Fincantieri Marinette Marine, about the new ships and about how his shipyard is adapting to build the first new class of warships in twenty years.
Please send us feedback by DM’ing @CavasShips or @CSSProvision or you can email chriscavas@gmail.com or cservello@defaeroreport.com.
This Week’s Naval Round Up:
The British Royal Navy is scrambling to deal with the fallout and embarrassment after HMS PRINCE OF WALES, the second of the Britain’s new aircraft carriers, suffered a serious mechanical failure less than an hour after clearing Portsmouth harbour on August 27 to begin a multi-month mission to the United States. After several days anchored in sheltered waters the problem was traced to couplings on the ship’s starboard propeller shaft – a situation the First Sea Lord described as “unprecedented.” The ship’s deployment to the States has been canceled and sistership HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH is making hasty preparations to carry out much of the planned testing schedule, although it will be an abbreviated version as specialized equipment carried by PRINCE OF WALES for F-35B Joint Strike Fighter operations is not onboard QUEEN LIZ. Repairs to PRINCE OF WALES will require the ship to be drydocked, probably at the BAE Systems facility in Rosyth. The carrier is expected to be out of action for some time.
On a happier note for the Royal Navy, the attack submarine HMS ANSON was commissioned Aug. 31 at BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow-on-Furness. ANSON is the fifth Astute-class submarine. Her completion was seriously delayed by complications with the fourth ship, AUDACIOUS, and by the pandemic. Two more Astutes are under construction – AGAMEMNON and AGINCOURT. Along with the US Virginia class, the Astutes are one of the two nuclear-powered submarine designs being considered for the Australian Navy.
The US cruisers ANTIETAM and CHANCELLORSVILLE made a transit of the Taiwan Strait August 28 as tensions in the region continued at a high level. The US Navy has been making roughly once-a-month passages of the Strait since 2018, but this was the first time two cruisers together made the transit. Very unusually, the US released several images showing the US cruisers accompanied by a Taiwanese frigate and missile corvette, all shadowed by at least two Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy destroyers. China as usual protested the move, but in a rather subdued fashion compared to previous protests.
The US Navy hospital ship MERCY called at Honiara, Guadalcanal on August 29 and was welcomed by Solomon Islands prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, who explained that the requested visits of the US Coast Guard cutter OLIVER HENRY and British patrol ship HMS SPEY were not turned down, as was widely reported, but that administrative issues delayed approvals. Sogavare asked that foreign nations put on hold future naval visits until a new administrative process is put in place. The issue has garnered widespread attention as the Solomons in May signed a security agreement with China that many view could be influencing naval and military visits to the islands.
In the Persian Gulf the US Navy foiled an attempt by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards ship to seize an unmanned American surface vessel. Late on August 29 the Iranian ship SHAHID BAZIAR was observed towing a Saildrone Explorer USV of a type being operated by the US Navy’s Task Force 59. The nearby patrol ship USS THUNDERBOLT quickly was on the scene as was a MH-60S helicopter from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 26, and after about four hours the Iranians cut loose the Saildrone as the US units closed in.
The newly-deployed aircraft carrier USS GEORGE H W BUSH joined with the USS HARRY S TRUMAN August 28 to mark the first time in many years that two US aircraft carriers have operated together in the Mediterranean Sea. BUSH is relieving the TRUMAN, who since deploying in early December spent all her time in the Mediterranean in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
And in Old Ship news, the venerable battleship TEXAS, launched in 1912, was moved under tow on August 31 from her long-time berth near the San Jacinto Monument to Galveston where the ship immediately entered a drydock at Gulf Copper & Manufacturing. The ship is beginning a $35 million repair and restoration period expected to last about two years. No announcement has yet been made on where the TEXAS will be berthed when the refit is completed.
Servello Squawk:
The Constellation class frigate has to be a success…delays, overruns and hiccups that have plagued new class construction have to be a thing of the past. This platform, the follow-on large surface combatant and the planned family of uncrewed platforms could very well be the difference between war and peace…winning and losing in the South China Sea.
The industry team lead by Fincantieri needs to do everything it can to deliver the ship on cost and schedule. The Navy needs to commit to the design, limit changes and quickly work to identify a second yard for production.
If you believe that we are in an era of great power competition, then our shipbuilding and program management must be emblematic of a great power. This program is our chance to demonstrate our skill, professionalism and technical acumen to the rest of the world.
This is not just another shipbuilding program…it is a visible and tangible sign to friends and foes that we are serious about competing on the high seas. That competition begins with how we bring vessels to the fleet— delays, overruns and hiccups are not an option.
