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…Dr Jerry Hendrix and Bryan McGrath join us to discuss the Navy’s 45-day ship review and what to look for at next week’s Sea Air and Space Symposium in National Harbor Maryland.
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This Week’s Naval Round Up:
The US Navy began rolling out the results of what it called a 45-Day Shipbuilding Review on April 2. Ordered by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, the review – full details of which remain to be released – validated earlier reports of continuing or increased delays to a number of key programs, including the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine, Virginia-class attack submarines, the ENTERPRISE CVN-80, the Constellation-class frigate, and the next T-AGOS Ocean Surveillance Ships. Delays to the frigate have now reached 36 months, or three years behind the original delivery date of 2026. The service cited a variety of problems leading to the delays, including design maturity, supply chain issues, and work force issues. While the programs just named were cited for particular concern, several programs were judged as stable and tracking to program manager schedule estimates, including Bougainville-class assault ships, San Antonio-class amphibious ships, John Lewis-class fleet oilers, and Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
The USS BOXER Amphibious Ready Group has finally deployed after weeks of delays forces the unit’s three ships to leave the US West Coast at widely separate times. Amphibious ship SOMERSET left in January to begin the ARG’s deployment with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. HARPERS FERRY got underway March 19 to begin the deployment, having been delayed by several maintenance issues. And BOXER herself left San Diego April 1 to catch up to the other two ships, delayed by numerous mechanical and certification issues. The 15th MEU is the first Marine unit to deploy with the Amphibious Combat Vehicle, or ACV, successor to the long-serving AAV Assault Amphibious Vehicle. Toward the end of the deployment the ACVs will be dropped off in Okinawa to join the Japan-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The 15th MEU’s MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft were left behind in California, still undergoing a reactivation program after a three-month grounding earlier this year, since lifted.
Houthi missile and unmanned vehicle attacks continued in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden region but without causing significant damage. US forces destroyed several Houthi unmanned aerial systems in the air and on the ground, US Central Command said, along with anti-ship ballistic missiles and at least one unmanned surface vessel. The destroyer USS GRAVELY engaged and destroyed an inbound anti-ship ballistic missile on April 3 headed, CENTCOM said, for the ship.
Denmark fired its top military officer April 4 in the aftermath of a power failure in March aboard the frigate IVER HUITFELDT in the Red Sea – around the time the frigate engaged and destroyed 4 Houthi unmanned aircraft using ESSM Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles. General Fleming Lentfer apparently failed to report to the government that the frigate’s radar and missile systems were offline for about 30 minutes during the drone attack. The IVER HUITFELDT returned April 4 as scheduled to her base in Denmark after a deployment of just over two months to support US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian. Despite the systems failure, the engagement seems to have been the first using the US-built ESSM, a lower-cost defensive missile than the Standard SM-2 missiles used against the unmanned aircraft by US destroyers.
