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…we sat down in the Pentagon’s E-Ring this week with the US Navy’s top money official, Russell Rumbaugh, director of financial management and comptroller, who talked in detail about managing the Navy’s $258 billion budget, how spending priorities are debated and decided – and also about his views on the nation’s shipyards. It’s an extended interview you won’t want to miss.
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:
Thirty US Marines and Navy sailors were injured May 1 during what the US Navy said was an “incident” involving two LCAC landing craft air cushion vehicles off the North Florida coast. The LCACs were from the amphibious ships WASP and NEW YORK, who are carrying out pre-deployment exercises with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. A Navy statement said there were 18 Sailors and 30 Marines aboard the two LCACs. Of those injured, five were medevaced to a hospital in Savannah, Georgia. Few details have yet to emerge about the accident, which was not announced for at least 20 hours after the event.
Repairs to the assault ship USS BOXER’s rudder will be undertaken pierside at San Diego, the US Pacific Fleet determined on April 29 and USNI News reported the following day. It had been hoped to examine and repair the ship in drydock, but none are available nearby that can service the 41,000-ton ship. BOXER deployed from San Diego on April 1 – more than two months late – with elements of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, but returned to port on April 10 after issues developed with one of the ship’s two rudders. The issue is centered on the ship’s starboard rudder and roller bearing system, the Navy said, while Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti told Congress May 1 the repairs are expected to take four to six weeks. After that, the CNO said, the ship would quote, continue her deployment. Meanwhile, the other two ships of BOXER Amphibious Ready Group, SOMERSET and HARPERS FERRY, carrying the 15th MEU, took part in Exercise Balikatan in the Philippines.
The new Chinese aircraft carrier FUJIAN got underway from Jiangnan Shipyard near Shanghai May 1 to begin an initial round of sea trials. The trials for the ship, launched in June 2022, will primarily test the reliability and stability of the ship’s propulsion and electrical systems, Chinese media said. It’s expected this is the first of several rounds of sea trials for the first-of-class FUJIAN, which is considerably different from China’s two earlier aircraft carriers.
Salvage crews in Baltimore, Maryland on May 2 began removing large pieces of the fallen Francis Scott Key Bridge from the containership DALI. More than 182 shipping containers were removed from the ship to help clear the way for major debris removal. The DALI struck the bridge early March 26, causing most of the bridge’s truss structure to collapse. Meanwhile, enough debris has been cleared from the harbor bottom to allow most large merchant ships who were at the port when the collapse occurred to pass through. Damage to the DALI continues to be assessed before the 95,000-gross-registered-ton ship can be moved.
In new ship news, the fifth America-class amphibious assault ship, LHA 10, will be named HELMAND PROVINCE, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro announced May 2. The name, Del Toro said, “recognizes the bravery and sacrifice of our Marines and Sailors who fought for almost 20 years in the mountains of Afghanistan.” HELMAND PROVINCE, like all other big-deck amphibious assault ships, will be built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The US Coast Guard medium-endurance cutter CONFIDENCE, WMEC 619, on May 2 was placed In Commission, Special, thus ending a 58-year active service life. The 210-foot, Active-class cutter was built at the Coast Guard’s Yard in Curtis Bay, Maryland and, when it entered service in 1966, was expected to serve only 30 years. Since 1988, CONFIDENCE had been based at Port Canaveral, Florida.
And on April 26, the 110-foot cutter ANACAPA, WPB 1335, was decommissioned in a ceremony at Port Angeles, Washington. ANACAPA had been commissioned in 1990, when it was expected to serve only about 12 to 15 years, rather than the 34 years it actually was in service.
