Posted on Aug 4, 2023
Navy to keep four aging destroyers beyond their service lives
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There is life after 35 years of service, at least for four Arleigh Burke-class destroyers newly slated for overhauls that will extend their service lives and keep hulls in the fleet.
“These service life extensions demonstrate the Navy’s commitment to ensuring the surface fleet has the right capability and capacity,” Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, the director of the Surface Warfare Division, said in a Navy press release Thursday. “These extensions align to Secretary of the Navy [Carlos] Del Toro’s commitment to Congress during the FY-24 posture hearings to analyze service life on a hull-by-hull basis and extend the correct ships in order to be good stewards of resources invested in the U.S. Navy by the American people.”
Five-year extensions for the USS Ramage and Benfold will allow them to operate to 2035 and 2036, respectively. The USS Mitscher and Milius will get four-year extensions, keeping them in service until 2034 and 2035, respectively. The latter two have shorter extensions because they would need a year-long overhaul if they went another year, Pyle said in the statement.
“These service life extensions demonstrate the Navy’s commitment to ensuring the surface fleet has the right capability and capacity,” Rear Adm. Fred Pyle, the director of the Surface Warfare Division, said in a Navy press release Thursday. “These extensions align to Secretary of the Navy [Carlos] Del Toro’s commitment to Congress during the FY-24 posture hearings to analyze service life on a hull-by-hull basis and extend the correct ships in order to be good stewards of resources invested in the U.S. Navy by the American people.”
Five-year extensions for the USS Ramage and Benfold will allow them to operate to 2035 and 2036, respectively. The USS Mitscher and Milius will get four-year extensions, keeping them in service until 2034 and 2035, respectively. The latter two have shorter extensions because they would need a year-long overhaul if they went another year, Pyle said in the statement.
Navy to keep four aging destroyers beyond their service lives
Posted from defenseone.com
Congress
Budget
Posted 9 mo ago
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We have to keep a lot of aging equipment, we have nothing to replace them with.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."The extensions help keep more ships in the fleet, which is projected to shrink in the late 2030s unless the Navy receives major increases in funding to buy and maintain ships. Though the Navy has a stated goal of at least 355 ships, it currently has 299. And just one of the three options presented in its most recent 30-year shipbuilding plan gives the Navy more than 355 ships, starting in 2042, and it requires the most money.
Clark said this extension may signal that destroyers are going to be kept in service longer as the military prepares for more competition in the not too distant future.
“Notably, this extension will mean potentially all DDG-51s will serve until the 2030s, and many military leaders expect a conflict with China to occur (if it happens) during late 2020s or early 2030s. After that, China may have internal challenges that would make it less able to start a major war with the US and its allies,” he said."
..."The extensions help keep more ships in the fleet, which is projected to shrink in the late 2030s unless the Navy receives major increases in funding to buy and maintain ships. Though the Navy has a stated goal of at least 355 ships, it currently has 299. And just one of the three options presented in its most recent 30-year shipbuilding plan gives the Navy more than 355 ships, starting in 2042, and it requires the most money.
Clark said this extension may signal that destroyers are going to be kept in service longer as the military prepares for more competition in the not too distant future.
“Notably, this extension will mean potentially all DDG-51s will serve until the 2030s, and many military leaders expect a conflict with China to occur (if it happens) during late 2020s or early 2030s. After that, China may have internal challenges that would make it less able to start a major war with the US and its allies,” he said."
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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