Class of Navy Destroyers Sails Into Record Books

[John Picard]

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are bad-ass.

BATH, Maine — Cruising through the darkness in rough seas, the USS Ross encountered a rogue wave that smashed into the destroyer's bow, sending a shudder along the entire ship that knocked sleeping crew out of their bunks and damaged the sonar housing.
As alarms sounded, sleepy sailors scrambled to shore up the leak.
"We cracked the hull and kept on going like it was nothing," retired sailor Jonathan Staeblein, of Hagerstown, Md., recalled. In fact, the 510-foot destroyer was never out of service for repairs during any deployment in the three years he served aboard as an electronic warfare technician.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers such as the USS Ross and USS Cole, which survived a terrorist suicide bombing in Yemen, have proven to be durable workhorses in the U.S. Navy.

At Bath Iron Works, along the banks of the Kennebec River, there are three of the ships in various stages of production
"They're fast and they move. And they're a lot of fun to drive," said Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Brooks, executive officer of USS Wayne E. Meyer, a Bath-built destroyer commissioned in October.
Retired Rear Adm. Michael K. Mahon, the Navy's former deputy director of surface warfare, said the ships run no risk of being outdated any time soon.
"It's the envy of the world," said Mahon. "Every surface warship officer in every navy in the world would love to command an Arleigh Burke."
The original warship was under development at the height of the Cold War, when Bath Iron Works was abuzz with shipbuilders pounding, grinding, welding, plumbing and wiring ships at a furious pace to meet President Ronald Reagan's audacious goal of a 600-ship Navy. Shipbuilders toiled long hours working elbow-to-elbow in a haze created by welders inside steel hull segments that were sweltering in the summer and cold in the winter.
The number of Bath shipbuilders peaked at 12,000 by the time the USS Arleigh Burke was commissioned on July 4, 1991.
Some Bath shipbuilders have spent virtually their entire careers doing nothing by making Arleigh Burke destroyers.
Gil Rines, a welder, joined Bath Iron Works as construction was beginning on the first ship. Since then, he has raised two children and become a grandfather. The shipyard changed hands and is now owned by General Dynamics. The number of shipbuilders has dropped to 5,500.

The Navy originally envisioned building 29 of the ships, but has since extended the line to 62 ships through 2011. With the continued production, there will be at least three more, keeping shipbuilders in Maine and Mississippi busy while the Navy decides whether to build more Burkes, or to build something else.
The Navy's decision is partly budget-driven. Burkes are less costly to build than the next-generation stealth destroyer, which the Navy and defense contractors spent 10 years designing.
Burkes currently cost about $1.2 billion apiece; the stealthy, and much larger, DDG-1000 Zumwalt will cost more than double that. In the end, the Navy decided to truncate production to just three Zumwalts.

 

[Marc]

how much of that cost to build the DDG-1000's is due to advance materials and technologies and how much is some-one looking for ROI?

 

[Amaris]

Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are bad-ass.

BATH, Maine — Cruising through the darkness in rough seas, the USS Ross encountered a rogue wave that smashed into the destroyer's bow, sending a shudder along the entire ship that knocked sleeping crew out of their bunks and damaged the sonar housing.
As alarms sounded, sleepy sailors scrambled to shore up the leak.
"We cracked the hull and kept on going like it was nothing," retired sailor Jonathan Staeblein, of Hagerstown, Md., recalled. In fact, the 510-foot destroyer was never out of service for repairs during any deployment in the three years he served aboard as an electronic warfare technician.
Arleigh Burke-class destroyers such as the USS Ross and USS Cole, which survived a terrorist suicide bombing in Yemen, have proven to be durable workhorses in the U.S. Navy.

At Bath Iron Works, along the banks of the Kennebec River, there are three of the ships in various stages of production
"They're fast and they move. And they're a lot of fun to drive," said Lt. Cmdr. Robert J. Brooks, executive officer of USS Wayne E. Meyer, a Bath-built destroyer commissioned in October.
Retired Rear Adm. Michael K. Mahon, the Navy's former deputy director of surface warfare, said the ships run no risk of being outdated any time soon.
"It's the envy of the world," said Mahon. "Every surface warship officer in every navy in the world would love to command an Arleigh Burke."
The original warship was under development at the height of the Cold War, when Bath Iron Works was abuzz with shipbuilders pounding, grinding, welding, plumbing and wiring ships at a furious pace to meet President Ronald Reagan's audacious goal of a 600-ship Navy. Shipbuilders toiled long hours working elbow-to-elbow in a haze created by welders inside steel hull segments that were sweltering in the summer and cold in the winter.
The number of Bath shipbuilders peaked at 12,000 by the time the USS Arleigh Burke was commissioned on July 4, 1991.
Some Bath shipbuilders have spent virtually their entire careers doing nothing by making Arleigh Burke destroyers.
Gil Rines, a welder, joined Bath Iron Works as construction was beginning on the first ship. Since then, he has raised two children and become a grandfather. The shipyard changed hands and is now owned by General Dynamics. The number of shipbuilders has dropped to 5,500.

The Navy originally envisioned building 29 of the ships, but has since extended the line to 62 ships through 2011. With the continued production, there will be at least three more, keeping shipbuilders in Maine and Mississippi busy while the Navy decides whether to build more Burkes, or to build something else.
The Navy's decision is partly budget-driven. Burkes are less costly to build than the next-generation stealth destroyer, which the Navy and defense contractors spent 10 years designing.
Burkes currently cost about $1.2 billion apiece; the stealthy, and much larger, DDG-1000 Zumwalt will cost more than double that. In the end, the Navy decided to truncate production to just three Zumwalts.

The Arleigh-Burke class is just badass. I like the Zumwalt class, but why change a good thing at the moment? I'm glad they're building more of the ABs instead of new Zumwalts which will cost even more and haven't yet proven their durability.

J.

 

[Scout101]

Yep, they are good ships, it was a good design. I worked at BIW for a while, btw, so got to wander the decks of several of them, and have been out on trials a couple times

 

[Alpha_Geek]

Robau would say these guys show promise:


[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvBDx5Si49U[/yt]

 

[John Picard]

Robau would say these guys show promise:

They rendered the battleship obsolete. Something some people here, on this forum, can't seem to comprehend.

 

[Scout101]

It's just a fanboy thing. They want the biggest, slowest thing possible, so well armed that it can't even move. They're not even fighting the last war, they're several wars behind that. That sort of weapon just doesn't fit in the modern military...

Instead of the DDG-1000s, suspect we're going to see a LOT of the new ship design, of which the Freedom and Independence are the lead ships. (Navy will pick one of them as the overall design, as they are both different). Cheaper, extremely light, MUCH faster with way better performance. Battleships slugging it out is over, small, fast, responsive ships like this are the future, as they can be deployed more places, and operate far closer in to shore. These things will do 60+ MPH while creating no wake, cutting through waves, and can basically stop in their own length. Pretty impressive...

 

[Data Holmes]

It's just a fanboy thing. They want the biggest, slowest thing possible, so well armed that it can't even move. They're not even fighting the last war, they're several wars behind that. That sort of weapon just doesn't fit in the modern military...

Instead of the DDG-1000s, suspect we're going to see a LOT of the new ship design, of which the Freedom and Independence are the lead ships. (Navy will pick one of them as the overall design, as they are both different). Cheaper, extremely light, MUCH faster with way better performance. Battleships slugging it out is over, small, fast, responsive ships like this are the future, as they can be deployed more places, and operate far closer in to shore. These things will do 60+ MPH while creating no wake, cutting through waves, and can basically stop in their own length. Pretty impressive...

I think that the Zumwalt class is DOA at this point. We may see some of the tech developed for it incorporated into the new CGx, but I think that the Arleigh Burke's will be the main DDG's for the near to mid future.

 

[John Picard]

It's just a fanboy thing. They want the biggest, slowest thing possible, so well armed that it can't even move. They're not even fighting the last war, they're several wars behind that. That sort of weapon just doesn't fit in the modern military...

Instead of the DDG-1000s, suspect we're going to see a LOT of the new ship design, of which the Freedom and Independence are the lead ships. (Navy will pick one of them as the overall design, as they are both different). Cheaper, extremely light, MUCH faster with way better performance. Battleships slugging it out is over, small, fast, responsive ships like this are the future, as they can be deployed more places, and operate far closer in to shore. These things will do 60+ MPH while creating no wake, cutting through waves, and can basically stop in their own length. Pretty impressive...

I think that the Zumwalt class is DOA at this point. We may see some of the tech developed for it incorporated into the new CGx, but I think that the Arleigh Burke's will be the main DDG's for the near to mid future.

I started another thread here, a while back, that detailed why the Zumwalt class is limited to three ships. I have also argued that I believe the days of the aircraft carrier, specifically the Super Carrier, are numbered.

Also, I've seen an Iowa Class battleship steaming at 25 knots. Sorry, but those fat bastards aren't slow by any stretch of the imagination They're only good for offshore bombardment from 25 miles away. Not good for hitting a deep, inland target.

 

[Scout101]

When the LCS ships (independence and freedom) do 50+ knots (that they will admit to), 25 knots IS slow

As for cost of the Zumwalt, yeah, got expensive. Partly because of changing specs, partly because it's a new line. The DDG-51 class is cheap because they've built a ton of them. If they kept building the DDG1000, it would have fallen in price as they could order in bulk, get more experience building faster, etc. Became political, so beside the point now. They'll likely just try to incorporate some of the new tech into a new 'flight' of the DDG-51 class, and compromise that way, as that design has been proven and everyone is happy with it.

 

[John Picard]

When the LCS ships (independence and freedom) do 50+ knots (that they will admit to), 25 knots IS slow

As for cost of the Zumwalt, yeah, got expensive. Partly because of changing specs, partly because it's a new line. The DDG-51 class is cheap because they've built a ton of them. If they kept building the DDG1000, it would have fallen in price as they could order in bulk, get more experience building faster, etc. Became political, so beside the point now. They'll likely just try to incorporate some of the new tech into a new 'flight' of the DDG-51 class, and compromise that way, as that design has been proven and everyone is happy with it.

I understand your point, but that isn't *always* true that the more ordered that the price will drop. The DDG 10000 has brought some interesting concepts to life, and I envy tomorrow's sailors, who will be operating multi-mission ships. Pull into port, spend a few days reconfiguring the ship, and then deploy.

Also remember how large a battleship is; therefore, 25-knots is rather quick The Nimitz Class can exceed 30 knots, but you didn't hear that from me

 

[Data Holmes]

My grandfather, who worked on the radar systems of F-8's in the late 90's, said he heard stories from naval aviators about how CVN-65 hit speeds close to 45+ knots without much strain.

 

[John Picard]

My grandfather, who worked on the radar systems of F-8's in the late 90's, said he heard stories from naval aviators about how CVN-65 hit speeds close to 45+ knots without much strain.

I doubt those claims. Unofficially, the Nimitz Class can hit 50 knots. With the new bulbous bow design, perhaps even faster.