Navy cancels “green destroyer” program
Bobo sends a link to Defense News which reports that the latest defense budget cuts the program that the Obama Administration to create hybrid destroyers. USS Truxton (DDG-103) will remain the sole “green” destroyer for testing purposes to see if the system becomes viable;
Citing “department priorities,” the service requested $6.3 million for 2018 to finish the installation on the destroyer Truxtun, but has zeroed out funding in 2019 and in the out years. The service has spent about $52 million on the program to date. The whole program was expected to cost $356.25 million, according to the Navy’s FY2017 budget submission.
“Based on the Department’s priorities, President’s Budget 2019 removes funding from Hybrid Electric Drive program in FY 2019,” said Lt. Lauren Chatmas in a statement. “There are no further procurements or installations planned beyond DDG-103 in the Future Years Defense Program.”
Apparently, the system wasn’t saving much energy as it was envisioned by the previous administration.
If you listen carefully, you can actually hear the oceans rising.
Category: Navy
Good to see we have adults in charge making adult decisions.
If a program isn’t working out well enough to justify continuation, it needs to be killed – even if it’s “green”. Sounds like that’s exactly what happened here.
I do love the mantra “if it doesn’t help war fighting, it doesn’t happen.” If NASA can dust off the NERVA project from the 60’s, then Navy should dust off the small combatant/submarine nuclear Woods Hole NOBSKA effort from the late 50’s. Re-evaluate using modern materials and computer simulations. Safe to say that warship energy demands are only going to increase through the 21st century. Power density is everything.
I’d like to see the military do that with a lot of weapons system.
A-10 with modern materials and electronics. Same with the A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair II. Great airplanes for bombing missions that did a better job than the F- 18. Would love to see what they could do with so much weight removed by being modernized.
This is what happens when the DoD stops considering the threat from global warming on par with the threat from violent extreamists.
Looks like the Navy/Marines have a bigger budget than before.
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/u-s-navy-gets-funding-boost-with-two-year-budget#gs.eQ614Rc
I hope they put it to good use, like training and readiness, instead of wasting it on silly notions that involve environmentally friendly notions.
You said notions twice in the same paragraph. Minus 5 points.
Okay, Yef, find a bag of popcorn and throw the popped stuff at me. I’m doomed!
They’re going to have to. Navy has at least two carriers, and possibly a third, overdue for midlife refueling and overhaul.
And don’t even get me started on new construction projects, next generation SSBN’s, etc.
Well, Sparky, as dismal as it sounds, they may have to just pull some of them there old tin cans and cruisers and DEs out of mothballs and start refitting them.
Russia only has one big nuke carrier. We have a bunch of smokers in mothballs. I think we could handle it.
Sadly, the number of ships remaining at the NIMSFs and in the NDRF listing is dwindling. I think there’s one SpruCan that has avoided SinkEx or scrapping/disposal. The Adams is on museum hold. The OHPs are almost all gone/sold.
To contribute to fighting ‘glowbull warming’ and ‘climb at change’, I recommend giving each naval vessel a one pint can of green paint to be used to paint one or two valve handles somewhere in the engine room. Then all naval vessels can claim to be green. That should satisfy the enviro-nutz and do more to combat that climate stuff than all the other wastes of time and money under way or consideration.
The Navy should have contracted the USS Truxton out to Tesla. Elon Musk could have talked everybody into believing things were working great whether they actually were or not…
If the hybrid contract went to Tesla, I wonder how many Duracell D batteries would be needed to get the tin can going?
Not to mention having the ship being overrun with big pink bunnies banging bass drums.
Jeepers, nobody could get any sleep at all while on watch./smile
Hey, at least the supply problem would be relatively simple using commercially-available supplies!
They’ll just drag a couple of acres of solar panels behind them as they set sail.
USS Prius.
That’s phunny as hell.
A truly green Navy would return to sails and oars. No trees need be killed for oars and masts. There are super plastics now available. Have you hugged a tree today?
Seaweed. It’s green and plentiful.
Wooden ships and iron men, yar! As soon as Air Cav goes to hot air balloons.
*grin*
Very short sighted, this could have been a self sustaining green masterpiece. Fryer grease from the galley as fuel, smells of french fries from the exhaust to distract the enemy (imagine a Nork sailor getting a whif)…., you guys just arent thinking out of the box!
But, think of the children.
We prefer adults in charge.
This program and the bio-fuel nonsense that Mabus pushed on the Navy were big money wasters… I’m guessing that the cash when into someone’s pocket, like Solyndra.
Hey, they were only shelling out $16-$30 a gallon for the green shit, and I’m sure it went to the pockets of whoever gave the biggest bribes (*OOPS!*, campaign contributions).
Don’t the Russians burn tires to drive their ships, or something like that?
If the Greenbeans start picketing a Navy base over this change, they should be told to go picket the Russian embassy about using shredded tires to fuel their ships.
Are they still using that $150/gallon green fuel for the rest of the fleet?
We’re gonna have to start filling up at the pumps on base from now on. 85E is cheaper than those green fuels by a long shot.
I hear they are fueling up on Thursdays at Shell and getting .05 off per gallon. Unfortunately, the savings were offset by the $15,000,000 paid to the bureaucrat who suggested the idea.
Yaaaaaaaay!
The Navy also cancelled its green aviation program some time ago, thankfully. The “Green Hornet” burned a 50/50 mix of JP and biofuel, which cost some $67.50 a gallon. Compare that with regular JP at about $2.50 per. One of the Navy’s stupider programs; right, Mabus?
Only one quibble. I’d say this was one of Mabus’ stupider programs, not the Navy’s. I doubt it had much support within the Navy and was forced by Mavis Mabus.
Yeah, Mabus pushed it but I saw the stupid thing tested right here at Pax River, and read all the hyperbolic press releases from the F/A-18 Program Office. It was funded, and all the Officers at the -18 Class Desk fell over themselves in a “yes sir yes sir three bags full” biofuel harmony.
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=52768
Did it get less range, less power, and cause more maintenance?
Cause the Somali pirates, ISIS, and insurgents care if we’re burning clean. So glad we have Mattis there asking, if it doesn’t make us better warfighters, then what’s the point?
What chapped a lot of asses was while this stupidity was going on the military was withering on the vine from lack of funding, and DOD civilians were under sequester, and unpaid.
I don’t know, Mason. The program was cancelled before they tested the -18’s entire flight envelope with the green gas. Early results seemed to indicate it working OK, but after all, JP is just refined kerosene.
I’m sure that canceling a bunch of the greenie weenie tree-hugging bullshit will save money for other thing like I dunno, operations, training and maintenance?
I’m not at all against exploring alternative fuels, API, just when it makes fiscal sense. Fueling a carrier’s entire Air Wing with the green gas would beggar the Navy most ricky-tick, and prove nothing.
At what point does “stupid” cross over into “intentional sabotage” ?
USS COEXIST is out and USS KICKASS is back in. That’s nice.
What could possibly go wrong with the U.S.S. Prius?
Why would they want green destroyers anyway? Did they run out of grey paint??