US Navy Ship Stops To Let Whales Pass

longknife · Mar 11, 2014

What a great story. Also kinda neat to learn the USS Coronado uses thrusters and not propellers. The article is @ http://www.newser.com/story/183604/navy-warship-stops-to-let-whales-pass.html while more about the ship is @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Coronado_(LCS-4)

Panzerkampfwagen · Mar 12, 2014

Good to see Australian companies building more US naval ships.

Taxcutter · Mar 13, 2014

Whales (despite having Nature's perfect sonar) routinely blunder into US submarines - particularly the boomers.

Bluespade · Mar 25, 2014

What are you talking about?

The Coranado was built by two America companies, General Dynamics Corporation and Bath IronWorks in the Mobile Bay Shipyard.

Panzerkampfwagen said: ↑

Good to see Australian companies building more US naval ships.
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Panzerkampfwagen · Mar 25, 2014

Bluespade said: ↑

What are you talking about?

The Coranado was built by two America companies, General Dynamics Corporation and Bath IronWorks in the Mobile Bay Shipyard.
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The link provided says Astal, an Australian company, which has built a number of US ships now.

Bluespade · Mar 25, 2014

Panzerkampfwagen said: ↑

The link provided says Astal, an Australian company, which has built a number of US ships now.
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Austal owns the Shipyard in Mobile Alabama, but American workers build US Naval ships.

Panzerkampfwagen · Mar 25, 2014

Bluespade said: ↑

Austal owns the Shipyard in Mobile Alabama, but American workers build US Naval ships.
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It's still an Australian company.

Bluespade · Mar 25, 2014

Panzerkampfwagen said: ↑

It's still an Australian company.
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I guess you'll take what you can get.

waltky · Sep 15, 2015

Navy agrees to limit sonar that harms whales & dolphins...

Navy to Limit Some Training that Harms Whales in Pacific
Sep 15, 2015 The Navy agreed to limit its use of sonar and other training that inadvertently harms whales, dolphins and other marine mammals off Hawaii and California in a settlement with environmental groups approved Monday.

A centerpiece of the agreement signed by a federal judge in Honolulu includes limits or bans on mid-frequency active sonar and explosives in specified areas around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California, Earthjustice attorney David Henkin said. Sonar at a great distance can disrupt feeding and communication of marine mammals, and it can cause deafness or death at a closer distance, Henkin said. In some cases, training exercises can kill. Four dolphins died in 2011 in San Diego when they got too close to an explosives training exercise, he said. The Navy estimated it could inadvertently kill 155 whales and dolphins off Hawaii and Southern California, mostly from explosives. It estimated it could cause more than 11,000 serious injuries off the East Coast and 2,000 off Hawaii and Southern California.

Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman, said the settlement preserves key testing and training. "Recognizing our environmental responsibilities, the Navy has been, and will continue to be, good environmental stewards as we prepare for and conduct missions in support of our national security," Knight said. Under the agreement, the Navy cannot use sonar in Southern California habitat for beaked whales between Santa Catalina Island and San Nicolas Island. Sonar also is not allowed in blue whale feeding areas near San Diego, according to the environmental groups. In Hawaii, the deal prohibits sonar and explosives training on the eastern side of the Big Island and north of Molokai and Maui. The groups said that will protect Hawaiian monk seals and small populations of toothed whales, including the endangered false killer whale.

Dolphins swimming along the side of a boat off the coast of San Pedro, Calif.

The Navy also won't be able to exceed a set number of major training exercises in the channel between Maui and the Big Island and on the western side of the Big Island. "By establishing some safe havens ... the hope is to bring down those estimated numbers of injury and death," Henkin said. The agreement also says that if there are injuries or deaths, there will be a swift review by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which approved the Navy's plans, Henkin said. The settlement comes after Earthjustice and other environmental groups sued in 2013, challenging the fisheries service's decision to allow the training. Additional environmental groups later filed a similar lawsuit in San Francisco. The two cases were consolidated in Hawaii, and the deal resolves both.

The Natural Resources Defense Council, which was also part of the legal battle, said it will continue fighting sonar use in the Navy's other training areas, such as off the Pacific Northwest, in the Gulf of Alaska and off northern Florida. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Oki Mollway ruled in March that the fisheries service violated environmental laws when it approved the Navy's plans. The military branch, she said, also failed to take a hard look at alternatives such as training in different areas or at different times to avoid potentially harming dolphins, whales and other species. After the ruling, the Navy "faced the real possibility that the court would stop critically important training and testing," said Knight, of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The ruling set the stage for settlement talks, Henkin said. But it didn't stop the Navy from continuing with training allowed by the service's five-year permit approved in 2013.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...me-training-that-harms-whales-in-pacific.html
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APACHERAT · Sep 16, 2015

longknife said: ↑

View attachment 25866

What a great story. Also kinda neat to learn the USS Coronado uses thrusters and not propellers. The article is @ http://www.newser.com/story/183604/navy-warship-stops-to-let-whales-pass.html while more about the ship is @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Coronado_(LCS-4)
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The USS Coronado is the Navy's Little Crappy Ship aka LCS that's not able to fight and survive in combat. The Coronado had no choice but to surrender to the whale or the whale would have sunk the USS Coronado.

http://pentagonchoices.com/changing-the-name-of-the-navys-little-crappy-ship-wont-fix-it/

APACHERAT · Sep 16, 2015

Panzerkampfwagen said: ↑

It's still an Australian company.
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Nobody should be proud building these Crappy Little Ships. Even a freaking whale is a threat to these Crappy Little Ships.

Honorable Carl Levin, Chairman
Senate Armed Services Committee
228 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Honorable John McCain, Ranking Member
Senate Armed Services Committee
228 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Honorable Buck McKeon, Chairman
House Armed Services Committee
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Honorable Adam Smith, Ranking Member
House Armed Services Committee
2120 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members:

Your Committees have repeatedly questioned the utility and effectiveness of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program—which is expected to cost taxpayers more than $120 billion over the life of the program[1] and constitute as much as half of the Navy’s surface fleet.[2] Your Committees have repeatedly been assured by the Navy as well as by the ships’ manufacturers that the program is delivering quality ships. Unfortunately, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a nonpartisan independent watchdog that has championed responsible weapons procurement for more than three decades, has learned that these assurances about one of the variants are inaccurate, at best.

There are two variants of the LCS: one built by a team led by General Dynamics, which will cost $345.8 million per ship; and the other built by a team led by Lockheed Martin, which will cost $357.5 million per ship.[3] Senior Navy officials have publicly praised the LCS program.[4] However, the Navy has been reluctant to share documents related to LCS vulnerabilities with entities such as the Pentagon’s Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E).[5] But POGO has obtained a number of documents showing that Lockheed Martin’s USS Freedom (LCS-1, the first LCS ship) has been plagued by flawed designs and failed equipment since being commissioned, has at least 17 known cracks, and has repeatedly been beset by engine-related failures.[6]

These problems merit explanation from the Navy. We hope questions related to the issues we raise in this letter are incorporated into your annual oversight of the Navy’s budget request and programs.

Faulty Quality Assurance
From the time the Navy accepted LCS-1 from Lockheed Martin on September 18, 2008, until the ship went into dry dock in the summer of 2011—not even 1,000 days later—there were 640 chargeable equipment failures on the ship.[7] On average then, something on the ship failed on two out of every three days.

Yet the Navy continued to tell Congress that all was well on LCS-1. Secretary of the Navy Raymond Mabus told the Senate Armed Services Committee in December 2010 that both variants of the LCS were performing well, and that “LCS–1, the Freedom, demonstrated some of the things we can expect during her maiden deployment earlier this year.”[8] Then-Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead echoed this praise for the LCS-1, stating “I deployed LCS earlier than any other ship class to assure we were on the right path operationally. It is clear to me that we are.”[9]

Mabus and Roughead failed to mention that during the approximately two-month deployment when the ship traveled from Mayport, Florida, to its home port in San Diego, California, there were more than 80 equipment failures on the ship.[10] These failures were not trivial, and placed the crew of the ship in undue danger. For example, on March 6, 2010, while the ship was in the midst of counter-drug trafficking operations and reportedly “conducted four drug seizures, netting more than five tons of cocaine, detained nine suspected drug smugglers, and disabled two ‘go-fast’ drug vessels,”[11] there was a darken ship event (the electricity on the entire ship went out), temporarily leaving the ship adrift at sea.[12]

Cracking Relegates LCS-1 to Frigate Speeds
These failures during deployment were not the last time LCS-1 would face significant operational challenges. Before and during the ship’s second set of rough water trials in February 2011, 17 cracks were found on the ship, according to the Navy’s Crack Monitoring Survey During Rough Water Trials Period #2 (enclosed).[13] For example, a crack over 18 inches long was found at the corner of the deckhouse near a bi-metallic strip that binds the ships aluminum deckhouse and steel hull together.

Another crack was discovered “below the waterline and is currently allowing water in....When discovered there was rust washing onto the painted surface. It is thought this is rust from the exposed crack surface. It is unknown how long this crack existed prior to being discovered.”

In other instances, cracks on one side of the ship were mirrored by cracks in nearly identical locations on the opposite side of the ship. For example, according to the Crack Monitoring Survey, a crack in the deck edge on the port side was mirrored by a crack in the deck edge on the starboard side. Similarly, cracks in the deck plating and center walkway on the port side were mirrored by corresponding cracks on the starboard side.[15] Experts, including a source within the Navy, have informed POGO that the cracks in nearly identical locations on opposite sides of the ship may be indicative of systematic design issues.

These cracks are not without their consequences. In addition to allowing water to leak into the ship, the cracks severely limit the ship’s top speed, which was previously touted as exceeding 40 knots.[16] Last May, the LCS program manager issued near term operating guidance for LCS-1, which placed significant constraints on the ship’s safe operating envelope (SOE).[17] According to the Near-Term Operational Guidance memo (enclosed), “there is risk associated with operating LCS 1 at the extreme edges of its SOE while transiting or deployed at significant distances from/to port (open ocean transit). It is therefore, prudent to plan ahead for possible mitigating situations where LCS 1 might be required to deviate from planned underway mission.”[18] Specifically, the new guidance states that in rough water (sea state 7; 19.5- to 29.5-foot waves) with following seas, the ship cannot travel at speeds greater than 20 knots, and cannot travel into head seas at any speed. Even in calmer seas (sea state 5; 8.2- to 13.1-foot waves) the ship’s peak speed into head seas is capped at 15 knots,[19] relegating the Navy’s “cheetah of the seas” to freighter speeds.[20]

“Not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment.”

These cracking issues and the limitations to the SOE are indicative of a larger problem with the ship. A darken ship event during counter-drug trafficking operations is a dangerous failure, but had this occurred while the LCS was pursuing any of its other missions, such as anti-submarine warfare or surface warfare, this failure could have been fatal.

The cracking, and many of the equipment failures on the ship, endanger the lives of all personnel who board it. According to the DoD’s DOT&E FY 2011 Annual Report, the LCS is “not expected to be survivable in a hostile combat environment.”[21]

Sources close to LCS-1 have now told POGO that after more than six months in port, the ship has been back to sea just twice. The sources also informed us about critical problems that surfaced on the ship during those two outings: several vital components on the ship failed including, at some point in both trips, each of the four engines. In addition, there were shaft seal failures during the last trip,[22] which led to flooding.

Additional new material brought to our attention by Aviation Week shows that the ship appears to have even more serious problems with critical ship-wide systems, including rampant corrosion and flooding...

- There a whole lot more with photos -> : http://www.pogo.org/our-work/letter...=https://www.google.com/#sthash.qELL7rL7.dpuf
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reallybigjohnson · Sep 16, 2015

These ships are horrible. One of them had to be dry docked after a kid threw a wadded up piece of gum wrapper at it and it punched a hole in the hull. Another of these ships nearly sank when it accidentally bumped into a jelly fish.

Korozif · Sep 16, 2015

The LCS are glorified coast guard cutters. I don't see them being used in any major conflict but they are good for patrolling the coast and enforcing maritime laws. They may not have the firepower to take on an enemy ship, but they have enough to take on a merchant running contraband, some dinggy riding somalian pirates or for supporting search and rescue after a natural disaster.

waltky · Jul 17, 2016

Navy loses sonar case in appeals court...

Federal Appeals Court Rejects Navy Sonar-Use Rules
Jul 16, 2016 -- A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the U.S. Navy was wrongly allowed to use sonar that could harm whales and other marine life.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision upholding approval granted in 2012 for the Navy to use low-frequency sonar for training, testing and routine operations. The five-year approval covered peacetime operations in the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. The appellate panel sent the matter back to the lower court for further proceedings. A message seeking comment from representatives of the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Honolulu was not immediately returned. Sonar, used to detect submarines, can injure whales, seals, dolphins and walruses and disrupt their feeding and mating.

The 2012 rules adopted by the National Marine Fisheries Service permitted Navy sonar use to affect about 30 whales and two dozen pinnipeds, marine mammals with front and rear flippers such as seals and sea lions, each year. The Navy was required to shut down or delay sonar use if a marine mammal was detected near the ship. Loud sonar pulses also were banned near coastlines and in certain protected waters. Environmental groups, led by the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a lawsuit in San Francisco in 2012, arguing that the approval violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

An endangered female orca leaps from the water while breaching in Puget Sound west of Seattle, as seen from a federal research vessel that had been tracking the whales

The appellate court ruled 3-0 that the approval rules failed to meet a section of the protection act requiring peacetime oceanic programs to have "the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammals." "We have every reason to believe that the Navy has been deliberate and thoughtful in its plans to follow NMFS guidelines and limit unnecessary harassment and harm to marine mammals," the appellate ruling said.

However, the panel concluded that the fisheries service "did not give adequate protection to areas of the world's oceans flagged by its own experts as biologically important," according to a summary accompanying the court's decision. "The result is that a meaningful proportion of the world's marine mammal habitat is under-protected," according to the decision.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...peals-court-rejects-navy-sonar-use-rules.html
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axialturban · Jul 18, 2016

The Austral LCS should be used as Firescout or TERN carriers.

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