Navy drops plans to repair fire-damaged USS Miami sub

[txradioguy]

The Navy has decided that it will not repair the nuclear-powered submarine USS Miami after concluding that the cost of repairing damage from a fire set by a civilian worker is more than it can afford due to mandated budget cuts.

The decision to scrap the Groton, Conn.-based sub comes after a damage assessment by the Navy found that estimated repair costs, originally estimated to be about $450 million, have risen dramatically, a Navy official told The Military Times.

Rear Adm. Rick Breckenridge, director of undersea warfare, said Tuesday that repairing the submarine would have meant canceling work on dozens of other ships because of new budget constraints. He said that would've hurt the Navy's overall readiness.

"The Navy and the nation simply cannot afford to weaken other fleet readiness in the way that would be required to afford repairs to Miami," Breckenridge said in a statement.

Inspections revealed a significant number of components in the torpedo room and auxiliary machinery room would require replacement, further driving up the repair costs for the USS Miami. The Navy originally said it planned to repair the submarine but the discovery of additional damage raised the cost.

A shipyard worker, Casey James Fury, of Portsmouth, N.H., was sentenced to 17 years in prison after admitting he set fire to the Miami, which was in dry dock during a 20-month overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

It took 12 hours and the efforts of more than 100 firefighters to save the Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Seven people were hurt.

The fire, set on May 23, 2012, damaged forward compartments including living quarters, a command and control center and the torpedo room. Weapons had been removed for the repair, and the fire never reached the rear of the submarine, where the nuclear propulsion components are located.

U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine and Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire issued a statement blaming the decision to scrap the submarine on the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/07/navy-drops-plans-to-repair-uss-miami-sub/

[DLR Pyro]

and our Military force gets weaker and weaker......

[CG6468]

and our Military force gets weaker and weaker......

That's the plan....

[NHSparky]

I'm of mixed emotion on this one.

First, it pisses me off that Fury only got 17 years.  He should be UNDER the jail until he's farting dust.

But in reality, I'd be scared shitless to be on that initial test depth dive after putting $600-800M (I know the initial estimate said $450M, but don't kid yourselves) into a boat without any clue as to whether or not it'd hold up.

Frankly, it would be better served as a MTS (Moored Training Ship) down in Charleston, as the Sam Rayburn and Daniel Webster are long past due for being taken out of service for good, and the Engineering spaces on the Miami were untouched by the fire.  Look for that to be the probable disposition of her.

[zeitgeist]

I'm of mixed emotion on this one.

First, it pisses me off that Fury only got 17 years.  He should be UNDER the jail until he's farting dust.

But in reality, I'd be scared shitless to be on that initial test depth dive after putting $600-800M (I know the initial estimate said $450M, but don't kid yourselves) into a boat without any clue as to whether or not it'd hold up.

Frankly, it would be better served as a MTS (Moored Training Ship) down in Charleston, as the Sam Rayburn and Daniel Webster are long past due for being taken out of service for good, and the Engineering spaces on the Miami were untouched by the fire.  Look for that to be the probable disposition of her.

Ditto.  Cannibalize for needed spares sad but probably the best alternative.

It will suck for the SY in the short term but they are nothing if not resilient. 

[Fourwinds]

The sad thing is that the Navy like won't build a replacement due to the sequestration.

[J P Sousa]

  U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine and Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire issued a statement blaming the decision to scrap the submarine on the automatic budget cuts known as sequestration.

 

In a different administration cuts would have been made in areas that would not affect readiness. 
.

[thundley4]

In a different administration cuts would have been made in areas that would not affect readiness. 
.

Like the $800 million spent on propaganda for ObamaCrap?

[NHSparky]

In a different administration cuts would have been made in areas that would not affect readiness. 
.

I've talked to a couple of the guys off the Miami.  They say that the boat would be safe enough, but then again, they're not engineers.

And as far as another MTU goes, well, apparently there's a lot more to just sealing up the forward compartment and letting 'er rip.  Also, it seems that Miami is far enough along in core life that she wouldn't have lasted all that long anyway.  Next, LaJolla and San Fran are replacing the current MTU's around 2017, so there's that as well.

[zeitgeist]

I've talked to a couple of the guys off the Miami.  They say that the boat would be safe enough, but then again, they're not engineers.

And as far as another MTU goes, well, apparently there's a lot more to just sealing up the forward compartment and letting 'er rip.  Also, it seems that Miami is far enough along in core life that she wouldn't have lasted all that long anyway.  Next, LaJolla and San Fran are replacing the current MTU's around 2017, so there's that as well.

They (688 Class) didn't come with a real long shelf life anyway, IIRC they were sort of a compromise boat meant to be more disposable than rebuildable.  That said, a metallurgist might be interesting to talk to in terms of what a fire like that might do to the properties of the pressure hull.  I know they are real fussy about pre heat and welding procedures soooooo.......... What happens when you anneal that much metal with the weld penetrations and such?   

[NHSparky]

They (688 Class) didn't come with a real long shelf life anyway, IIRC they were sort of a compromise boat meant to be more disposable than rebuildable.  That said, a metallurgist might be interesting to talk to in terms of what a fire like that might do to the properties of the pressure hull.  I know they are real fussy about pre heat and welding procedures soooooo.......... What happens when you anneal that much metal with the weld penetrations and such?   

The first-flight 688's were pretty much allowed ONE refueling.  The later (D2W) cores on the VLS and I-boats were pretty much a "one core per lifetime" boat.

But that's still a pretty good life, considering they engineered 25-30 years out of one core. 

[Eupher]

The first-flight 688's were pretty much allowed ONE refueling.  The later (D2W) cores on the VLS and I-boats were pretty much a "one core per lifetime" boat.

But that's still a pretty good life, considering they engineered 25-30 years out of one core. 

Do they have to cut into the pressure hull to remove the core during refueling ops?

[NHSparky]

Do they have to cut into the pressure hull to remove the core during refueling ops?

Oh yeah.  In fact, a lot of stuff they do on 688's require hull cuts, or at least they did when I was on one in the yards.  The welding they did was, shall we say, impressive.