Remember when USS Bonhomme Richard caught fire and burned for five days in San Diego?
Or when the USS Boxer tried to deploy but broke its rudder.
The USS Iwo Jima is now crippled.
The Gator Navy is the amphibious warfare department of the USN and USMC. The USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) (landing helicopter dock) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship; fully loaded, the LHD has about 3,000+ people total, less all those extra passengers it’s about 1,200 ship’s company. They will most likely discover these are rudder problems which will take months to resolve.
Don’t be awed by the infographic above, the US Navy has not conducted a contested amphibious landing arguably since WWII, one can make the argument that the Inchon landings (Operation Chromite) in September 1950 were such but it was lightly contested at best. Like the rest of the navy surface ship inventory, the chaos avalanche of maintenance backlogs and the increasing frequency of “engineering casualties” that force a ship back to port is becoming more common. The US Navy currently has 31 amphibious warships but those may be reduced in the future despite the USMC putting the minimum number needed at 31 is the baseline.
A funny thing happened to USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7)…
Lt. Cmdr. David Carter, a spokesman for Naval Surface Force Atlantic, confirmed that the USS Iwo Jima suffered “a non-propulsion-related materiel casualty in the engineering department” that forced the ship to return to Naval Station Norfolk on Thursday. That description could cover everything from a problem with the ship’s hydraulics to power generators to potable water equipment.
Rudder issues were the same problem that forced the USS Boxer to return from its deployment in April just 10 days after setting sail.
In March, a very similar series of events played out with the USS Wasp, the same class of ship as the Iwo Jima and in the same waters off of Virginia.
The same ship watcher spotted the Wasp having issues and abruptly returning to port. The watcher’s account reported that the ship suffered damage to its propeller shaft.
When asked about that March incident, Carter said that the ship “discovered an engineering irregularity” that forced it to return to port without confirming or denying a shaft issue.
“30+-year-old warships will experience materiel challenges,” Carter argued at the time, before noting that the commander of the Navy’s surface fleet in the Atlantic “focuses on … how we respond to those challenges.”
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/09/06/another-navy-amphibious-assault-ship-breaks-down-off-virginia-coast.html
None of this will improve readiness and is yet another indicator of a maintenance crisis in the Navy that will continue.
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The Royal Navy continues to degrade and decay at a rapid pace in the Gator Navy follies in the West.
The HMS Bulwark, one of the Royal Navy’s two amphibious assault ships, has spent a significant amount of time out of active service, accumulating over 2,730 days in port (nearly eight years), which of course means the embarking of the Royal Marines would be a difficult enterprise outside of home waters.
Fast forward to 2020, HMS Bulwark entered dry dock for phase two of her optimised support period. At that time, the MoD anticipated that Bulwark would return to active duty by mid-2023 following the completion of a final phase three recertification. However, recent developments suggest this timeline has shifted.
As of March 2024, then-Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence James Cartlidge, under the previous Conservative government, indicated that HMS Bulwark would only return to active service “if required.”
This announcement has led many to question whether the ship will ever resume full operational duties. A source within the Royal Navy suggested that despite earlier commitments, it has been clear for some time that the vessel’s return to regular service was unlikely. The notion of readiness “if required” subtly confirms this.
Most likely, the ships will go dark and the Royal Navy will cease to have this capability. My suspicion is that Bulwark and Albion will never again set sail under the White Ensign. Figures published earlier this week show that the Royal Navy currently fields just 5,500 Royal Marines Commandos, with barely enough to field a brigade (they have a working internal training establishment) and for which the amphibious ships are designed.
The RN is a shambles:
Two active carriers
Two active T45s (destroyers)
Five active T23s (frigates)
Zero active SSN
Several of the inactive ships have been inactive for over two years and three Astutes inactive for 1.5 to 2 years.
If the current Starmer junta has its way, the forces across the board will experience even greater cuts than anticipated two years ago.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-assault-ship-has-spent-over-seven-years-in-port/
Email me at cgpodcast@pm.me.
