USNS Cody
USNS Cody (T-EPF-14), Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, was christened on 25 February 2023 by ship’s sponsor Averil D. Spencer, launched at Austal USA in Mobile, Alabama on 20 March 2023, and its delivery was accepted by the U.S. Navy on 11 January 2024. These are a fine balance of weight (hence the aluminum construction) and speed capability. It’s a transport, not an amphibious assault ship. It is being mothballed.
My friend PTS weighted in:
“There are multiple problems with the EPF and they were over hyped and vastly underdelivered. As mentioned, they are fragile with their aluminum hulls as demonstrated of the coast of Yemen. They are un-armed and should have least been equipped with CIWS or SEARAM but the aluminum hull could not support their weight. The flight deck could not support CH53, CH46 or V22 ops so pretty much a non-starter. The flow path of heavier cargo from the flight deck down to the vehicle deck was also not really good either. Now lets talk the berthing… they should have modified the internals tremendously, but they left it pretty much with no cabins, no storage and airline seating. Want to put a company of Marines and their AAV or other vehicles… well they are left sleeping in the airline seating area and will not enough food to toliets to support them for more than a few days without turning the vehicle deck over to containerized storage. A huge issue is the speed and the ships ride. With low sea states you could get 35 kts… but anything higher the speed dropped quickly till you would do better traveling in an old WW2 LST (at 12kts) to move from Okinawa to South Korea. Buddies of mine who did that trip would have been combat ineffective after their slow trip across that distance due to the poor sea keeping abilities in Blue Waters. Finally, they never were able to get it capable of doing a drop of AAV straight into the water and recover them. The real limitations are vast.”
The former HSV-2 Swift, laid up at Ampelakia, Salamina, Greece. In July 2015, the ship was leased by the UAE National Marine Dredging Company & was used to carry aid through Bab Al Mandab strait. On 1 Oct 2016, the ship was attacked and damaged off the coast of Yemen by Houthis.
2016. The Houthis have gotten even
She didn’t fare well (photo from 2021):
The same Austal USA that just sent some grifters packing after bilking taxpayers:
“The SEC alleges that, from at least January 2013 through July 2016, Austal USA’s former president, Craig D. Perciavalle, its current director of financial analysis, Joseph A. Runkel, and former director of the Littoral Combat Ships program, William O. Adams, engaged in a scheme to artificially reduce the cost estimates to complete certain shipbuilding projects for the U.S. Navy by tens of millions of dollars. The complaint alleges that Perciavalle, Runkel, and Adams knew that Austal USA’s shipbuilding costs were rising and higher than planned, but they directed others to arbitrarily lower the cost estimates to meet Austal USA’s revenue budget and revenue projections.”
The Navy department that is in charge of shipbuilding and repair is Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), the largest of the U.S. Navy’s five system commands.
They have 83,000 people; it’s twice the size of the entire US Coast Guard.
83,000
They can’t get anything right.
How could this happen with the streamlined acquisition system at the Pentagon?
Fire the Chief of Naval Operations immediately.
Fire them all.
H/T to John A Conrad IV
