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| Science & Technology |
| Hawaii Doin' |
| 2007-05-06 |
| The USS Hawaii, a Virginia-class nuclear submarine, officially becomes an active weapon system today at a commissioning ceremony at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base in Groton. Two areas inside the Navy's newest nuclear attack submarine — a 7,800-ton vessel that's longer than a football field — reveal both the heights achieved by today's military technology and the boat's awesome firepower. First, there is the USS Hawaii's control room. For the uninitiated, it's much like a video game arcade. Gone is the old hull-penetrating peri-scope, replaced by cameras that take feeds from exterior sensors mounted on masts. All the crew's visual information comes via high-definition television, the familiar circular sonar screen sweeping the sea for blips replaced by streaming video. Sailors today even drive the massive military weapon system with a joystick. "Yeah, sometimes it feels like a video game," said Master Chief David Collins of Gales Ferry, who serves as pilot of the USS Hawaii, the latest addition to the Navy's nuclear arsenal. "The biggest difference, I would say, is the technology," the 23-year Navy veteran said during a media tour of the sub yesterday. Then, there is the torpedo room. The USS Hawaii, like other Virginia-class subs, has four 21-inch torpedo tubes and 12 vertical launch tubes with Tomahawk missiles. A new design that changes how the sub carries its 4,000-pound torpedoes has resulted in increased room within the craft. That space can be filled with additional torpedoes, for a maximum of 24, or berthing can be created for 30 SEAL commandos. The Navy says Hawaii's mission will include anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, special forces delivery and support, and covert mine warfare. It'll be able to strike targets ashore with precision Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct covert long-term surveillance of land and sea. "It's state-of-the-art," said Machinist Mate Andy Tapia of Lisbon, a nine-year submarine veteran, as he guided the media tour through the boat's torpedo room. It's been almost two years since the sub was christened in June 2006. Gov. Linda Lingle, the ship's sponsor, will be among the dignitaries, military personnel and others attending today's event, giving the crew its first order to "man our ship and bring her to life." "When that order is given, the Hawaii will become a fully capable combat ship in the fleet," said Cmdr. David Solms, captain of the ship. Solms also will be promoted to the rank of captain today. The approximately $2.5 billion sub, the Navy's first major combat ship designed for a post-Cold War environment, isn't expected to arrive at Pearl Harbor until early 2009. It's designed to operate in both the open ocean and nearshore shallows, and Hawaii has improved stealth, sophisticated surveillance capabilities and special warfare enhancements. Even though the 377-foot ship — the first of several Virginia-class subs anticipated to be based in Hawai'i — was delivered to the Navy in December, ongoing work will keep it from arriving here far beyond today's commissioning in Groton, where the submarine was built. Top-ranking Navy officials said the submarine will allow commanders to accomplish a broad range of missions. "Land, sea and undersea firepower, advanced sensors and other special features will enable Hawaii to execute numerous war-fighting tasks simultaneously here in the Pacific area of operations and wherever they need to go," said Rear Adm. Joseph Walsh, commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, in a written statement. Today's ceremony has long been anticipated in Hawai'i. Bob Dewitz, a Navy League Honolulu Council member and chairman of the commissioning committee, said 2,500 people are expected for the commissioning, with about 50 from Hawai'i, including government and business leaders. The ceremony will end tonight with a crew lu'au. A canoe club is bringing outrigger canoes, and entertainer Al Harrington will perform. Today's events culminate a series of milestones in the submarine's construction and sea trials. In early December, during sea trials, the vessel, which can dive deeper than 800 feet, submerged for the first time and performed high-speed runs. Officials said the tests were so successful that the ship returned to port a day early. The Navy at the time said the Hawaii's performance was "superb." The Virginia-class submarines are the future for the Navy. The Pentagon decided that production of the deeper-diving but more expensive Seawolf class, designed as a replacement for the Los Angeles class, would end after the third submarine. Six of the newer submarines are being built now and are named for the states of Virginia, Texas, Hawai'i, North Carolina, New Hampshire and New Mexico. The Navy expects to pay for two Virginia-class subs per year in 2012, which is double the current rate, and is trying to get the price down to $2 billion a sub. Their role will be to operate in the nearshore shallows where ships and commerce are concentrated. The subs have six side-mounted sonar arrays, plus arrays in the bow, sail and nose, improving capabilities for eavesdropping and mapping the ocean floor and minefields. After commissioning and acoustics and other testing, the Hawaii may get a several-month mission — much like the first in the class, the USS Virginia — but it will have to return to the Groton shipyard in spring 2008 for up to a year of improvements and fine-tuning called the "post-shakedown availability." With a crew of approximately 134 officers and enlisted men, the Hawaii will spend most of the next year undergoing its shakedown cruise. "It's kind of like test-driving a new car," said Lt. Cmdr. Michael Quan, the boat's executive officer. "You take it out and see how it performs before bringing it back to the shop for improvements." Those who have been assigned to USS Hawaii since it was turned over to the Navy last December expect few improvements will be needed. The vessel will be based in Groton during its shakedown and post-shakedown testing. In 2009, the boat will be assigned to its permanent home base in Hawai'i. "This is as close as I get to Hawai'i," said Collins who, along with most of the other crew, likely will be reassigned to another ship before that. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #11 I seem to recall that the VA's are much stealthier than the LA boats I was poking around on that a little while ago. I read that at full speed a new VA class sub makes as much or less noise than a 688 at five knots. I have also heard of the 688s that to find them you listen for the quiet spots in the ocean . . . . |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-05-06 22:56 |
| #10 FOX NEWS > DON HO funeral > the FOX TV anchor, whom shall remain un-named, said "TINY MUFFINS", or was it "MUFFLES", instead of "TINY BUBBLES" as Don's signature song??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-05-06 21:38 |
| #9 Okay, crew costs and stealth, I can see that, though there isn't a potentially hostile navy out there (e.g., PLA-Navy) that can track an LA-class boat anyway. And service rivalries have something to do with this. But for the money, I'd add certain needed surface combatants and run the LA-class boats til I didn't have any left in the ready reserve. Each one of those has a good 10 to 15 years in them, and as a taxpayer, I'd like to get the full value. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-05-06 21:03 |
| #8 I seem to recall that the VA's are much stealthier than the LA boats |
| Posted by: Glusotle Mussolini6157 2007-05-06 19:18 |
| #7 The Los Angeles class was over-designed on the assumption that both computers (and their cooling systems), and missiles would be larger in the future. Who in the world came up with that brainstorm? OK, I could see wanting to make a longer-ranged missile, but computers getting larger? After 30 years of the opposite? |
| Posted by: Jackal 2007-05-06 18:22 |
| #6 Besides Tomahawks, how many long range missiles can they carry ? And, have all the warheads been preprogrammed with their coordinates in Iran yet ? |
| Posted by: Woozle Elmeter2970 2007-05-06 18:13 |
| #5 Personel costs SW. Virginias Motto: Cost like a SeaWolf run like 688. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-06 15:32 |
| #4 As with aircraft carriers, I suspect that they will be discarding the notion of "class" in submarines after a while. Between boats, the upgrades and changes are so significant, and happening so quickly, that size is no longer a good comparison. Any rationale for uniformity is going right out the window. The Los Angeles class was over-designed on the assumption that both computers (and their cooling systems), and missiles would be larger in the future. This ended up with lots of empty room inside them, and having to carry much more ballast than desired. They even had to put adapters in their tubes for their new smaller, better missiles. And because of the proliferation of submarines in the world, I imagine that there will be entirely new paradigms of submersibles, some even unmanned, for ASW and anti-ship activities. Some will be like listening posts, that can raise a floating antenna for a satellite burst transmission at intervals. They could either be moving or stationary on the sea bed, or both. Some might just sit on the sea floor, only to surface to resupply surface ships. Like a pre-positioned undersea oiler. Another kind might carry offensive weapons that would automatically engage enemy ships or boats that enter its range, when authorized. It floats to the surface, fires a missile or torpedo or two, re-submerges and moves a few miles. The search is on for a better mousetrap. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-05-06 15:05 |
| #3 I am certain that with some creative financing Australia or Canada could be convinced those Los Angeles-class SSNs would be a fine addition to the SSKs we/they currently deploy. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-05-06 14:55 |
| #2 Steve, makes sense to me, but there is a bit of the 'me too' syndrome in all the armed forces, and if the USAF gets the JSF and the USMC gets the Osprey, and teh army gets the next gen hummer as well as advanced body armor, gee, can't the navy get some new toys too? (lets forget that the USN also gets JSF and the USMC is part of the USN and that logic works. on a bigger scale, there is a lot of stuff owned by all the services that is in mothballs that is perfectly good for the warfighting going on and for the forseeable future, IMHO) |
| Posted by: USN, ret. 2007-05-06 13:36 |
| #1 Question: as I understand it, we have a number of Los Angeles class boats decommissioned and sitting in the ready reserve. While the Virginia class boats sound great, it strikes me that, with the Navy's budget sorely tested elsewhere, we could do worse than to bring the Los Angeles boats back for a while. I understand some of them need refueling, updating, etc., but that has to be cheaper than new $2 billion-plus submarines, at least for a while. Opinions? |
| Posted by: Steve White 2007-05-06 13:22 |