Built as 25,000 Tons of sCrap

Another depressing article discussing the USS San Antonio, from Navy Times by Chris Cavas. Feel free to read the article - but I'm going to quote from the last few paragraphs.

Harvey was at a loss to explain how the problems came to be on the San Antonio, built by Northrop Grumman’s shipyards at Avondale, La., and Pascagoula, Miss., and delivered to the Navy in August 2005 after a protracted and troubled fitting-out period.

“I know they can build good ships; they can do it,” he said.

Who has the same confidence in the Gulf Coast shipyards that ADM Harvey does? I don't. The DDGs cost more down there, the LPD has had problems across the entire class, and the quite frankly there are no positive examples to point towards that give an observer any confidence.

That engines could be installed improperly is “incomprehensible,” he said. “A, that it would pass an internal quality check that way, and then B, that it would pass through the Navy’s quality control that way.”

“I think we were so focused on getting that ship into service,” he said of the frustrations of getting the ship completed, “that we rolled over a lot of issues.”

Look where all the shortcuts got us - 5 years later. I'll be more impressed with the Navy's ability to manage large programs like shipbuilding when I start seeing more accountability among those leaders on shore. NAVSEA has apparently worked very hard in the 21st century to build a reputation that does not inspire confidence.

I really appreciate the last sentence though. Straight talk regarding the problems with shipbuilding over the last decade is rare - and seems to always come from outside NAVSEA (for obvious reasons).