US Navy’s $9B ‘stealth’ destroyer is looking VERY rusty after report warned fleet is NOT ready for war
THE US Navy’s $9billion “stealth” destroyer is looking very rusty after a report warned the fleet is not ready for war.
USS Zumwalt (DDG-1000) — one of the Navy’s first of only three guided-missile destroyers — was photographed coming into San Diego on Thursday.
Photographs reshared by WarshipCam showed the destroyer appearing to be dirty, with off-white paint and rust stains across the body of the ship.
According to The Drive, the ship was commissioned five years ago and has been regularly leaving and returning to San Diego Bay for years.
The photos of the ship were slammed by social media users who were shocked to see the destroyer’s condition.
One Twitter user responded: “yo @cdrsalamander why does your boat look like a giant who was eating cheetos picked it up and then wiped their a** with it.”
Another tweeted: “I’m dead serious when I say this: Operate less. Paint more.
“We are not at war. When we show up in a place, we should look good. If we don’t, we are defeating the purpose of presence.”
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GUNS N GEAR
Two points. Most comments I see (on line) regarding maritime anything are written by ignorant know nothing armchair dicks. Men who work in cubicles or serving fries should stay on the porch and not try to run with the big dogs. Point two all shit runs down hill.
The sea is hard on ships. Constant 24/7 maintenance. White ships are the hardest. I sailed NOAA several years. Nearly all white.
On the way in deck crew would paint the entire ship with acids to bleach the hull white and disguise the rust. I’m sure Coast Guard does the same. We used Oxalic and another acid I can’t remember. Bad stuff. Wore full hazmat gear. Somehow a tiny drop in the wind got between my safety goggles and my eye and burned it. After thirty years it still gives me trouble. Regarding shit rolling down hill. The skipper tells the Exec to tell a Mate, to tell the Bos’n to get his deck crew on painting the ship. No liberty unless she looks spiffy brand new. The Captain is catching hell for bringing attention to the Agency. The crew is catching it now. The next cruise is bound to be a bitch. Damn, people are hard on the military. They’re also undermanned.
As Dana noted, the maritime environment is extremely harsh on ships. They are in a continual state of rust and need constant maintenance. I’m surprised she’s painted white and not haze gray like the rest of the fleet.
I thought the same thing. White? Stealth? I’d like to know the reasoning. Should be Navy Gray, or black. USN&NSA vessels I know were grayish. No US mil ship I served was white. One was a POS hedging Navy Gray on the outside, state of the art inside. What locals missed were the nondescript “fishing” boats under canvas used to snug the shore (shallow draft) in and among the local’s fishing boats.
Maybe we’re bringing back the Great White Fleet.
We used something we called ‘ rusteater ‘, burns like fock in yer eyes… . No HazMat suits, just oilskins, and a long paint brush, followed by a bout of pressure washing – which was the moment most of us got hit in the face with it, nasty stuff. Skipper didn’t care ( was my a-hole brother ).
Sounds like what we did too. Suits and respirators was so we’d avoid inhaling it. Really long roller brush handles. I still got a tiny microscopic size drop in my eye that still burns when I move my eye certain way.
Regarding our masks. No facial hair was allowed. You can’t get a seal with facial hair. NBC Warfare, Firefighting, Tank cleaning. Everything had masks.
I think of that when I see guys with beards wearing funky thick diapers around their face thinking they’re protecting themselves from the Chinavirus. Even with the N95 masks. Facial hair = zero protection.
Thinking about this and life at sea, gave me flashbacks… . Death grasping at ya 24/7, and me just facing it with a smirk on my face and a smile in my eye…hard times, sure…but man was it fun :) Realized that was three decades ago, damn I’m getting old…
The only vessel that is painted white on my side of this rock, is a ‘ research ‘ vessel, used by civi’s, registered to our Navy. The waters out here can get dark grey to almost black, so it sticks out like a sore thumb. Guess that’s why I noticed that every time I see it, it’s accompanied by a fregat. Maybe the fact that the ruskies keep probing our sea & air has something to do with it.
Yeah, I have those too. Six hurricanes at sea. One boat roll and flounder with seas entering the Lazarette and going down by the stern. Treading water with full foul weather gear and boots.
I remember a day we (deck crew) were called to do something back aft on a tanker. I was Navy in my youth, but I came of age on Merchant Ships. Before that, charter and Commercial Fishing. Later Mil and Spy.
I think we had to work aloft ie hang from 5/8th line or bos’n chair and work on the stack. We got paid extremely well. No was never in our vocabulary. On that cruise we had an AB named, Jimmy, who was a professional archaeologist sailing with us. Money was so good he’d sail until he had enough to return to some ruins in South America and fund his crew.
Seas were running a little high and the ship was rolling so for ten seconds or so you were hanging hundred feet or better over steel and then over open seas and back. Bosu’n chairs are more snug to your work but I can’t remember what we used when. Anyhow, Jimmy was a well respected AB and as we were rigging up I can still remember him saying “boys, it doesn’t matter what kind of day it is, how calm, or what you’re doing. Everyday is dangerous as hell out here”.
Yeah, Jimmy’s right and I miss the hell out of it. I had to retire in 2008 when surgery left me worse off than the original injury.
Just remembered a time I was over the side of a NOAA ship. They’re all white. We’re underway and I’m in a bos’n chair patching a medium hole on the side of the hull. It was rusted through. It went clean through to our laundry room on the other side. Well, that explains the missing socks.
Anyhow, when I left that was the extent of the repair to the hull. A splotch of RedLead covered over with white paint.
Good times.
What on earth is 3 ships gonna accomplish?
“Airforce buys 3 stealth bombers”
“Army buys 3 tank battalions”
Imagine.
“Marines buys 3 battalions worth of rifles and machine guns.
Does that sound low to anyone else?
It accomplishes $$$$$$$ for the MIC.
Take your pick as to the biggest issue:
…the flaccid quantity of ships (combat or support)…
…the questionable priorities of training meted out by the DoD these days…
…the “not-a-problem-until-it-is-a-digital-Charlie-Foxtrot-crisis” attitude towards maritime logistics…
…the problem of the “less-with-fewer” manning theories of modern ship design (ships ain’t gonna paint/chip/scrape their own rust, after all…)
…the associated shortages for future damage control…
…the sudden realization that we are in the running for the “soup sandwich” award in forward basing and repair facilities in the SCS…
Three ships.
Nice.
Three… no… *two*, now Seawolf-class boats…
Big. Deal.
These idiots in the MIC congratulate themselves daily while some of us are sitting here going deaf and hoarse from our own warnings.
“What on earth is 3 ships gonna accomplish?”
Unlike armed forces that use smaller types of equipment – the Navy has always used ships in an experimental role for some classes. The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise CVN-65, was basically an experiment meant to last up to 25 years. Instead we were able to fully use it and keep it commissioned for 50 years.
The current Seawolf class subs were meant to be a larger class than three, but the cold war ended, and we needed boats with a different mission mix profile – and lower cost. Hence the Virginia class subs were made, and we not only have them in large numbers but they benefited immensely from the Seawolf class. Given the larger power struggles with China and Russia, the next attack sub class will be more Seawolf like than Virginia like.
Go back to the early nuke subs and you’ll see a lot of single class boats used to try out ideas. We don’t throw away experimental designs, but we try to use them operationally. They really are too expensive to just throw away.
The Zumwalts were next to be a next generation destroyer with some advanced capabilities, but they suffered from the same problem as the new Ford class carrier – pack in as much new technological innovations as we can. Not a good idea, but the class is proving out some concepts for the future. The new Arleigh Burke Flight III destroyer class will benefit from them, as they are quite different from the Flight IIA and previous blocks.
All this isn’t trying to say we don’t mess up designs. We have lately. I already mentioned the Ford class, which should have had more incremental design improvements, or at least a lot more land based testing that simulated at sea operations if we wanted success in introducing the new tech. The Freedom class LCS ship has not been a success by any means, but a shipbuilder’s welfare program. Generally the sub classes have been thought out well and they have fewer programmatic issues. We should see that continue with the next SSBN class of subs set to go to sea in 2031 (the Columbia class boats).
The good news is the next real ship, a frigate class, will be a solid design, based on a European design, and should work out well without needing to be an experimental design.
I really appreciate this insight. Thank you!!!!