SECNAV: Will meet shipbuilding goals

The Navy is on schedule to reach its shipbuilding goals despite a Defense Secretary directive to reduce the number of Littoral Combat Ship buys by 12, according to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. SECDEF Ash Carter told the Navy to reduce its procurement of LCS from 52 to 40 in the FY 2017 budget. Mabus wouldn’t directly comment on the order, but said that the FY-17 budget hasn’t yet been submitted. Regardless of FY-17, Navy’s “decisions that we have made over the past seven years (through FY-16) will ensure that our fleet gets up to more than 300 ships," Mabus said. Shipbuilding is not the work of one person or administration, he noted. It must be maintained over the course of years. From 9/11 to 2009, the Navy put 41 ships under contract. In the past seven years, the Navy will have contracted 84 ships. Mabus highlighted the achievements of the LCS program while emphasizing the increased capability of future ships in the classes. (Source: National Defense 01/14/16) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: Last month, USS Jackson (LCS 6) was commissioned from the Austal-USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala. There are now 19 LCS authorized and appropriated, at an average ship construction cost of $337 million each. Newer frigates are being consider to replace LCS using one of the LCS variant hull designs, and which will provide more fire power, be able to deploy with carrier strike groups, and have robust anti-mine countermeasures and anti-submarine capabilities.