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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Fri Oct 10, 2014, 07:56 AM Oct 2014

Slaying of shipbuilder at Navy Yard still echoes at sea

http://hamptonroads.com/2014/10/slaying-shipbuilder-navy-yard-still-echoes-sea



The future Amphibious Assault Ship America (LHA 6), front, and ships from the Peruvian navy are underway in formation during a passing exercise in the Pacific Ocean. The ship is scheduled to be commissioned Oct. 11 in San Francisco.

Slaying of shipbuilder at Navy Yard still echoes at sea
By Aaron C. Davis
The Washington Post
© October 10, 2014

ABOARD THE FUTURE AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIP AMERICA

Engineer Katie Thatcher nervously wrings her hands near the flight deck, waiting for updates from the crew six decks beneath her. From her perch, the Navy’s next great warship is picture-perfect, its hull shimmering as it slices through the waves. Down below, there’s a problem, and the Navy is missing its best man for days like this.

One of the ship’s electric engines won’t start. To keep moving, the captain has had to fire its gas-guzzling engines for 12 days, often burning an extra $12,000 worth of fuel per hour. There is one person whom Thatcher would like to reach, the one who knew the ship best.

Almost 5,000 miles away at sea on its maiden transit, however, the crew of the future America is on its own.

Retired Cmdr. Michael Arnold was one of the 12 people killed last year when a gunman opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard. The bespectacled program manager was the Navy’s encyclopedia for ships such as this. If there had ever been a similar problem, he would know the solution. If it was something new, he could make sure Thatcher and her crew did not waste time going down a path he had gone down before. To Thatcher, Arnold was a mentor, a confidant, a friend.

..

Meet the $3,400,000,000+ USS America:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LHA_6

PCU America (LHA-6), the fourth American warship to be named for the United States of America,[11] will be the first of the America-class amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy. As of 2014 she will be delivered in spring of 2014,[12] replacing USS Peleliu (LHA-5) of the Tarawa class. Her mission is to act as the flagship of an expeditionary strike group or amphibious ready group, carrying part of a Marine expeditionary unit into battle and putting them ashore with helicopters and V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, supported by F-35B Lightning II aircraft and helicopter gunships.

The ship's design is based on USS Makin Island (LHD-8), but to allow more room for aviation facilities she does not have a well deck, and has smaller medical spaces. With a displacement of 45,000 tons, she is as large as the aircraft carriers of many other nations, and can fulfill similar missions when configured with 20 F-35B strike fighters.

History

The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ingalls Shipyard Division a $2.4 billion fixed-price incentive contract for the detailed design and construction of LHA-6, primarily at the company's shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.[11] The production decision was made in January 2006[13] and construction of LHA-6 began in December 2008.[13] Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter announced in June 2008 that the ship would be named America.[16] The keel-laying ceremony was held on 17 July 2009[2] with delivery originally planned for August 2012.[13] The ship was launched on 4 June 2012,[3] and christened on 20 October.[4] As of 2014, America is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2014, with Naval Base San Diego as her home port.[4][12] She took to the sea for the first time on 5 November 2013, for five days of builder's sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico,[8] and completed acceptance sea trials in February 2014.[12]

..

So how many $50,000 jobs are in that $3.4 billion?

$3.4 billion = (3 x 20,000) + (.4 x 20,000) = 68,000 $50 grand jobs/handouts, whatever.


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