Two never-finished Navy ships head to scrap heap

[Synicus Maximus]

Source: Pilotonline,com

They are the two ships no one wanted, almost constantly embroiled in one dispute or another for the past 25 years. The two Navy behemoths have never gone on a mission, were never even completed, yet they cost taxpayers at least $300 million.

Now the vessels, the Benjamin Isherwood and the Henry Eckford, are destined to leave Virginia waters for good and be scrapped at a Texas salvage yard, with no money coming back to the U.S. Treasury.

Read more: http://hamptonroads.com.nyud.net/2011/07/two-neverfinished-navy-ships-head-scrap-heap

[Kaleva]

1. A case where a politician got a defense contract for a local company that couldn't do the work.

[jmowreader]

16. More like a local company who went out of business

According to the article, the ships were laid down at the Pennsylvania Shipbuilding Company, which had been in business continuously since 1681. The yard went out of business in 1991, because of a lot of financial shenanigans pulled by its owners. It defaulted on this contract in 1991, and it looks like the reason is the ownership of Pennsylvania Shipbuilding was using the funds from the Navy contract to prop up another one of its shipyards rather than to build the Navy ships.

Here's an interesting legal brief on Pennsylvania Shipbuilding: http://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/opinions/02D0672P.pdf

[Yon_Yonson]

2. Ah what the hell, the Navy does not need anymore ships becuse they have enough

... enough fire power to destroy the planet Earth ten times over. They have a whole frigging nuclear sub fleet to fight terrorist & drug wars, not to mention the surface fleet. It was a SEAL TEAM that got OBL not a nuclear sub. What a fucking waste of money!

[laconicsax]

6. FWIW: The two ships in question were oilers, not warships.

[Yon_Yonson]

7. It's still a waste of tax dollars

The navy of the United States of America; is the agency that maintains and trains and equips combat-ready naval forces.

So be it a oil tanker, a river patrol boat, an aircraft carrier, a guided missile cruiser, a nuclear sub or a damn row boat with USS stern number its one to many and a total waste of taxpayers money!

[BrightKnight]

22. That ship has to be worth much more than scrap steel!

The Navy might not have a use for it but somebody would. Give it to an NGO or an alley that might have a use for it. Scrapping it is almost as wasteful as building it.

[Kaleva]

32. A single hull oiler isn't a good thing for anyone.

[The Stranger]

34. Donate it to Sea Shepherd and ram it into the Japanese whalers.

Whaddaya think?

[The Stranger]

35. Donate it to Sea Shepherd and ram it into the Japanese whalers.

Whaddaya think?

[bossy22]

9. shows how much you know

the navy infact can never have enough ships. Its just a simple numerical fact- the ocean is just too vast. The world's navies (especially the U.S.) are in reality the police force of the world- the majority of commerce is done by sea and these forces protect that commerce. Navies are also the world's foremost disaster response teams capable of delivering much needed supplies in large quantities.

Also, did you know that many SEAL teams deploy from nuclear submarines? There is no more versatile platform on earth than a nuclear submarine. It can sneak into coastal areas, drop off special forces, and then pick them up- without being ever detected. So without them how would you get SEAL teams to a country with large coast line? Would you just drive a surface ship right up to the beach and drop them off? How about fly a C-17 into their airspace- forget about the fact that this aircraft would be picked up my radar and fired upon by SAMs (and most likely shot down).

Also- what should we tell our Merchant fleet (which we do have)? "Sorry guys, you are on your own"?

[Yon_Yonson]

11. I sure am glad that you set me straight on this one

My best guess is that we have 43 US Navy nuclear submarines on patrol dropping of SEAL units wherever. Awful expensive mood of transportation but then what do I know? I do know that a surface ship undercover of darkness with rubber rafts might be less expensive. Then again the SEALS are supermen and maybe we could ask them to walk on water.

How much of the pie do you warriors need to keep us safe from all these evil doers in the world? Last I heard you were chewing up about 43% of the pie and were not any safer than we were after 9-11. Ten years of warfare has got us no closer to a safer world! My gut tells me you folks won’t be happy till you bring the struggling American economy into default.

I believe in a strong American defensive military but our days of giving military industrial complex an open checkbook and our nation building needs to come to a conclusion.

[DeSwiss]

3. Good.

A terrible waste of money, certainly.

But no death and destruction for you!



- K&R

[msongs]

4. and how many people went to jail or prison for this taxpayer fraud? nt

[Yon_Yonson]

8. No this isn't naval fraud it's just piss poor management and leadership

and that's not a crime in NEOCON amerika

[lib2DaBone]

5. And how much did this cost taxpayers?

We can't fix our roads.. or give Granny $500 a month after she worked her whole life...

But.. Military... an open check book....

[PavePusher]

13. Really? I don't think you've ever seen the military up close, or from the inside...

or you'd know that is not at all the truth.

[Yon_Yonson]

15. I have seen it way up close, from the inside and I do think it's time to stop wasting tax money

[rug]

10. Henry Eckford was indicted for fraud.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Eckford_(shipbuilder)

[Yon_Yonson]

14. Help me out here ... Henry Eckford died in 1832

Your reference source states and I see no mention of fraud?

Henry EckfordFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Henry Eckford may refer to:

Persons
Henry Eckford (shipbuilder) (1775-1832), a Scottish-born shipbuilder and naval architect who worked in the United States and Ottoman Empire during the early 19th century
Henry Eckford (horticulturist) (1823-1905), a British horticulturist

Ships
PS Henry Eckford, the first steamship to be powered by a compound engine
USNS Henry Eckford (T-AO-192), an oiler of the United States Navy launched in 1989 but never completed and now in reserve.

[rug]

17. Click on the shipbuilder Henry Eckford link and you'll read all about him.

"One U.S. Navy ship, the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Henry Eckford (T-AO-192), has been named for Henry Eckford"

[Yon_Yonson]

29. OOPS ... my mistake

I thought it was fraud in relationship to the oil tankers in question

[defendandprotect]

12. End the MIC -- and the national security state -- and make the world safe for PEACE -- !!!

[gtar100]

18. My god; what a shame.

What a god-damn shame.

The big pig in the room is yet again the military. The military loves our country so much and protects it so well that it's going to bleed us dry. Sounds perfectly American to me.

Seriously, if the people who ran the military really gave a rat's ass about *real* patriotism and freedom, they'd be mad as all hell at the waste, corruption and abuse going on in their own midst. I'm talking about the upper ranks in the military. But they've built a culture of a complete lack of respect for the very system that supports them (we the taxpayers). Yet again, self-interest trumps all. Ironic, given it's happening in a system that spouts out about "service" and "sacrifice" all the time. Maybe they should apply those principles to the sacred trust they are given with our blood and treasure.

[SoapBox]

19. Feels more like...what a SCAM.

And I agree with the comment that the "big-pig" is indeed the military.

[PavePusher]

21. I'm not so sure.

The article is noteably short on details. Were the ships requested by the Navy, or forced into the budget as Congressional pork, much like the famed current fighter aircraft with two different engine manufacturers...

[PatrynXX]

20. can't seem to use that link

Comodo Firewall tells me its a phishing site. X_X

[No Elephants]

23. Not to nickel and dime, but why are we getting nothing from the Texas salvage yard, either?

I know it would be a drop in the bucket, but it annoys me that they are so cavalier with our money. Heck, even when I re-design a piece of jewelry, I get the scrap value of any precious bit that was excess.

[gtar100]

24. Don't be surprised if the salvage yard turns around and sells the metal back to the military.

Cavalier is a good word for their attitude toward all this.

[Yon_Yonson]

30. Most likely going to China or Japan

[christx30]

25. If they would stop shit like this

then we wouldn't need to be talking about the debt ceiling. We could do a mild tax increase that wouldn't really hurt anyone.
But this kind of crap happens all over the place all the time. They nickel and dime us to death, then they talk about raising taxes and lowering services to where my grandfather might not get his social security check?! There needs to be an investigation into the wastefulness of Washington and the military.

[Blue_Tires]

28. +1

[Yon_Yonson]

31. It’s a sad reality but they won’t and they can’t investigate them self

Our government is incapable of policing itself because its graft and corruption personified. The military industrial complex has an open checkbook to waste and fraud and they will be the downfall of America.

[Earth_First]

26. Paging Paul Watson... n/t

[tanyev]

27. Can we rename them the George W. Bush and the DIck Cheney?

[Ptah]

33. Looks like a very old pair of ships.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_J._Kaiser_class_oiler

The first ship, Henry J. Kaiser, was laid down on 22 August 1984,
and construction continued until delivery of the final unit, Laramie,
on 7 May 1996. Four shipyards were involved in the construction.
Of the 16 completed ships, two -- John Ericsson and Kanawha --
were contracted to Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Company of Chester,
Pennsylvania, for construction, and Avondale Shipyard, Inc., of
New Orleans, Louisiana, built the other 14.


Built:             August 1984-May 1996
In service:     December 1986-present
Building:         0
Planned:         18
Completed:     16
Cancelled:     2 (both laid up incomplete)
Active:         15 US, 1 Chile as of 1 March 2011


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