Something I learned from trying to learn how military equipment works is that "fifty-year old" and the likes aren't necessarily synonymous with "obsolete".
master_crab · 12m ago
They aren’t “obsolete” but at that age they become difficult or impossible to source spare parts for. Particularly because we seem to have such a variety of differing ship designs in the fleet.
The video mentions several ships being laid up to be cannibalized.
JumpCrisscross · 41m ago
The problem isn’t the ships’ age per se and more the concern that we lack the industrial base to replace them if faced with a war of attrition.
Moto7451 · 22m ago
Yup. An example of this is the Air Force’s B52 which has lived longer than many of its immediate successor program (B1 non B) and is scheduled to live longer than the successors to its successor (B1-B, B2) alongside the B21.
We have plenty of mothballed chassis for parts and a seemingly never ending series of modernization programs. A new engine has been proposed repeatedly and is maybe finally happening.
However what we can simply never do is make another one from scratch as all the tooling has been gone since the 1960s. They could do an “inspired by the B52” replacement like the B21 is to the B2, but much like the B2 and F22 we just won’t make more of them for practical and Military Industrial Complex reasons.
nocoiner · 26m ago
But, also, seagoing stuff just tends to get worn out in ways that land or even air assets don’t. So 50+ years for a ship is remarkably old and probably quite close to the end of its life, even assuming that the shipowner is taking measures that wouldn’t be economic in the commercial world.
staplung · 1h ago
There's a lot of stuff in the US military that's somewhat aged. The aircraft carrier Nimitz is still in service and was commissioned 50 years ago. The B-52 has been in service for longer than that (in fairness the design is that old; the actual airplanes, presumably not). The A10 Warthog was first released in 1977 and is still in use. The AR-15, embodied in the M16 and M4 goes back to the 1960s and the Browning M2 goes back to 1933.
hollerith · 52m ago
No, most of the B-52s currently in service are well over 50 years old:
"The last production aircraft, B-52H AF Serial No. 61-40, left the factory on 26 October 1962."
Another weapons system: the M1 heavy machine gun is still heavily used, e.g., one on every Abrams tank, 4 or 6 on every aircraft carrier, and ISTR they were all made before or during WWII.
empiko · 1h ago
China is building incredible 200x times more ships annually compared to the US. You can imagine what the military implications are.
dmix · 1h ago
In a Taiwan type conflict I'd be more worried about all the advanced Chinese anti-ship ballistic/cruise missiles if I was in the US Navy (not to mention submarine torpedoes and drone ships). That stuff can be launched from land/air even without the hundreds of new ships. I'm not convinced the Navy could operate anywhere close to China in a true conflicts. Those US ship VLS cells will empty out pretty fast trying to shoot them down and submarine detection would heavily slow them down plus limit any logistic chains to resupply. But admittedly I'm no modern expert on the topic, just like reading military wikipedia and twitter.
slyall · 46m ago
The US Military is very aware of this. The Next generation fighters and bombers all have longer ranges and longer ranged missiles. The Air-force is working on building more runways and hardened hangers
The Army and Marines are planning around having units on Islands that have to have their own anti-aircraft and anti-ship capability since they won't be able to rely on air or sea support.
jleyank · 1h ago
Along with various medium to large cargo planes and the world's supply of flagged cargo carriers. I'm not sure there's that many "troops and other things" that require more transport, maybe heavy ammunition. Most of the military power sails or flies places.
frankharv · 1h ago
I don't watch YouTube but here a mariners take.
I notice that there is a very large Car Carrier in Norfolk Drydock getting painted white to grey.
Looks like they are converting commercial vessels to military use.
I can't imagine how they handle in big winds. A giant sail like surface.
Flickertail State Crane Ship was recently out doing testing.
It is old but capable.
Gaza Pier help was a bust.
Those piers are not meant to be installed long term. We looked like clowns.
Not Omaha Beach.
8b16380d · 1h ago
Thanks Jones Act
throw0101d · 39m ago
> Thanks Jones Act
The problem is with Congress deciding to not contract to build replacement vessels. In this instance the Jones Act is not the problem.
See "Hawaiian Rum Company Challenges the Jones Act" (30m) from the same channel which really gets into the details and history of the act:
The video mentions several ships being laid up to be cannibalized.
We have plenty of mothballed chassis for parts and a seemingly never ending series of modernization programs. A new engine has been proposed repeatedly and is maybe finally happening.
However what we can simply never do is make another one from scratch as all the tooling has been gone since the 1960s. They could do an “inspired by the B52” replacement like the B21 is to the B2, but much like the B2 and F22 we just won’t make more of them for practical and Military Industrial Complex reasons.
"The last production aircraft, B-52H AF Serial No. 61-40, left the factory on 26 October 1962."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-52_Stratofortress#Var...
Another weapons system: the M1 heavy machine gun is still heavily used, e.g., one on every Abrams tank, 4 or 6 on every aircraft carrier, and ISTR they were all made before or during WWII.
The Army and Marines are planning around having units on Islands that have to have their own anti-aircraft and anti-ship capability since they won't be able to rely on air or sea support.
I notice that there is a very large Car Carrier in Norfolk Drydock getting painted white to grey.
Looks like they are converting commercial vessels to military use.
I can't imagine how they handle in big winds. A giant sail like surface.
Flickertail State Crane Ship was recently out doing testing. It is old but capable.
Gaza Pier help was a bust. Those piers are not meant to be installed long term. We looked like clowns. Not Omaha Beach.
The problem is with Congress deciding to not contract to build replacement vessels. In this instance the Jones Act is not the problem.
See "Hawaiian Rum Company Challenges the Jones Act" (30m) from the same channel which really gets into the details and history of the act:
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuvAY4k3KQ8