WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s forthcoming Integrated Naval Force Structure Assessment (INFSA) differs from the 2016 FSA by some inflection points, including a reduced emphasis on large surface combatants, the Navy’s top official said. 

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas B. Modly, speaking Feb. 28 at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, noted several inflection points.  

“One of the more significant things is de-emphasis on large surface combatants,” Modly said. “You will see that number come down in favor of more small, highly capable surface combatants like the frigate and some of the things that we’re thinking about doing with the LCS [littoral combat ship].” 

He said another inflection point is unmanned vessels.  

“There is a large discussion about how unmanned [vessels] would work,” he said. “The numbers of the end-state of that are still in flux, and I’m fully comfortable with that being in flux because, frankly, we don’t have any right now. Whether we end up of 45 or something [unmanned vessels] that we don’t know or 50 or 75 we don’t know, it’s sort of irrelevant.” 

“We know we have to start down the path towards unmanned to understand how that’s going to work, and that’s both underwater and above water, [including] large, medium, small, etc.,” he said. 

Modly also said that two new classes of ships are being considered by the Navy. One is a smaller, lighter, more lightly manned amphibious ship that “can provide the distributed maritime operations and the expeditionary advanced base operations that are part of [Marine Commandant David H. Berger’s] vision.” 

The second class is a combat support ship.  

“We currently don’t have those kind of ships in the fleet right now, nor on the drawing board,” he said. “In this [fiscal 2021] budget, we have dollars assigned to start research and development.” 

Modly noted that there are differences between the Navy Department’s analysis and that of the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office. 

“I don’t think they’re that significant, when you’re talking about a plan that’s going to evolve over 10 years, so it’s [Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s] prerogative and so we’re supporting him in taking a look at that,” he said. “The next couple of months we’ll probably tighten up some of those differences.” 

“We’ve got to invest in a new amphib; we’ve got to invest in a new combat support [vessel]; we’ve got to invest in the frigate,” Modly said. “We’ve got to think about how we accelerate the pace in which we’re going to acquire the frigate. We’ve got to think about unmanned.”  

Modly said the Navy and Marine Corps both assigned three-star flag officers to conduct the INFSA, a study that included campaign analyses. 

“It’s a good starting point for this future force structure,” he said. “What we want to do now is take it out of the realm being something we do every four years. This is how we have to start thinking as a department. So, we are developing a process now to take that statement around and iterate it continually so that it can inform our budget process in more of a real-time manner.”

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii — A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was lased by People’s Republic of China (PRC) navy destroyer 161 on Feb. 17 while flying in airspace above international waters about 380 miles west of Guam, according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet’s public affairs office. 

The P-8A was operating in international airspace. The PRC navy destroyer’s actions were deemed unsafe and unprofessional. 

Additionally, these acts violate the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), a multilateral agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of incidents at sea, according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet. 

The CUES agreement specifically addresses the use of lasers that could harm personnel or damage equipment. The destroyer’s actions were also inconsistent with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between U.S. Defense Department and the Ministry of National Defense of the PRC regarding rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters.  

The laser, which was not visible to the naked eye, was captured by a sensor onboard the P-8A. Weapons-grade lasers could potentially cause serious harm to aircrew and mariners as well as ship and aircraft systems. 

The P-8A is assigned to VP-45, based at Jacksonville, Florida, and is forward-deployed to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. The squadron conducts routine operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. 

Navy aircraft routinely fly in the Philippine Sea and have done so for many years and aircraft and ships will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.

PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The U.S. Navy accepted delivery on Feb. 28 of the future USS Tripoli, the newest America-class amphibious assault ship, from Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, the Navy announced.   

Amphibious assault ships project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the amphibious ready group or expeditionary strike group. These ships transport elements of a U.S. Marine expeditionary unit or Marine expeditionary brigade with a combination of aircraft and landing craft. Optimized for aviation capability, Tripoli will enhance Marine aviation with an enlarged hangar deck, greater maintenance capability, and JP-5 fuel capacity. 

“On behalf of the entire team, I am grateful to take delivery of this versatile warfighting asset,” said Tom Rivers, amphibious warfare program manager for Program Executive Office (PEO)-Ships. “The Navy and industry team has worked persistently to deliver this platform, ready to integrate the Marine Corps air combat element, including the Joint Strike Fighter, to our combatant commanders.”   

USS Tripoli incorporates the fuel-efficient gas turbine propulsion plant, zonal electrical distribution, and electric auxiliary systems first installed on USS Makin Island (LHD 8). LHA 7 will be 844 feet in length, will have a displacement of about 44,971 long tons and can operate at speeds of more than 20 knots. 

“Shipbuilding is a team sport, and LHA 7 is no exception,” said Capt. Nathan Schneider, supervisor of shipbuilding, conversion and repair (SUPSHIP) Gulf Coast at Naval Sea Systems Command. 

“LHA 7 represents the culmination of significant work effort by shipbuilders here at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, suppliers around the nation, and government stakeholders both here in Pascagoula as well as Naval Sea Systems Command and the Program Executive Office-Ships in Washington, D.C., along with the warfare centers around the country.” 

With Tripoli delivered, the ship will focus on moving crew aboard and preparing for commissioning and sail-away later this year.  

HII’s Pascagoula shipyard also is producing Bougainville (LHA 8), the guided missile destroyers Delbert D. Black (DDG 119), Frank E. Peterson (DDG 121), Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125) and amphibious transport dock ships, Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) and Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29). 

WASHINGTON —
Lawmakers challenged U.S. Navy leaders at a fiscal year 2021 budget hearing on how
long it will take to acquire a 355-ship fleet, how many vessels will be
unmanned and why more ships of the fleet aren’t submarines.

Acting Navy
Secretary Thomas B. Modly, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday and Commandant
of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger acknowledged the Navy Department’s
relatively flat budget request of $207.1 billion — $161 billion for the Navy
and $46 billion for the Marines — had forced hard choices in procurement and
end strength.

The budget
request slows the trajectory toward a fleet of 355 or more ships, but “it does
not arrest” that goal, Modly told the House Armed Services Committee on Feb.
27, offering his personal assurance that the Navy is “deeply committed” to
building a larger, more capable, more distributed force within a time frame of
no more than 10 years.

Both the
committee chairman, Rep.  Adam Smith
(D-Wash.), and the ranking member, Rep. Mach Thornberry (R-Texas), said they are
more interested in ships’ capabilities than numbers. “The 355 number kind of
offends me,” Smith added. “You know, you can have 355 rowboats, theoretically,
and you would have 355 ships.” Rep. Robert Wittman (R-Va.) called getting to
355 ships by 2030 “an impossible task based on the current pace.”

“The 355 number kind of offends me. You know, you can have 355 rowboats, theoretically, and you would have 355 ships.”

Rep.  Adam Smith (D-Wash.)

Modly
disagreed, but he said two things are required for the goal to become reality:
a reasonable plan and the political will. Modly’s plan starts with finding ways
to wring between $5 billion and $8 billion per year out of the existing Navy budget,
and he’s conducting a 45-day stem-to-stern review to find outdated or
unnecessary expenses for elimination. He said he would do what he could to stir
political will.

Several
lawmakers were concerned about the size and numbers planned for air, surface
and underwater unmanned vehicles.

“We have to
really accelerate our investment in unmanned platforms,” Modly said, explaining
why the Navy is seeking funding for the serial production of a large unmanned
surface vessel before prototyping and testing are complete. It would be hard to
experiment with concepts to understand how the technology will work with others
without an existing platform, he said.

Regarding
lethal unmanned aircraft, Berger said he didn’t yet know how they would operate
in cooperation with manned aircraft. He did know “we have got to move faster
than we have in the past three or four years,” he said. “We can cover a lot
more ground if it is a mix of manned and unmanned. It is also more survivable,”
by complicating targeting for enemy air defense systems, Berger said.

Rep. Joe
Courtney (D-Conn.), chairman of the House Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee,
complained about the Defense Department’s last-minute reduction in shipbuilding
accounts that led to the elimination of one of two planned Virginia-class
attack submarines from the proposed 2021 budget.

Courtney
noted that Gilday’s predecessor as CNO, Adm. John Richardson, said there was no
greater need in warfighting requirement and current inventory than the attack
submarine. With older subs scheduled to retire in coming years, the Navy will
be down to 42 attack boats by 2028. Modly said he wasn’t part of the discussion
about shifting shipbuilding money, but the elimination wasn’t helpful “because
it takes a ship out of a plan that we are driving toward.”

Gilday said
his first objective is to fully fund the new Columbia-class ballistic missile sub.
Noting the Ohio-class subs, “the nuclear seaborne deterrent that this nation
depends upon” is aging out. “We need to deliver Columbia on time for its first
patrol in 2031,” he said.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Huntington Ingalls Industries has reached an
important milestone in the construction of the aircraft carrier John F.
Kennedy as the first of 2,700 compartments were turned over to the ship’s crew,
the company announced.

The completed spaces allow Sailors to begin training on the carrier
while final outfitting and testing progresses at the company’s Newport News
Shipbuilding division.

Earlier this month, Sailors assigned to the pre-commissioning
unit began coming onboard the ship and working in some of the compartments,
which include a training facility, offices and habitability spaces.

Turning over crew training areas earlier in Kennedy’s
construction was a lesson learned from the construction of the USS Gerald
R. Ford. As a result, the Kennedy’s construction team was able to
complete and turn over 63 compartments to the ship’s crew over four months
earlier than on Ford.

“The first Sailors coming onboard is a significant step in the
life of the ship,” said Mike Butler, program director for Kennedy. “Our
completing and turning over these spaces to the crew will allow them to start
on-hands, shipboard training, and learn the systems and components they will
operate when the ship joins the fleet.”

Over the next two and a half years, other spaces, such as
berthing and mess areas, will be completed, and distributive, mechanical and
combat systems, such as catapults and radar arrays, will be tested.

HUNT VALLEY, Md. — Textron Systems Corp. announced that
the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) program, which is based
on Textron’s Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV), has achieved a Milestone C
decision. The decision allows the program to enter low-rate initial production
(LRIP), with the Navy planning to award three UISS systems to Textron under
their existing contract.

“The Textron and U.S. Navy teams have worked diligently
to reach this Milestone C decision,” said Wayne Prender, senior vice president
of applied technologies and advanced programs at Textron. “We recognize the
time on the water and dedication of the testing teams which enabled us to enter
this phase of the program.” 

UISS is the Navy’s first unmanned surface vehicle (USV)
program of record, designed for the demanding maritime environment. It provides
unmanned mine counter-measure and capabilities using interchangeable payloads
and advanced sensors.

UISS completed Navy developmental test and operational
assessment in November. The UISS is the first in the Navy’s USV portfolio to
reach this milestone. UISS is part of a comprehensive Mine Counter Measure
Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MCM USV) mission and is designed to be deployed from
the littoral combat ship and vessels of opportunity.

Textron is the prime contractor and system integrator
for the UISS and MCM USV programs. The company designed CUSV as a multi-mission
unmanned surface vehicle, capability of carrying multiple payloads including
side-scan sonar, mine neutralization, non-lethal weapons, and intelligence, surveillance
and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors.

Production will be completed at Textron’s Hunt Valley,
Maryland, and New Orleans locations.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant returned home on Feb. 27 to Naval Station Mayport after completing a nine-week patrol in the Caribbean Sea, according to the Coast Guard 7th District.

The Valiant crew
patrolled more than 11,000 nautical miles in the Caribbean supporting Joint
Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) conducting humanitarian and law-enforcement
operations, ultimately saving 23 lives.

While underway, the Valiant crew interdicted a 30-foot disabled and adrift migrant vessel attempting an illegal voyage to Puerto Rico, about 37 nautical miles south of Isla Saona, Dominican Republic.

A Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Aircraft crew spotted the vessel and directed Valiant to its location. This interdiction rescued 19 migrants whose vessel would not have had enough fuel to reach its U.S. destination. The crew later transferred the Dominican migrants to a Dominican navy vessel for a safe return home.

Previously, the Cutter
Richard Dixon crew transferred 50 migrants to Valiant from two separate
interdictions. The Valiant crew transported six of the migrants to Ramey Sector
Border Patrol Agents in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, for federal prosecution on
charges of attempting to illegally re-enter the United States. The crew then
repatriated the remaining 44 migrants to the Dominican Republic.

In addition to interdicting migrant vessels, the Valiant crew conducted joint law-enforcement operations with the Belize coast guard and hosted a Belize coast guard officer aboard.

This opportunity gave both nations the chance to communicate and learn from each other while sharing different law-enforcement techniques. As a result of the exercise, Belize was able to establish a presence further offshore in a suspected drug smuggling area. Throughout their patrol, the crew conducted law-enforcement operations with an embarked MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from the U.S. Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) from Jacksonville, Florida.

Near the end of the patrol, the Valiant crew located two disabled vessels in a known drug smuggling area within a 24-hour period. The first was experiencing engine troubles and the other was out of fuel, and both crews claimed they had been adrift and without food or water for days. The Valiant crew rescued all four from their stricken vessels, embarked them onboard the cutter as search-and-rescue survivors, and transferred them to the Colombian navy for transport back to land.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our crew this patrol as we plied the waters of the Caribbean for illicit maritime drug smugglers over the past two months in support of JIATF-S counterdrug operations, interdicting two logistics supply vessels,” said Cmdr. Matthew Waldron, Valiant’s commanding officer.

“Additionally, the crew demonstrated exceptional flexibility by quickly shifting gears from counter-drug to migrant operations and interdicting a disabled yola with 19 Dominican migrants bound for Puerto Rico in the middle of the night. Had it not been for the combined efforts of a forward-deployed Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 crew, the Dominican Republic navy and Valiant, the individuals on that yola would have likely been lost at sea. … That’s 19 lives saved.”

When it comes to evaluating new naval technologies and
concepts in an operational environment, the U.S. 4th Fleet could be called “the
fleet for innovation.”

Christopher Heagney is the science adviser to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet, detailed from the Office of Naval Research (ONR). In this capacity, Heagney is helping to ensure the Chief of Naval Research-managed $2.1 billion annual science and technology (S&T) budget meets the fleet’s needs.

Check out the digital edition of the February/March Seapower magazine here.

He also leads a team he calls the “innovation cell,”
helping the Navy get new capabilities into the hands of warfighters. Other
members of the cell include Robert
Trost, an econometrician from the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), and Ted
Venable, a retired Navy captain and F/A-18 pilot and the unmanned aircraft system (UAS)
and counter illicit trafficking program manager on the staff. 

“We’re essentially technology scouts,” Heagney said.
“We’re out looking for the latest and greatest technologies being developed by
DoD labs, industry and academia that we can pull forward and bring to the fleet
to solve operational needs.”

Exercises like Unitas bring navies and coast guards
together, but for the U.S. it is also an opportunity for experimentation when a
variety of assets are combined such as Coast Guard cutters, Military Sealift
Command expeditionary fast transports (EPFs) and UAS like ScanEagle, Puma and V-BAT.

A top priority for the fleet commander is persistent
maritime domain awareness. “When I talk to my counterparts at the other fleets,
that’s really the big thing,” Heagney said. “If it’s not No. 1, it’s No. 2 or 3
on their list of priorities. ‘What is out there in the maritime domain that I
don’t know about?’ That’s been a naval objective since the beginning of time,
and it’s something we still struggle today with. We have overhead satellites,
unmanned surface and subsurface and aerial vehicles, and we still can’t get
enough. So, how can we help scratch that itch of the commander? That’s really
what we’re trying to get at.”

Because intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is
a capability gap for the theater, Venable said, the team needs to get creative.
“We are resource-limited in aircraft and ships, so we have worked together with
industry to provide unmanned maritime aircraft — both land-based and sea-based.
Some are programs-of-record [POR] and then there are non-POR aircraft. We had a
large UAS operate from El Salvador International Airport and Panama’s
International Airport in 2009 and 2010 to help the partner nations in the
counter-narcotics detection and the monitoring role,” Venable said. 

“We’re essentially technology scouts. “We’re out looking for the latest and greatest technologies being developed by DoD labs, industry and academia that we can pull forward and bring to the fleet to solve operational needs.”

Christopher Heagney, science adviser to Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet

The Stark Aerospace’s Heron deployment to Panama was
successful, helping the Panamanians seize more than 12 metric tons of cocaine,
Venable said. The team also experimented with the ship-based AeroVironment Puma
AE (all-environment) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Puma AE is a handheld UAV
and contractor-owned/contractor-operated (COCO). “Most of the operations we do
are COCO, because we can contract for services instead of owning the airplane
and having to worry about the training and maintenance. We contract for a
flight-hour requirement, and the company is responsible for satisfying that.

“One of the technologies we’ve been looking at is very
simple, but will help in the landing of our UAVs,” Venable said. “It’s an
optical landing system by Planck Aerosystems that uses something like a QR code
that is about 3 feet square, and the aircraft scan it, locks on and lands on
it.”

4th Fleet Covers Theater Friendly to
Innovation

Venable said there are three key factors that make the 4th
Fleet area of operations a good place to do the testing. “One, it’s a benign
environment; two, it’s right in our backyard and three, we have assets and air
space available to industry to come down and demonstrate their technology
either as a proof of concept or in an actual operational deployment. It’s
mutually beneficial to the company and the Navy.”

Heagney said the innovation cell also focuses on theater
security and cooperation and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief
(HA/DR). Whether it’s a hurricane, earthquake, flood or a country that becomes
unstable, C4F has had to respond. “As a naval force, we respond rapidly when
we’re called forward. So, we’re interested in what kind of technologies can we
find that will help with that mission, whether its medical, or moving supplies,
or conducting search and rescue. We want to find where people are in the most
need when a disaster hits and make sure our response can get what they need to
them. We focus on medical and HA/DR because we don’t have a major kinetic
priority,” he said. “We have a little more flexibility to focus on things other
than warheads on foreheads.”

Key to the success of the innovation efforts are the
experiment designs, data collection, analysis and reports that capture what
they did and why it’s important. 

Trost was an economics professor for 33 years. He’s
involved in designing the experiments, collecting the data during the
experiments and providing the post-mission analyses.

“I design the data collection analysis plans and pass
them on to Ted and Chris for comments,” Trost said. “After the experiments are
complete, I write up the results and again get their comments.”

In updating data or improving computer models and
simulations, the right data must be collected and it must be in the appropriate
format.

“We might look at 10 things and only two or three of them
turn out successful,” Heagney said. “It’s important for the warfighters to know
what works and what doesn’t.  We can help
find that out. And we have the data to back that up.”

Some of the experiments require little or no supervision
or intervention. “We’ve been working with a SBIR [Small Business Innovation
Research] and RIF [Rapid Innovation Fund] project for a new coating for
aircraft. We’ve taking aluminum panels called coupons that have the new
coating, as well as some with no coating, and we’ve taken them to sea aboard a
leased commercial vessel for at-sea data collection,” Heagney said. “We’re
getting real, no-kidding at-sea data on how do these perform in the environment
that our aircraft operate in. Instead of having an F-18 corrode because we
picked the wrong one, we let these corrode and we pick the perfect one.”

The U.S. 4th Fleet is responsible for 14 million square
miles of water from the Caribbean Sea, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. While it
has a lot of ocean, it doesn’t have a lot of ships. But the 4th Fleet does have
platforms, such as the Military Sealift Command expeditionary fast transport
USNS Spearhead (T-EPF 1), which supports a number of logistics and theater
security cooperation missions, and leased offshore support vessels, which can
be used as platforms for testing. 

With the Navy procuring 24 mine countermeasure (MCM) mission
packages for littoral combat ships (LCS), Heagney and his team are looking at
how they can employ components of those mission packages even if an LCS is not
available.

“If we think of LCS as the truck, and the mission package
as the payload, why can’t we use another vessel of opportunity to accomplish
that mission with an MCM adaptive force package? We’re stepping up and saying,
‘Well, we’ve got an EPF if you want to try it on other ships — what other ships
do we have that could potentially do this? The EPF is a good one.’ ”

Heagney points to a test with Naval Warfare Development
Command using a British Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, the RFA Mounts Bay, to use
elements of the LCS MCM mission package from a vessel of opportunity, as a good
example. The test used elements of the mission package such as the Common
Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV), the Knifefish UUV, Airborne Laser Mine
Detection System (ALMDS), Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS), the Mark
18 Mod 1 Swordfish, and the Mark 18 Mod 2 Kingfish UUVs and involved LCS
Squadron (LCSRON) 2 Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 2 and HSC-28 and Explosive
Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 2. 

“It’s not necessarily the capability of that one
particular system, because we assume the vehicle does what it’s supposed to do,”
Heagney said. “We want to develop a concept for doing it. It’s proving that we
can get it on the ship, that there is battery storage and the ability to
recharge them, that there are procedures down so we can actually get it to the
crane and be able to safely deploy the vehicle in the water and then be able to
recover it. That’s what we want to demonstrate, because I If you put in the
water and tell it to ‘go find mines’ it will find mines, right? But it’s all
the ability to launch and recover and do that from multiple ships. I think
that’s what really adds to the punch that the Navy can deliver. We’re not just
tied to these couple ships to do this mission.”

“We don’t really have mine equities, but our sister
fleets — 2nd, 5th, 6th and 7th— definitely do. And we can test it
here for their benefit. We can be the theater innovation,” Heagney added. “It’s
really a benefit for the Navy as a whole.”

‘Unparalleled Opportunities’ to Test, Refine
New Capabilities

“Fourth fleet offers unparalleled opportunities to test
and refine new capabilities and tactics in a risk-controlled environment,
versus a well-resourced, determined, creative adversary that also has a high
capture benefit,” said Rear Adm. Don Gabrielson, commander of the 4th Fleet. “This
team values every opportunity to contribute to national security and is
dedicated to partnering with the U.S. Coast Guard and all our partner nations
in bringing every resource to bear. These innovative systems operate in an
unparalleled learning environment with real national security benefits. We
are grateful for their contributions.”

Heagney said, “When we’re going and doing these
innovation events, we bring scientists out with us. We want them to get out of
the lab and see what it’s like to interface with the fleet.”

A lot of the demonstrations and testing sound simple and
straightforward, but the devil is in the details.

“It is amazing the simple things that you think, ‘Oh yeah, that should be no problem,’ ” Heagney said. “But when you get out on the water, on a new or different ship, things just go south really quick. The maritime environment is crazy difficult. When we take a brand-new technology, and it’s the first time an operator has seen it, and you put in the water, you will be shocked by the results you have. And that’s why we do what we do. We learn.”

Edward Lundquist spoke with the U.S. 4th Fleet innovation cell at Mayport, Florida.

The Port of Los Angeles waterfront in San Pedro is home to the Pacific Battleship Center (PBC) and Battleship Iowa (BB 61) Museum. With its 16-inch guns, Tomahawk missiles and other weapons, the 45,000-ton Iowa was once a forceful and imposing instrument of “battleship diplomacy.” Even moored as a museum, Iowa still conveys a powerful message about the importance of the U.S. Navy today and into the future.

Check out the digital edition of the February/March Seapower magazine here.

Located
next to the Port of Long Beach, the Port of Los Angeles is one of the busiest
in the world with 270 berths, 17 marinas with 3,800 boat slips, 20-plus cargo
terminals, and 75 container cranes and a cruise ship terminal that moves more
than a million cruise passengers each year. While the Iowa is a magnet there to
veterans and naval buffs, it also serves a wider audience. The ship educates
the public on why the Navy and maritime commerce are so important.

“We’ve
worked hard to change our audience from those with a natural affinity, such as
veterans and history buffs, into public engagement,” said Jonathan Williams, president
and CEO of Pacific Battleship Center, the nonprofit organization tasked to
operate the Battleship Iowa Museum.

While
history at the museum is important, the relevancy of the surface Navy to the
public is probably the most important component.

“Surface
warriors understand the importance of their own community and their
contribution to the Navy and the nation. But a museum’s purpose is to educate
the public, and we see our role expanding to educate the public on the
importance of the role of the surface Navy,” Williams said.

“A
large percentage of the general public has no idea of the breadth of the surface
Navy’s role and how it affects the average person’s life. In my opinion,
there’s no better place to do that than right here in the largest port in the
United States, because our Navy helps maintain safe and secure sea lanes to
ensure the passage of all that wonderful cargo that we enjoy as American
consumers and the exports and humanitarian assistance that we send overseas and
all of those different things that make our country what it is.”

Despite
the size of the port, most Los Angeles residents have never been inside it. “There
are young people who live 5 miles from here who have never been on a ship or
even seen one up close,” Williams said.

“Earlier
this year, we announced plans to become the National Museum of the Surface Navy
at Battleship Iowa. We’re in the final design process of our capital campaign
package to raise the necessary funds,” Williams added.

“We’ve worked hard to change our audience from those with a natural affinity, such as veterans and history buffs, into public engagement.”

Jonathan Williams, president and CEO, Pacific Battleship Center

“This
transition will have a tremendous impact locally and regionally and,
ultimately, will raise awareness about the relevancy of the surface Navy today.
As we develop the National Museum of the Surface Navy concept, our capital
campaign package discusses each one of the components of the surface Navy and
why they’re important — not only reflecting on the past in the historical
context of ‘look at this artifact,’ or ‘look at this historical story,’ but why
that component is a relevant aspect of maintaining the future of our country
and international relations.”

Williams
said the focus is on the basics.

“We
realized that only ship lovers like us really care to go inside to see the nuts
and bolts of a ship. The majority of the general public is more interested in
the human connection versus technical facts, which drives a broader level of
storytelling. We have worked really hard to change our audience over the past
seven years from the natural affinity audience of veterans and history buffs to
more of a public engaging audience.”

According
to Williams, the National Museum of the Surface Navy will be more than a
museum. “We want to become the place where we can have conversations about
international trade, safe and secure commerce at sea, disaster response, and
important facets of the surface Navy’s impact to society. We have our wardroom
and our CPO [chief petty officer] mess and our fantail available for meetings,
presentations and seminars. The ship itself can serve to stimulate these
discussions.”

Home
to Exhibits — and a Connection to Active-Duty Sailors

Iowa
is not just a Navy museum — it showcases other maritime themes as well. One
5,000-square-foot former berthing compartment is now Robert Ballard’s “Lost at
Sea” exhibit. The formula seems to be working. According to TripAdvisor, the
Battleship Iowa Museum is the fourth most popular museum of 131 and the sixth
most popular of 623 tourist attractions in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

“We announce the arrival of every veteran who walks aboard.”

JONATHAN WILLIAMS

In
fact, the Battleship Iowa Museum already hosts junior naval officers attending the
basic division officer course at Surface Warfare Officers School who come up
from San Diego for instruction in the history and heritage of the surface Navy.
CPO selects come to the ship from Port Hueneme and San Diego each year for
indoctrination. “We do a lot of enlistments, re-enlistments, retirements and promotion
ceremonies. We also have Army, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard coming here,”
Williams said. “It’s not just Navy.”

The
ship has become a home to various organizations. American Legion Post 61
transferred from Sacramento to San Pedro and is based aboard the Iowa. The U.S.
Naval Sea Cadets Battleship Iowa Division holds its meetings on the ship, and
there is a weekly amateur radio club. The new Battleship Iowa Surface Navy
Association Chapter held its first meeting in the wardroom recently, with more
than half of its membership in attendance.  

The
museum offers two STEM programs to encourage students to learn about science,
technology, engineering and math. One is called “Day of Discovery” with Los
Angeles Unified School District — the second largest school district in the
country. The other is called “STEM at Sea” for any other school district in Los
Angeles or Orange County. “We currently focus on 4th through 6th grades,”
Williams said. “We have trained volunteer tour guides that help us deliver the
program.”

The
emphasis on educating the public doesn’t mean veterans are forgotten. The USS
Iowa association holds its reunion on the ship every four years and meets at
other locations around the country on the other three years.

“We
announce the arrival of every veteran who walks aboard,” Williams said.

Rear
Adm. Mike Shatynski, the chairman of the PBC’s board of directors, said veterans
are still an important part of the Iowa family. “The Iowa would be razor blades
now if not for veterans. As a veteran that has found a home aboard Iowa, I can
speak for my shipmates that it fills that hole in our lives that we have had
since we left active duty. Without exaggeration, I can tell you that Iowa has
changed and saved many lives.” 

Serving
aboard Iowa today is serving as a nexus between the military and the civilian
world for transitioning service members.

“One
of the things we didn’t realize is the organic nature of the ship and how being
part of the crew here today has helped vets and civilians alike bridge that gap
and provide a comfortable environment to be part of something greater than
themselves,” Williams said. “Veterans have always found in service to one’s
country something that’s greater than themselves, feeling like they’re part of
something bigger.

“And
today the ship and this organization continues that experience by organically
helping veterans’ transition into the civilian world — we’re integrating both
civilians and vets aboard a ship platform versus walking into a building or a
workforce development center. We’re hosting a lot of seminars and programs to
build on this unique environment, and we are working with partners like Reboot
out of San Diego, LA County Department of Mental Health, the Wounded Warrior
Project as well, and we’ve received some funding from Philadelphia Gear and the
Johnny Carson Foundation to make this happen.”

According
to Dave Way, the museum’s curator, the Pacific Battleship Center employs 16
full-time employees, with 390 part-timers and several contract personnel who
run the concessions. And there are several hundred volunteers, who Way
described as “incredible beyond words.”

In
addition to grants and corporate sponsorships, the PBC receives revenue from
ticket sales, hosting events and receptions, sleepovers by Boy Scouts and other
groups participating in Camp Battleship, which has 210 original berths, and
even filming by Hollywood production companies.

The
ship has both contractor and volunteers to help maintain the ship in a
condition “satisfactory to the Secretary of the Navy.” The original teak decks,
for example, have been a challenge to maintain. Way said it’s difficult to find
enough quality teak and the oakum caulking needed to make the decks watertight,
so new planking is being installed using Douglas Fir and is being bolted to the
deck.

A
significant donation came from the state of Iowa to keep their namesake ship in
good material condition. It’s no surprise that a big ship in a saltwater
environment needs plenty of upkeep, and the Iowa team takes maintenance
seriously. For example, the active anti-corrosion system uses an electrical
current to protect the hull.

Williams
said that raising money for any historic ship is a challenge, but he is
encouraged by the fact that the organization already has a large donor list of
about 36,000 people who have supported the Iowa, many of which have already
shown interest in the National Museum of the Surface Navy transition. Surprisingly,
Williams said the supporters don’t mind being asked again for donations.

“I
tend to find that we will actually turn off a donor if we don’t ask them to
support the programs or maintain the ship condition. Donors like to make an
impact and involving them in the organization allows them to become a part of
something greater than themselves.” 

Other
Historic Navy Ships Find Access Becoming a Challenge

Other
large historic Navy ships open to visitors find similar challenges as well as opportunities.

Norfolk
is well-known as a Navy town, but it’s not as easy to get on base to take a
tour and see the ships as it once was. According to Stephen Kirkland is the
director of Nauticus National Maritime Center and the Battleship Wisconsin at
Waterside in Norfolk, for many people who come to visit Williamsburg and
Virginia Beach, this is as close as they’re going to get.

Kirkland
said he and his staff have two kinds of visitors. There are the aficionados who
are passionate about the Navy and its ships, especially battleships. “They’re
going to come to see us. We get visitors who have been aboard all four of the
Iowa class ships.”

But,
Kirkland said, “The majority of our guests have no conception. It’s our job and
privilege to give them a better understanding.”

It’s
not just about telling the story of the USS Wisconsin, Kirkland said. “How can
we use this ship to tell the story of the U.S. Navy, and why it’s so important
to our nation and the world?”

Kirkland said his team is trying different ways to get people aboard the ship, such as concerts or holiday-themed events such as Halloween, to appeal to a wider audience. He said Wisconsin is the first battleship to offer an “escape room,” where people must solve a series of problems and figure out how to get out of the room.

“We did it to reach those people who might not come aboard for any other reason than that. But once we get them on the ship, they will immediately have an understanding of how impressive it is. And with that comes more eyeballs and more funding. That’s important, because we’ve got to make sure the ship is in good shape for years to come,” he said.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s plan to procure only eight battle force ships in the 2021 budget came under expected fire from lawmakers during a Feb. 26 hearing on Capitol Hill. 

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley testified at the hearing of the House Armed Services Committee to defend the Defense Department’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget. 

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.), in whose district the Electric Boat submarine construction yard is located, addressing the plan to procure only eight ships — including just one Virginia-class attack submarine — attacked the 2021 plan as deficient for several reasons. 

He noted that a Congressional Research Service report confirmed that one of the eight ships in the 2021 budget — LPD 31, a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship — was authorized and partially paid for via the 2020 defense bill and as such is being double-counted. He said that the real ship procurement proposed for 2021 is only seven ships. 

“With the retirement of Los Angeles-class submarines, which is going to accelerate over the next four or five years, that fleet is going to shrink to 44 subs. Your budget keeps us in that trough into the 2030s.”

Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.)

“Two of those seven are tugboats — they’re salvage ships,” Courtney said in his remarks. “We are not getting briefings in this committee about Russian tugboats or Chinese tugboats. We, in fact, then are left with really five combatant ships.”  

Courtney also criticized the decision to request only one Virginia-class attack submarine versus the two planned, a decision that he said will exacerbate the Navy’s shortage of attack subs. 

“Just for the record, we are at 52 attack submarines today,” Courtney said to Esper. “With the retirement of Los Angeles-class submarines, which is going to accelerate over the next four or five years, that fleet is going to shrink to 44 subs. Your budget keeps us in that trough into the 2030s. It defies any analysis in terms of something that comports with the National Defense Strategy.” 

Courtney also pointed out to Esper that a 30-year shipbuilding plan — required by law — was not submitted with the 2021 budget submission. Esper said he hadn’t seen the 30-year plan but would send it to Congress after he reviewed it. 

“At the appropriate point I will share with you what I believe our future force structure should look like,” Esper said. “I am a big believer in attack submarines. … My gut tells me we need more than we planned for.” 

“But there are two competing pressures we have right now: a topline budget which actually gives us 2% less buying power,” he said. “But the second thing — and importantly — is I support what the Navy did in terms of moving $4 billion from shipbuilding to maintenance. A concern that the [chief of naval operations] has, that the acting secretary has, and I have is that we have a hollow Navy.” 

Esper cited a December Government Accountability Office report, which said that over the last five years, 75% of U.S. surface ships left maintenance late. 

“Half of those ships took over three months to get to sea,” he said. “What that equates to is that 19 in 2019 unavailable to go to sea. We cannot have a hollow Navy. I agree we need to build a 355-plus-ship Navy, but we cannot have a hollow Navy at the same time.” 

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) pointed out that the budget plan to decommission four littoral combat ships, four cruisers and three dock landing ships seemed like math that “doesn’t add up to me to get to 355. In fact, we’re heading south on that.” 

Courtney also characterized the shipbuilding request as a “gut punch” to the welders, electricians and carpenters who build ships and to the supply chain that provides the materiel and components. 

“Lastly, it’s a punch in the gut to the combatant commanders,” he added. 

“In the last few days, we’ve had [Gen. Tod Wolters, commander, U.S. European Command] talk about a 50% increase in Russian submarine patrol operations. We’ve had [Adm. Woody Lewis, commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet] talking about the ever-increasing number of submarines [and Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, Indo-Pacific Command] saying that his ‘day-to-day submarine requirement is met by slightly only 50% of what I’ve asked for.’”