2018 Developments and Favorites

It’s that time of year, the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, when everyone likes to release lists. Well, ComNavOps will offer two lists.

First up is a list of the top significant developments for the US Navy in 2018. In no particular order, here they are:

No LCS Deployments in 2018– Despite having 13 ships in commission, there were no LCS deployments in 2018. Through its inaction, even the Navy is grudgingly acknowledging that there is no use for these floating dog piles.

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/09/no-lcs-deployments.html

F-35 Concurrency Orphans – It has been acknowledged that concurrency is going to result in hundreds of F-35s that can’t be upgraded to combat status. What a colossal waste!

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/01/f-35-concurrency-orphans.html

No Munition for Zumwalt Gun– The Navy officially announced that they’ve given up on the idea of developing some kind of munition for the Zumwalt’s gun. This one is criminal, or should be.

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/01/ags-zumwalt-colossal-failure.html

MQ-25 Contract Awarded – The Navy has officially moved into the UAV era – for better or worse.

Navy Greatly Reduces McCain/Fitzgerald CO Punishments – After announcing plans to prosecute the Cos for negligent homicide, among other charges, the Navy inexplicably reduced the punishments to mere slaps on the wrist. The Navy’s accountability and integrity just went from near-zero to below zero.

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/05/navy-fails-mccain-collision.html

Norwegian Frigate Sinks– While not a US Navy incident, the opportunity for lessons learned is unprecedented. Further, the design is one of the US Navy’s frigate contenders. Ominous.

Frigate Conceptual Design Contracts Awarded - Huntington Ingalls, Lockheed Martin, Austal, GD Bath Iron Works, and Fincantieri will move forward with conceptual frigate designs. The Lockheed Martin Freedom class LCS 'frigate' will be selected for production in 2018, thus condemning the Navy to a frigate on par with the LCS.

The second list is ComNavOps favorite posts from 2018. The challenge here is that all the posts are so good that it’s hard to choose favorites. This is your chance for a well-worth-it re-read of some outstanding posts. In no particular order, here they are:

Deployments Or Missions?

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/05/deployments-or-missions.html

PT Boat

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/03/pt-boat.html

Carrier Vulnerability and Operational Reality

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/05/carrier-vulnerability-and-operational.html

Battle Damage – Savo Island

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/06/battle-damage-savo-island.html’

Why Not Battleships?

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/06/why-not-battleships.html

War Deployments

https://navy-matters.blogspot.com/2018/07/war-deployments.html