U.S. Navy Will Not Replace the Patrol Coastals with a New Boat of Similar Size and Type
At the Surface Navy Association 2021 (SNA 2021) Virtual Symposium, Naval News asked RADM Paul Schlise, USN, Director, Surface Warfare (N96), whether the U.S. Navy intends to replace the aging Patrol Coastal boats. The direct answer is, “No.â€
Peter Ong 30 Jan 2021
Naval News Explains and Offers Insight from SNA 2021
The U.S. Navy does not intend to have a direct replacement for the Cyclone-class Patrol Coastals (PC) under the Trump Administration’s quest for a “500 ship Navy.†However, with the incoming Biden Administration and shifting priorities and strategies, this decision may change as the U.S. Navy reprioritizes and reassesses amid tightening budgets during a nationwide COVID pandemic, high Unemployment, Stimulus demands, and other federal financial issues.
Originally built to transport eight of the elite Naval Special Warfare U.S. Navy’s Sea-Air-Land (SEALs) special forces operators, the PCs were considered too large and too poorly armed for the clandestine stealthy transport role because the PCs’ size for transporting just eight SEALs didn’t seem effective, nor could the PCs stand up and survive against small enemy warships and warplanes outside of its effective gun range.
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/01/u-s-navy-will-not-replace-the-patrol-coastals-with-a-new-boat-of-similar-size-and-type/
