US-China Conflict: US Nuke Submarine Damaged In South China Sea Ops ‘Stuck For Repairs’ Due To Clogg

[rangerrebew]

US-China Conflict: US Nuke Submarine Damaged In South China Sea Ops ‘Stuck For Repairs’ Due To Clogged Shipyards
By
Ashish Dangwal
June 15, 2023
The USS Connecticut, a US Navy nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine that collided with a seamount in the South China Sea nearly two years ago, will not be operational until at least early 2026, according to reports.
 
This prolonged timeline contributes to a mounting backlog of maintenance overhauls, a matter of concern for the United States as it confronts an expanding Chinese naval presence.

The USS Connecticut, a state-of-the-art Seawolf submarine, encountered an uncharted seamount in October 2021, significantly damaging its bow and lower rudder.

The estimated cost of repairs is approximately $80 million, Bloomberg reported. However, the extended timeline for the submarine’s return to service sheds light on underlying maintenance challenges faced by the Navy’s shipyards.

The USS Connecticut is one of three nuclear-powered Seawolf-class submarines in the US Navy’s fleet. These submarines, originally designed to combat the Soviet Union, are the largest attack submarines in service.

https://eurasiantimes.com/us-china-conflict-us-nuke-submarine-damaged-in-south-china/

[libertybele]

 

[PeteS in CA]

The USS Connecticut, a state-of-the-art Seawolf submarine ...

The Virginia class doesn't exist?

[Smokin Joe]

While tectonic activity and subsurface volcanism may well put new seamounts in the way, it dawns on me that the same folks who expanded islands in the South China Sea to make military bases on them might have put a few obstacles in the way out there that do not appear on our charts, but do appear on theirs.

One of the best uses for drones would be updating bathymetric charts in potentially contested areas. Just a thought.

[Kamaji]

While tectonic activity and subsurface volcanism may well put new seamounts in the way, it dawns on me that the same folks who expanded islands in the South China Sea to make military bases on them might have put a few obstacles in the way out there that do not appear on our charts, but do appear on theirs.

One of the best uses for drones would be updating bathymetric charts in potentially contested areas. Just a thought.

[PeteS in CA]

It's more likely that charts of the South China Sea are very incomplete. And for that matter, sea mount discoveries still happen in parts of the Pacific relatively close to the US.

The US Navy did not become a major navy until the 1910s and 1920s at the earliest, and the technology to do soundings with sonar is of similar age. The pre-WW2 US Asiatic Fleet was mostly older and obsolescent ships, and the Royal Navy used older and less capable cruisers and destroyers to oversee their colonial possessions. Very soon after WW2 ended China went Communist, and North Vietnam not long after. So any charting activities in the South China Sea since WW2 were done in a context that was not the friendliest. The USS Connecticut probably simply found a sea mount or reef that had been there for millennia the hard way.

[Smokin Joe]

It's more likely that charts of the South China Sea are very incomplete. And for that matter, sea mount discoveries still happen in parts of the Pacific relatively close to the US.

The US Navy did not become a major navy until the 1910s and 1920s at the earliest, and the technology to do soundings with sonar is of similar age. The pre-WW2 US Asiatic Fleet was mostly older and obsolescent ships, and the Royal Navy used older and less capable cruisers and destroyers to oversee their colonial possessions. Very soon after WW2 ended China went Communist, and North Vietnam not long after. So any charting activities in the South China Sea since WW2 were done in a context that was not the friendliest. The USS Connecticut probably simply found a sea mount or reef that had been there for millennia the hard way.

Entirely possible that this is the result of 'natural causes'.

Considering the amount of sub activity during WWII, I would think older seamounts and submerged reefs would be pretty well charted. New seamounts are a definite possibility, however, and one would think with all the satellite monitoring activity, warm water plumes from such activity would have been identifiable, indicating the presence of submarine volcanism IF anyone bothered to look for them. Perhaps screening old data might yield some updates, perhaps not.

Which brings us back to using drones to 'mow the lawn' out there and deliver the data needed to update charts. It could likely be done for less than the cost of one sub, and that would be money well spent--especially if we didn't 'share' the data with the Chinese.