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from the may-return-home-under-its-own-power-one-day dept.
El Reg reports:
The US Navy's most advanced ship yet, the $4.4bn stealth destroyer USS Zumwalt, has had to be ignominiously towed through the Panama Canal after its engines failed yet again.
While cruising down the intercontinental waterway, the crew spotted water leaking from two of the four bearings that link the destroyer's advanced electric engines to its propeller drive shafts. Both engines locked up shortly afterwards, and the ship hit the side of the canal, causing some cosmetic damage.
[...] Repairs are expected to take at least ten days and may mean the ship doesn't get into its home port until next year.
This is the latest in a long litany of failures for the USS Zumwalt that have raised questions over the efficacy of the new class of ships. Originally the US planned a fleet of 32 of the advanced destroyers, but the eye-watering cost of the craft has since seen that cut to just three vessels.
[...] It's natural to get teething problems with a new design, particularly something as revolutionary as the USS Zumwalt. But the Navy has already decided to revert to an older class of destroyer for its fleet upgrade. It seems someone on the general staff actually read Arthur C Clarke's warning tale Superiority .
Previously: USS Zumwalt Breaks Down During Sea Trials
[Ed note. Superiority, linked above, is a science fiction classic; well worth reading.]
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday November 28 2016, @02:36PM
I donno about that, there's a big DOD budget that all comes out of and every R+D program I'm aware of has always operated starved for cash, such that they could move faster if they had more $$$. I've never heard of a medium to long term R+D program that had more money than they knew what to do with such that they couldn't hire more grad students or other empire building activities in worst case.
Also the DOD might have issues, but they're not completely insane and they are at least semi-competent, such that yes it would be highly unusual for the army to run out of 5.56 rounds or MREs on a worldwide basis. Some general officer in the quartermaster corps would lose their job in an instant if they even came close to running out of bullets and beans.
So I'd observe the same things you do, but get somewhat different conclusions.