The Strange Missed Opportunities On USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Deployment | Daily News Byte

America’s newest aircraft carrier, the first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) completed a 53-day shakedown cruise, crawling back into port on a holiday weekend, two days after Thanksgiving. That’s not exactly the triumphant return one might expect for America’s first deployment of a shiny, new aircraft carrier, and it suggests the Navy is still struggling with its new $13.3 billion flat-top.

The carrier did what it needed to do. It flew the aircraft, sailed the ocean, and everyone went home. But, like the ship’s first experience with the replenishment, reported here, the ship’s basic performance is still somewhat uninspiring. After approximately 45 days at sea, the 60 aircraft aboard the USS Ford completed more than 1,250 sorties. That’s nice, but, unless the USS Ford made a whole lot more than 1,250 sorties, the aircraft carrier’s performance still pales in comparison to older carriers.

The numbers don’t lie. In 1991, during the 43 days of Operation Desert Storm, the 56 aircraft aboard the USS middle (CV 41), an old World War II-era carrier, made 3,019 sorties. The Nimitz-class USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), with 78 aircraft, flew 4,149 sorties. The U.S.S Ford is nowhere near that level of performance.

And, while the USS Ford insisted on conducting aircraft sorties, the carrier was provided with roughly the same level of naval support required by fully-engaged aircraft carriers during Desert Storm. Ford conducted 13 underway replenishments—one roughly every 3.5 days at sea. During Desert Storm, in which US carriers consumed enormous amounts of fuel and ordnance, the carriers were required to conduct low-speed and dangerous resupply missions at sea every 2.7 to 3.3 days. If this is just for practice, there is no mention of whether the to Ford The fancy new electromagnetic elevators offered a tangible war-fighting benefit by making resupply intervals—often hours of coordinated steaming practice alongside a slow supply ship—any more short.

Of course, the USS Ford may be more of a success than the Navy is letting on. Much of the “under-the-hood” testing and interoperability efforts performed in this deployment are classified. But even if the multinational exercises are useful, the Navy has missed some clear opportunities to score some easy public wins, showing that the ship is becoming less of a science project and more of a viable combat asset.

Ford Couldn’t Sail More Than 35 Consecutive Days At A Time:

A missed opportunity is simply chalking up sea time. Since delivery, the USS Ford was often at sea, but in other words, two weeks dose between pierside stays. After five years, the to Ford The unique operational patterns become a unique feature of the vessel.

Unlike America’s other large carriers, the USS Ford never goes to sea for long. According to the Navy, after more than 66 months of service, the USS Ford has operated for more than 30 consecutive days only once, in late 2020. This latest deployment, which features only a 24-day period of consecutive steaming between Norfolk and Halifax, Canada, has no exception.

It is especially difficult for observers to understand why the Navy seems unwilling to send a 5.5-year-old ship to sea for more than a month at a time.

Before the deployment, the Navy said the cruise was to demonstrate that the ship could survive a period away from the Navy’s Norfolk superbase, which is not supported by specialist contractors. But instead of stretching out—in just a few days—and setting a new operational record for consecutive hours at sea, USS to Ford time rots at sea.

After managing to cruise for 24 consecutive days before stopping at a four-day port call in Halifax, Canada, USS Ford just two more weeks of sailing before a four-day stop in Portsmouth, UK. It returned to Norfolk a week later.

This kind of performance fails to inspire confidence. To compare, America’s oldest aircraft carrier, the soon-to-be-decommissioned USS Nimitz, completed an epic 321-day deployment in 2021 without port calls. Can the USS Ford do the same?

Up to the USS Ford can operate for long periods at sea, it is useless as a combat asset. The record, so far, suggests USS Ford experience some sort of knotty operational or safety-oriented limitation somewhere around the third week of consecutive travel.

The ‘Great White Fleet’ Moment That Wasn’t:

Outside the USS to Ford 53-day “deployment”, the carrier was only at sea for 45 days. The new ship spent 8 days in port calls. that’s fine. It’s a perfect opportunity to show off the new vessel to new audiences, and diplomatic courtesies are good for everyone. The vessel itself looked great, and the Navy seemed to offer more access to foreign news services than it did to domestic outlets.

But the Navy’s frightening lack of confidence in the platform left the USS Ford a bit adrift, unable to take full advantage of the moment. There was no high-level send-off, and no visits from top naval dignitaries. Both the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, and Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro have flown to remote parts of the world for most of the deployment, distancing themselves from any appearances. Ford-related problems.

The missed opportunities through the Navy’s failure to act at this moment are staggering. From Halifax, the vessel easily made a quick turn north, making a ceremonial cross to the Arctic Circle. And instead of meeting the Chief of the Royal Canadian Navy, Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, aboard the USS Ford in late October, Admiral Gilday’s staff thought it best to introduce the two a week later, in Japan.

This preemptive careful avoidance is a mistake.

Both Canada and Europe have embraced the ship, celebrating the audacious project despite technical hiccups. Having high-level naval representation at both port calls would be a real vote of confidence in the troubled ship, a sweetener to push the crew to arrive on time for a high-level welcome, and a veritable diplomatic coup for a Navy that is, at times, challenged by complex maritime diplomacy and public showmanship.

Put bluntly, the USS Ford is about as American as you can get in the maritime domain—bold, brash, and a little bumbling in execution. In 1907, when America’s modest and technically weak fleet of white-sick irons set off on an uncertain and dangerous voyage around the world, American diplomatic representatives still stopped, celebrating the “Great White Fleet” as it made twenty port calls. on six continents. In the end, the gamble was a major diplomatic success, and President Theodore Roosevelt greeted the fleet on its return. That celebratory fleet may be operationally heavy and relatively insignificant as a military force, but fully supported celebratory engagements have paid huge diplomatic dividends. The same can be said for the USS Ford the Navy took full advantage of the opportunity presented by this deployment.

There will certainly be other opportunities for the Navy to hone their diplomatic skills. If, next year, the five-and-a-half-year-old Ford is still unable to withstand the rigors of more than four consecutive weeks at sea, the Navy had best get about accepting the carrier’s diplomatic value as a sort of port-hopping party barge—because it certainly isn’t the carrier ready for battle. should be quite a bit more.