The USS Colorado (SSN-788) was spotted coming back from seat missing a good portion of its stealth coating.
Yes, submarines do tend to suffer damage to their stealth coating over time.
But usually NOT ON THEIR FIRST ******* DEPLOYMENT!!!
And I hate to say this, but this is NOT the extent of the problem. Other Virginia-class submarines are having unacceptable loss of their coating. At at a shipyard other than the one that built the Colorado, a whistle-blower has stated the yard has been falsifying tests.
This is un ******* eable and un ******* acceptable.
What if your chasing down a PLAN submarine or surface ship and your stealth coating decides to pick that moment to detach.
The Navy used to have a punishment called keel hauling.
I think it is time to bring it back. And keel haul everyone responsible, including (and especially) the military contractors.
Since you posted this in the Politics section I presume you are implying that there is a degree of incompetence and/or indolence by those in charge of that department. What step(s) do you think should be taken?
It is not the incompetence of any particular set of persons, rather it is long running institutional incompetence.
George Bush was still President when this particular boat was ordered. Most of her construction took place during the Obama administration. Trump was President during the final stages of construction and her commissioning. So both parties have shared power and many officials have come and gone. Congress has changed hands between parties.
The incompetence transcends any one party.
And due to the political structure, it may be unstoppable. Congress feeds the defense industry. The defense industry feeds Congressmen with campaign donations. And voters like defense jobs in their districts.
Trying to solve this issue is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible.
We also have a problem in that we go so long between building new boats there’s a good chance none of the building crews are even made up of the same people who built the last one.
The less experience someone has on the job or doing a particular job or applying a new process the higher the likelihood mistakes will be made.
You have absolutely no basis for such an accusation. This is not a problem unique to the Virginia class or even to US submarines and the reasons are pretty well understood.
