US Nuclear Submarine Force

JohninMK wrote:Careless.

Status-6
@Archer83Able
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The Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN-22) suffered an underwater collision (struck an object) while operating in international waters in the western Pacific on Oct. 2 and is returning to port, USNI reports.

A metallurgist in the US state of Washington has pleaded guilty to fraud after she spent decades faking the results of strength tests on steel that was being used to make Navy submarines.

Prosecutors say Elaine Marie Thomas, 67, gave false positive readings for strength and toughness tests in at least 240 cases between 1985 and 2017.

Authorities did not disclose which vessels were affected.

But there was no indication that any submarine hulls had failed.

Ms Thomas, of Auburn, Washington, was the director of metallurgy at a foundry in Tacoma that supplied steel castings used by Navy contractors to make submarine hulls, the US Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington said in a statement.

The foundry was acquired by the manufacturer Bradken in 2008, according to the indictment. There was no evidence that the company's management was aware of the fraud until May 2017. At that time, prosecutors say, a lab employee found out that test cards had been altered and that other discrepancies existed in the records.

Prosecutors said the falsified tests "represent[ed] a substantial percentage of the castings Bradken produced for the Navy". In 2020, Bradken agreed to pay $10.9m (£8m) as part of a settlement.

The Navy has taken measures to ensure the safe operation of the affected submarines, resulting in increased costs, according to the statement.

When confronted with the falsified results, Ms Thomas suggested that in some cases she gave metal positive results because she thought it was "stupid" that the Navy required the tests to be conducted at -100F (-70C), the Associated Press reports.

John Carpenter, a lawyer for Ms Thomas, said in a statement filed in federal court on Monday that she "took shortcuts and made material misrepresentations."

"Ms Thomas never intended to compromise the integrity of any material and is gratified that the government's testing does not suggest that the structural integrity of any submarine was in fact compromised," he said.

"This offense is unique in that it was neither motivated by greed nor any desire for personal enrichment. She regrets that she failed to follow her moral compass - admitting to false statements is hardly how she envisioned living out her retirement years."

Ms Thomas faces up to 10 years in prison and a $1m fine. She will be sentenced in February.

Isos wrote:I'm pretty sure Virginia costs just as much.

Shocking is the Seawolf cheaper / simpler than the Yassen. LAter most likelly cost close as much as a USA aircraft carrier.

GarryB wrote:

Shocking is the Seawolf cheaper / simpler than the Yassen. LAter most likelly cost close as much as a USA aircraft carrier.

If any Yasen boat cost even a large fraction of a Ford class CVN then Russia would not have any at all.

USS Seawolf and her sister ships remain the most expensive attack submarines ever designed, with the standard boats having an estimated unit cost of $3.1 billion in 1983, or over $8.5 billion today, and Jimmy Carter costing even more.

Singular_Transform wrote:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43605/new-sonar-dome-for-the-navys-stricken-uss-connecticut-submarine-will-cost-at-least-10m

Seawolf simpler than the Yasen, and cost 8.1 billion today's dollars.

Yasen bigger, has more weapons, VLS, torpedo tubes, so it will cost more. And at 10billion you see the price tag of the carriers.

Problem is the USA conomy started to specializate for financial an management things, means the workforce get very pricey, regardless of the job they done. Means one hour of USA worker vs. one hour of Russian worker with sanctoioned exhange rate will be extremly different.

Tsavo Lion wrote:

Singular_Transform wrote:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43605/new-sonar-dome-for-the-navys-stricken-uss-connecticut-submarine-will-cost-at-least-10m

in that case, even if it'll cost $20M, it'll most likely be refitted.
While it's in the yard, it's crew may be detached to, & relieve the crew of the other sub to do its original mission.
https://nvo.ng.ru/armament/2021-12-23/1_1171_connecticut.html?print=Y

Singular_Transform wrote:

It is like judging the repair bill of the car crashed into a brick wall based on the cost of a new front bumper.

It is NOT the sonar, frontal structure, ballast tank, main pressure bulkhead, but only the spherical plastic / composite doom cover the sonar behind it.

GarryB wrote:
The prices each force pays does not map across because the corruption in the west is rampant and criminal... and nothing to do with defence.