SNA: Sen Collins’ shipbuilding showdown

[Judi Lynn]

SNA: Sen Collins’ shipbuilding showdown
By Philip Ewing Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 10:45 am

~snip~
The Senate Armed Services Committee Republican told the Surface Navy Association that the strategic realities of the 21st century, reinforced by DoD’s brand-new strategic guidance, call not for a large number of fun-size warships, but medium numbers of full-size, full-spectrum combatants. Which, she didn’t need to add, should be built at her home-state Bath Iron Works shipyard.

“As many of the Navy’s uniformed and civilian leaders have said over and over again, ‘At some point, quantity has a quality all its own,’” Collins repeated, before making a wry aside about how that ubiquitous Big Navy talking point was originally coined by Stalin.

But she warned that North Korean instability, Chinese bullying in the South China Sea, and other strategic imperatives in the 21st century mean the Navy needs to think clearly about how best to respond. Collins never said the words “littoral combat ship,” but the message came through clearly:

“Building a large number of ships with limited combat capability at the expense of ships of higher capability could well be a Pyrrhic victory,” she said. Collins pointed out that the Navy’s own shipbuilding plan even admits that it will only meet its required number of surface combatants in seven of the next 30 years. “This concerns me greatly,” she said.

More:
http://www.dodbuzz.com/2012/01/11/sna-sen-collins-shipbuilding-showdown/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Maine doesn't have a ton of good paying, blue collar jobs w/ the exception of BIW

I hope they can keep BIW open in light of the "new Navy".

[Judi Lynn]

2. More Sen. Collins: Collins Slams Colleagues As Ineffective, Too Partisan

Collins Slams Colleagues As Ineffective, Too Partisan
By Otto Kreisher
Published: January 11, 2012

WASHINGTON: Sen. Susan Collins blasted the "highly politicized" nature of Congress, questioning whether Congress can resolve any of the major problems facing it, including the threat of sequestration.

Collins, one of the few surviving Republican moderates on the Hill, noted the positive results for the Navy in the fiscal 2012 defense appropriations during her speech today at the Surface Navy Association's annual conference in Arlington. While congressional appropriators did fund 11 new ships in the legislation, that "came against the background of a harsher partisan environment that continues to get worse," the Maine Republican said. "I've never seen a more polarized environment, which is accompanied by huge challenges to national defense," Collins said.

Congress needs to get past the pattern of Democratic and Republican proposals, "which both sides know will never pass" and get to "more American proposals," she said, drawing long applause from the audience of service members and defense industry representatives.

A member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and champion of the Bath Iron Works shipbuilders, Collins worried about the prospects for the Navy and the shipbuilding industrial base due to required defense budget cuts which could double if sequestration kicks in next January. She noted the new national security strategy announced last week should be favorable to the Navy with the emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region, which requires more sea and air forces. But Adm. Mark Ferguson, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, dashed any prospects for a larger Navy during his speech later that day.

More:
http://defense.aol.com/2012/01/11/collins-slams-fellow-lawmakers-as-ineffective-overly-partisan/