Remember that Gaza pier plan? Whoo, boy
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send in rachel
A very lengthy article at the link, all discouraging, and all worth reading, but here’s a snippet, just to give you the flavor:
“So, this is where the effort stands right now. Boats are broken and scattered all over the Atlantic; a couple have limped back into ports, and a few have even made it as far as Naval Base Souda, Greece, for staging to maybe actually get to Gaza.
“The ragtag little US build-a-pier fleet now faces new problems thanks to the reduced number of ships, personnel, and experience going into treacherous waters.”
...According to the officer, the delays of the Bobo and the smaller Army ships mean "they're going to have a lot fewer pieces to work with as far as building the actual pier."
"The other rub point ... is security arrangements," the officer said, noting that "these boats have next to no security."
"You've got a couple of .50 cals and small arms ... and the vessel masters are not taught maritime tactics," the officer explained.
When asked about the safety of the vessels, Ryder told reporters Tuesday that there will be "some Israeli support when it comes to the maritime aspect of security" and noted that the Navy's 6th Fleet has "capabilities there as well."
“The Army's pretty good-sized navy has been subject to utter neglect for years. The miserable condition of their boats is now suddenly front and center of a truly perilous situation, made even worse by the fact that some of them are unable to reach the objective, much less complete it.
“Back in 2018, a retired Army warrant wrote a scathing article, begging for someone to wake up and "Save the Army's navy."
Many Americans—including many people within the Department of Defense—do not know that the U.S. Army has a large “navy.” It is called Army watercraft, and within this field are about 300 vessels and 2000 soldiers with the specific 880 and 881 military occupational skill (MOS). Army vessels range in size from 75-foot small tugs (STs) to 315-foot logistic support vessels (LSVs) in active and reserve service. Army warrant officers and soldiers man these vessels, with an LSV crew consisting of 8 officers and 27 soldiers. Small tugs operate mainly in harbors and roadsteads, LSVs and 128-foot large tugs (LTs) operate worldwide and are designed and equipped to undertake ocean crossings. Annually the Army commits $120 million dollars to maintain its waterborne capability.
The Army watercraft community faces a crisis, though many within the community may be in denial. Its vessels are not well maintained, it cannot staff full crews, it struggles to meet missions, suffers from embarrassing accidents (which are hidden from public view), and it does not provide what could be a valuable tool or resource for many current and future national challenges. During recent humanitarian and military operations Army watercraft have not been used, or severely under used.
One of those "future challenges" he wrote about is here, now. And they are failing.
And the litany of shortcomings and neglect causing these failures are the exact same.
...Sal Mercogliano, an academic and shipping expert, noted to Military.com on Wednesday that one of the Army Landing Craft Utility ships, the Wilson Wharf, seems to be stuck in Tenerife -- a small island that is part of the Canary Islands cluster off the west coast of Africa. Plus, the Army's Logistics Support Vessel General Frank S. Besson spent a week in the Azores before finally making it to the Navy's base at Souda Bay in Greece.
Mercogliano said such a long stay may indicate the ship had an engineering issue.
A retired Army chief warrant officer who has significant experience in the Army's watercraft community also told Military.com in an interview Wednesday that "if those boats don't have multiple major mechanical failures -- I mean 'dead in the water' mechanical failures -- I will be shocked."
"They're horrendously maintained. I've got videos of these things falling apart," the retired officer added.
“Last October I wrote about the potentially catastrophic state of our country's maritime support system, the U.S. Maritime Support Fleet. Biden has someone in charge right now they mockingly refer to as "The Ghost Admiral." We have already lost the capacity to mobilize a tanker fleet to fuel our naval vessels at sea in event of a large scale conflict.”
“CDR Salamander, along with other experienced naval and maritime observers, have been raising alarms for years about the state of readiness of our vessels, and the shrunken posture of our force. You cannot continue to carve and carve away and still expect there to be meat on bones or good morale in overtaxed, understaffed, over-deployed ships companies.
“… What this exercise attempting to cross the Atlantic has proven is that we may not need tankers. Our poorly maintained and continually neglected naval vessels, be they Navy or Army, may not be capable of making it to the conflict to begin with.
“If someone watching this circus unfold wakes the hell up realizing we are in one hell of a self-inflicted hurt locker and starts to yank chains to immediately effect change?
“Then, this crackpot pier idea will be that blessing in disguise.”
