NationStates Jolt Archive

Davenport Post-Intelligencer
Most intelligent than a post seven days a week!
Vol. 383, Edition 49, February 18, 1885 SY

Navy’s ships spring leaks, sound of fiddles heard
By: Martin Bremmer, defense correspondant

Port Liberty Naval Base, Sanumi, West Brighton – The latest deployment of the JDS Sevres (BBGN-109) came to a sudden halt on February 16, eighty-eight miles off the coast of West Brighton, as the ship befell a series of catastrophic pump failings that saw the cessation of all bilging activity on-board the one-hundred-and-eleven-thousand ton vessel. Following the failure, all stop was ordered and the ship’s watertight bulkheads were sealed. Tugs and support ships were scrambled from Port Liberty Naval Base, whereupon the Sevres was towed back to Port Liberty. No casualties were reported upon the Sevres’s return to port.

This is not the first time that such a mechanical failure has stopped the deployment of a Juumanistran battleship in recent months. Seven months ago, the Sevres once more fell victim to mechanical failures, as metal fatigue and corrosion succeeded in rendered three of her six shafts unfit for service and returning her to dry dock until just three weeks ago, when she was once more deemed fit for service. Four months ago, the JDS San Stefano (BBGN-107) was forced back to home port prematurely after one of her sensor masts spontaneously collapsed. And just last month, the JDS Westphalia (BBGN-101) was forced home as two of her three main turrets suffered terminal failures.

The trouble, policy insiders say, lies in the 16 Westphalia class nuclear guided-missile battleships that the Juumanistran Navy employs in its eight Rapid Expeditionary Assault Groups. The Westphalia class vessels comprise just 16 of the Juumanistran Navy’s heavy surface combatants, compared to the 112 Alcibiades class nuclear battleships and 164 Bainbridge class battlecruisers. Given their relatively small number, experience and expertise on them is limited and, given their greater age than the newer Alcibiades and Bainbridge class vessels, they bear little resemblance to their cousins in the fleet.

“The real problem,” Dr. Oliver Cantwell of the Institute for Naval Defense Policy argues, “is that the Westphalia class is antiquated. It was antiquated, even at the time of procurement, when compared to even the Bastion class that it was picked over, to say nothing of the Alcibiades class or King Henry V class.”

That sentiment is echoed by Representative Brent Hollings(GGP-WB9), a member of the Subcommittee on Procurement in Armed Forces Committee. “The Navy opted for the Westphalia class because it was cheaper than the alternatives; they wanted more ships, irregardless of the risks of operating them,” he said in a press release this morning.

With a price tag of ][4.54 billion, and an annual operating budget of ][194 million, the Westphalia class has proven to be an expensive corner to cut. Especially now that costs have skyrocketed this fiscal year, featuring a ][2 billion refit of the Sevres, another ][150 million for the San Stefano, and ][400 million for the Westphalia. This is to say nothing of the next drydocking of the Sevres, which could have a price tag as high as ][1.5 billion.

“What needs to be done,” Dr. Cantwell advises, “is the decommissioning of the Westphalia class. That also means procuring sixteen new battleships to replace them. And, given that the price tag on a top-of-the-line ship these days is triple what was spent on the Westphalias, there will be resistance from the Congress and the Navy.”

When contacted, the Navy refused to comment, beyond that an investigation has been launched into the incident aboard the Sevres and that it shall keep the media abreast on important developments in the story.

Davenport Post-Intelligencer
Most intelligent than a post seven days a week!
Vol. 383, Edition 89, March 30, 1885 SY

Righty-tighty, lefty-loosey; Navy has trouble telling difference
By: Martin Bremmer, defense correspondent

With the Navy’s release of the final draft of its investigation into the Sevres Incident, in which the JDS Sevres suffered a catastrophic failure of bilging capacity, the main response from members of Congress and policy insiders has been that the report is a confirmation that something is deeply wrong with the Juumanistran Navy. The report cites inadequate maintenance and training of maintenance crews as the primary reasons for the failure of the Sevres’s bilging systems, an odd and startling admission from an organization that has for centuries predicated its effectiveness on an overabundance of training and readiness.

“The Fleet’s sixteen Westphalia class vessels are, despite the valiant efforts of their crews, inadequate and insufficient,” Commander Aaron Levitt, press officer for Third Expeditionary Fleet, told the Post-Intelligencer. “Given our current force structure and posture, as well as their age and the stress of frontline service, maintaining the Westphalias as frontline combat vessels is beyond our means.”

Commander Levitt’s sentiments have been echoed from within the Congress. “The Westphalia class saw the final nail driven into its coffin on Feburary 15,” says Representative Kelly Morrison(CDU-CH24), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Naval Policy and Maritime Defense, “but the question is whether it’s simply a piece of bad hardware of if the Navy’s clinging to the Westphalias, in-spite of their known deficiencies, as long as they did is simply a manifestation of a deeper-seated problem.”

To that end, sources report that contact has been made by the Office of the Secretary of Defense with Tachibana Hydrosystems, Nijino Shipwrights, and W&T Aquaworks to begin tendering bids to replace the Navy’s sixteen Westphalia class battleships. Debate still rages as to whether the Westphalias should be replaced by the Alcibiades class or if the newer, more advanced King Henry V class should be ordered to take the place of the Westphalias.

Both proposals, however, have provoked the ire of the Congress, in-particular the Subcommittee on Procurement and the Appropriations Committee. “There’s no need to be hasty,” says Rep. Yukiichi O’Hullihan(CDU-HF88), chair of the Appropriations Committee, “throwing ][250 billion at a naval procurement program that doesn’t address the underlying problems of the Navy, if there are any, is a massive waste of taxpayer money. Better to first investigate the Navy itself to see if there are other dynamics at work before throwing good money after bad.”

While Prime Minister Fukiyama(CDU-NK) could not be reached for comment, her office indicated that she will support a naval review and that one will be launched with all due haste.

Davenport Post-Intelligencer
Most intelligent than a post seven days a week!
Page C1, Opinion/Editorials

In the interest of broadening our understanding of world opinion of the Juumanistran nation and people, the editorial board of the Post-Intelligencer would like to ask our foreign readers to submit their thoughts and opinions for publication.