Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro, left, visits the Coast Guard Academy on Oct. 13, 2023. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Bacon/U.S. Coast Guard)
Defense News reports the Secretary of the Navy has initiated an attempt to improve commercial shipbuilding in the US by coordinating the efforts of all the federal agencies that fund ship construction including the Navy, Army and Department of Defense, the Coast Guard, the Maritime Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“He said the council will meet quarterly but that staff-level meetings will take place more regularly. The group will first establish metrics to measure their success and write and sign a charter to explain their mission.”
There are potentially many topics of interest, hopefully shipbuilders will be asked for their input as well. “How can we streamline the process?” Survivability requirements that drive up size and cost should be looked at for at least some classes.
I would propose a pilot project, development of a true small surface combatant, optimized as an ASW escort to protect sea lines of communication, that could be built in second line shipyards, in large numbers if required for mobilization and that could be a dual service ship, used by both the Navy and Coast Guard in peacetime with perhaps different weapons outfits. It might also serve as a design for foreign military sales.
Such a ship should be capable towing a towed array ASW sensor and operating an ASW helicopter like the MH-60R and a VTOL UAS capable of complimenting ASW search functions of both the ship and helicopter.
It should be possible to keep the size of such a ship under 4,000 tons. The Gibbs and Cox proposal for a light frigate for Australia might be a good starting point.
The Australian Light Frigate (foreground) and Constellation class (background) on the Gibbs and Cox stand during Indo Pacific 2023.