WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy will christen its newest Zumwalt-class guided missile destroyer, the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson (DDG 1002), during a 10 a.m. EST ceremony Saturday, April 27, at General Dynamics-Bath Iron Works shipyard in Bath, Maine, the Navy’s Office of Information said in a release.

The third ship in the Zumwalt class, DDG 1002 is named in honor of late President Lyndon B. Johnson, who served in office from 1963 to 1969 and will be the first ship to bear his name.

Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Johnson, the two daughters of the former president, will serve as the ship’s sponsors. In a time-honored Navy tradition, the sisters will christen the ship by breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow. Robb will also serve as the principal speaker.

“The future USS Lyndon B. Johnson will serve for decades as a reminder of President Johnson’s service to our nation and support of a strong Navy and Marine Corps team,” Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said. “This ship honors not only President Johnson’s service, but also the service of our industry partners who are vital in making the Navy the nation needs.”

Johnson served as a U.S. Navy Reserve officer before being called to active duty after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He requested a combat assignment and served in the Pacific theater. After returning from active duty, Johnson reported to Navy leaders and Congress what he believed were deplorable living conditions for the warfighters. He continued to fight for better standards for all military members.

Johnson’s time as president was marked by the passage of programs that greatly influenced and affected education, health care and civil rights for generations to come. He signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, enacting comprehensive provisions protecting the right to vote and prohibiting racial discrimination by employers. His work on civil rights continued with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, which guaranteed voting rights for all people, regardless of race.

The multimission Zumwalt-class destroyers will be capable of performing a range of deterrence, power projection, sea control, and command and control missions while allowing the Navy to evolve with new systems and missions. Zumwalt ships are 610 feet long, have a beam of 80.7 feet, displace almost 16,000 tons and can reach 30 knots.

ARLINGTON, Va.— The transfer of the new amphibious assault ship USS America to the Forward-Deployed Naval Force (FDNF) next fiscal year will bring a change in capabilities to the 7th Fleet’s amphibious ready group, but the Marines that will go on patrol on America will be able to adjust to the changes and maintain a similar level of combat capability.

America (LHA 6) is scheduled to replace USS Wasp (LHD 1) as the “bog-deck” amphib deployed to Sasebo, Japan. The major difference in the two ships is that America lacks a well deck, a feature on all earlier LHAs and LHDs that can float landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles.

The America and its soon-to-be commissioned sister ship Tripoli were designed to be more aviation-centric. The trend was reversed with the third ship of the class, the future Bougainville, which will have a well deck.

The Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), the 31st MEU, which deploys on the ships of the Sasebo-based amphibious ships, differs from other MEUs in that it does not include M1A1 tanks in its load-out.

“I do not possess tanks, because we don’t have tanks on Okinawa,” said Col. Robert Brodie, commander of the 31st MEU, speaking April 23 to the Potomac Institute in Arlington of the 31st MEU’s patrol in the Western Pacific in early 2019.

With somewhat of a lighter load, the 31st MEU will have less of a problem handling the unit’s equipment of the America-centric amphibious ready group (ARG).

Brodie said his staff already is looking at the optimum way to configure the MEU’s equipment load-out to best operate from the America. The ship’s lack of a well deck means that three fewer landing craft — LCACs or LCUs — would be carried by the ships of the ARG.

Brodie is optimistic that the increased aviation capacity of the America could make up for the loss of a well deck. The America would more easily accommodate 12 MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft rather than the 10 that the Wasp typically carried. The two additional Ospreys would add to the overall airlift capability that could make up for some of the loss of lift by landing craft, especially without the requirement to accommodate tanks.

The America’s increased aviation capacity also would enable the America to deploy with perhaps as many as eight F-35C Lightning II strike fighters instead of six as on the Wasp. The additional MV-22Bs also would make the eventual installation of an aerial refueling hose on one or more of the MV-22Bs a plus for the range and endurance of the F-35.

The air combat element of the 31st MEU also normally deploys with four CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopters on board the Wasp, in addition to the three Navy MH-60S armed helicopters. The four AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and three UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters are normally staged on the amphibious platform dock ship and dock landing ship of the ARG.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy have awarded VT Halter Marine Inc. of Pascagoula, Mississippi, a contract for the detail, design and construction of the Coast Guard’s first polar security cutter (PSC), which will replace the nation’s aging fleet of icebreakers.

The award is valued at $745.9 million and supports nonrecurring engineering and detail design of the PSC class as well as procurement of long lead-time materials and construction of the first ship, an April 23 Coast Guard release said.

The fixed price incentive (firm) contract also includes options for construction of two additional PSCs. If all options are exercised, the total contract value is $1.9 billion. PSCs support a range of Coast Guard missions such as search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, environmental response and national defense.

“Against the backdrop of ‘Great Power Competition,’ the [PSC] is key to our nation’s presence in the polar regions,” Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Karl L. Schultz said. “With the strong support of both the Trump administration and the United States Congress, this contract award marks an important step towards building the nation’s full complement of six polar icebreakers to meet the unique mission demands that have emerged from increased commerce, tourism, research, and international activities in the Arctic and Antarctic.”

The Naval Sea Systems Command is the lead contracting authority.

“This contract award reflects the great benefit achieved by integrating the incredible talents of Coast Guard and Navy acquisition and shipbuilding professionals to deliver best value at speed,” said James Geurts, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition.

“Working with our industry partners, the team identified approximately $300 million in cost avoidances and accelerated the schedule for delivery of this capability to the nation by almost three years. This reflects the urgency in which we are operating to ensure we deliver capabilities necessary to support the Coast Guard and the nation’s missions in the polar regions.”

Construction on the first PSC is planned to begin in 2021 with delivery planned for 2024. However, the contract includes financial incentives for earlier delivery.

Fort Worth, Texas — Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announced in an April 18 release that, should the Bell 407GXi be selected for the U.S. Navy Advanced Helicopter Trainer program, the company plans to conduct final assembly of the aircraft in Ozark, Alabama.

Bell submitted its proposal to the Navy on April 2. The Navy is seeking to acquire 130 aircraft to replace the fleet of Bell TH-57 helicopters.

“Bell is proud to be the only U.S.-based manufacturer to participate in the Navy Advanced Helicopter Trainer competition,” said Mitch Snyder, president and CEO. “Our Ozark team has proven their capabilities delivering Bell 407s to the Navy through the Fire Scout program. We look forward to providing a safe, technologically advanced aircraft for the next generation of Naval aviators.”

The Bell 407GXi is outfitted with the new Rolls-Royce M250-C47E/4 dual channel FADEC turbine engine, delivering exceptional hot and high performance, fuel efficiency and the ability to cruise at 133 knots/246 kilometers per hour.

The aircraft also features Garmin’s G1000H NXi Integrated Flight Deck, which delivers enhanced situational awareness and reduces pilot workload by delivering information at a glance, such as Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology with Terrain and Obstacle Warning, improving safety for the future of naval flight training.

RED SEA (NNS) — Maritime forces from France’s Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group and the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group participated in a naval passing exercise in the Red Sea on April 15.

The Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group, composed of France’s Marine Nationale aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R-91), F70AA-class air defense destroyer FS Forbin (D-620), and the Royal Danish Navy Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate HDMS Niels Juel (F-363), along with the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, composed of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74), guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG-53), and guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG-74), conducted dissimilar aircraft training, a nighttime gun exercise, a liaison officer exchange program, and a photo exercise.

“French Rafale aircraft and American [F/A-18] Super Hornets conducted air-to-air combat and [refueling] training,” said Cmdr. Desobry Bowens, Carrier Air Wing Nine’s operation officer (CAG-Ops) embarked aboard the John C. Stennis. “The Rafales also performed touch-and-go procedures on the [John C. Stennis’] flight deck.”

The ships and their crews were put through several integrated training events.

“We did a liaison officer exchange, where their CAG-Ops and admiral spent time aboard the John C. Stennis, and our admiral went to the Charles De Gaulle,” Bowens said. “We also exchanged landing signal officers from both aircraft carriers to cross-train. Both carriers have similar aircraft landing equipment.”

Conducting joint operations and exercises in the region with allied NATO partners is beneficial to everyone involved.

“[This] PASSEX enhances partnerships with our NATO allies, and promotes interoperability,” said Bowens. “We can better understand how each other operates. [The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group’s] mission often includes presence operations, and when we work in combined airspace, we show strength through resolve. We’re not just two aircraft carriers passing by each other at sea, we’re working together.”

A similar viewpoint was shared by French leadership.

“This PASSEX with John C. Stennis strike group, a few days only after entering the Red Sea, emphasizes Charles de Gaulle’s come back at its highest level,” said Capt. de Saint Germain, commanding officer of Charles de Gaulle. “That kind of interaction is the best way to increase our interoperability with our American ally.”

The John C. Stennis also provided targets for French Rafales to strafe at during the nighttime GUNEX.

PASSEX is just one of many exercises conducted by partner-nations in support of regional security and stability. The exercise concluded with a photo exercise, capturing the strength through unity that multi-national navies have while operating together.

This PASSEX is one of the many ways the U.S. Navy works with France’s Marine Nationale in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. In January 2019, USS John C. Stennis and France’s Marine Nationale F70AA-class air defense destroyer FS Cassard (D 614) culminated weeks of interoperability training.

The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and the Pacific through the western Indian Ocean and three strategic choke points.

U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations encompasses about 2.5 million square miles of water area and includes the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Red Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean. The expanse is comprised of 20 countries and includes three critical choke points at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal, and the Strait of Bab al-Mandeb at the southern tip of Yemen.

DIEGO GARCIA, British Indian Ocean Territory (NNS) — P-8 aircraft from the U.S. and Indian navies conducted cooperative activities in the Indian Ocean on April 15, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a release.

The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG-111) also joined the drills, which focused on anti-submarine warfare training, information sharing and coordination between maritime patrol aircraft and ships.

“The U.S. Navy is committed to engaging with regional partners in establishing common practices and developing mutual capabilities. Spruance is proud to exercise alongside the Indian navy,” said Cmdr. Matthew Smidt, commanding officer of Spruance. “We were greatly impressed by the professionalism and competency of their MPRA. The exercise was a wonderful experience and opportunity from which we learned and honed our skills.”

Spruance, based in San Diego, and P-8A aircraft from Patrol Squadron (VP) 8 “Fighting Tigers,” based in Jacksonville, Florida, are conducting routine operations in 7th Fleet. The Indian Navy P-8I aircraft is with Naval Air Squadron 312 based at Indian Naval Station Rajali.”Flying ASW (anti-submarine warfare) in the 7th Fleet AOR (area of operations) is a team event, and we eagerly seize every opportunity to work with our allies and partners,” said Lt. James Lowe, pilot with VP-8. “Our goal is to further standardize our procedures so we can work more efficiently in future real-world operations. I think, in the end, we are fortunate to be able to operate out of beautiful Diego Garcia and learn about our Indian counterparts as well!”

U.S. Navy ships and aircraft train routinely with the Indian navy between annual port visits and exercises like Malabar. These events reaffirm a shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

“We look forward to developing useful lessons through this engagement and laying the groundwork for future integration efforts between our Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Forces,” said Cmdr. Zachary Stang, VP-8 commanding officer.

U.S. 7th Fleet provides security alongside allies and partners throughout a free and open Indo-Pacific. As the U.S. Navy’s largest forward-deployed fleet, 7th Fleet operates roughly about 50-70 ships and submarines, and 140 aircraft with approximately 20,000 Sailors.

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi — The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) has taken another step toward returning to the fleet as a fully ready, combat-capable ship, Naval Sea Systems Command said in a release.

The destroyer achieved a milestone in its complex repair and restoration as it successfully launched and moored pierside at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard on April 16. The launch reflects more than a year’s worth of effort in restoring and modernizing one of the U.S. Navy’s most capable warships.

Since the ship’s arrival in Pascagoula in January 2018, work has focused on restoring the integrity of the hull and topside structures that were damaged during a 2017 collision with the containership MV ACX Crystal that killed seven Sailors and injured several others, including Fitzgerald’s commanding officer at the time, Cmdr. Bryce Benson.

“The complexity of this overhaul has been challenging, but our planning team at Bath Iron Works and waterfront team at HII is executing repairs and installing upgrades so that Fitzgerald returns to our Sailors lethal and mission-ready,” said Rear Adm. Jim Downey, deputy commander for surface warfare and commander, Navy Regional Maintenance Center. “We’re excited to have the ship back in the water, where we can begin outfitting and testing efforts in support of getting the ship and crew back underway.”

To restore the impacted spaces to full operations and functionality, various hull, mechanical and electrical, combat system and command, control, communications, computers and intelligence repairs are being conducted. These repairs range from partial to complete refurbishment of impacted spaces to replacement of equipment such as the radar and electronic warfare suite. The ship is also receiving various modernization upgrades. Due to the extent and complexity of the restoration, both repair and new construction procedures are being used.

“This undocking is a step forward and brings us that much closer to getting Fitzgerald back out to sea — where the ship belongs,” said Cmdr. Garrett Miller, Fitzgerald’s current commanding officer. “I’m proud of this crew’s hard work over the past year and look forward to returning to the fleet with enhanced warfighting capability and lethality.”

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s surface warriors need more and better simulators to hone their skills, the vice chief of naval operations said April 16, also noting that crews would benefit from more attention from their commanding officers.

“Commanding officers need more time to train their crews,” VCNO Adm. Bill Moran said, speaking at an event of the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, and sponsored by Huntington Ingalls Industries.

“More freeplay,” Moran said.

Moran, the nominee to become the next and 32nd chief of naval operations, was responding to a question about the results of the Navy’s investigations and reviews of the 2017 collision of the destroyers USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain.

The Navy has adopted 111 recommendations, Moran said, and has been implementing them at a pace such that would not “crush the fleet.” The recommendations are being implemented in three tiers of priority: safety, effectiveness and excellence — moving from a culture of just meeting the standards to exceeding the standards.

Moran, a P-3 pilot, said the Navy needed to “build better simulators,” noting his concern that the quality of the simulators used in the surface warfare community “were well below what I am used to in the aviation community.”

“We [also] don’t have the capacity I think the fleet needs,” he said.

He cited the littoral combat ship community for the good quality of its training simulators and said that “we should have that for every ship class in the Navy.”

“That, to me, will make the biggest difference over time,” he said.

The Navy is building two new structures to house ship simulators in the fleet concentrations of Norfolk, Virginia, and San Diego. The Navy has had in place the NSST (navigation, seamanship and shiphandling trainer) for more than a decade.

Moran stressed that even with excellent simulation, Sailors need “some seawater under your legs.” He praised the measures taken by the Navy’s commander of surface forces, Vice Adm. Rich Brown, to restructure the career path of junior surface warfare officers to give them more time at sea earlier in their careers.

He said that COs can give more time to training their crews by getting maintenance and schedules under control. The Navy has reduced the number of required inspections — knocking out some 60, he said — to free up crews for developing warfighting skills.

WASHINGTON — The Navy’s vice chief of naval operations said that readiness of the strike fighter community is improving and is approaching the 80% goal set by former Defense Secretary James Mattis.

“The highs are getting higher and the lows are getting higher,” said VCNO Adm. Bill Moran, speaking of the daily readiness statistics that come in from the fleet.

Moran was answering questions April 16 at an event of the U.S. Naval Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, and sponsored by Huntington Ingalls Industries.

Moran, a P-3 pilot and now nominee for chief of naval operations, said that less than two years ago, the readiness of the F/A-18 strike fighter was less than 50% mission capable.

The running 10-day average last week was 76%, he said.

Moran said the Navy had “accepted normalization of deviancy” in a time of budget turbulence and that “naval aviation had fallen into that trap.”

He said the Navy recruited the expertise of the commercial aviation industry to look at its processes and metrics and implemented changes that helped to turn the situation around. He also said the lessons also were being applied to surface ship maintenance.

The Navy’s current 30-year plan to achieve a 355-ship fleet may be unworkable because it does not account for the rapidly growing cost of manning and sustaining the force, the almost certain cost overruns for new ship classes it plans to develop and the erosion of shipyard skills from not refueling the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman and delaying purchase of the next amphibious assault ship.

Those were among the problems with the Navy’s shipbuilding plan and fiscal 2020 budget presented by five government and private-sector experts on naval issue at a Heritage Foundation forum April 15.

The speakers, who included Ronald O’Rourke and Eric Labs, the highly regarded naval analysts at the Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office, also cited concerns about the increased maintenance costs for the Arleigh Burke destroyers the Navy plans to keep in service an extra 15 years and the proposal to buy 10 large unmanned surface vessels without any firm idea of how they would be equipped or would operate.

Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and a retired submarine officer, said the cost of manning and sustaining the fleet is growing faster than the rising cost of building a larger force, due to the concerns about gaps in ship manning and reduced ship readiness.

Because the planned future fleet will cost “way more to man and sustain … this plan may be unachievable or undesirable,” Clark said.

O’Rourke also cited the growing cost of sustaining the fleet and Jerry Hendrix, vice president of the Telemus Group and a retired Navy officer, noted that the latest 30-year plan promises to reach the 355-ship fleet based on extending the service life of the early DDG-51s from 30 to 45 years, despite the historic record that for ships kept past year 30 the maintenance cost “increases significantly.”

Labs said another problem with the ambitious shipbuilding plan was the history of significant cost overruns for all the recent first ships in a new class of vessels, while the Navy wants to introduce six new ship types in the next five years.

O’Rourke and Labs listed the proposal to retire the Truman in 2024 rather than conducting the usual midlife nuclear refueling and overhaul to keep it in service for another 25 years as a major change in this year’s budget. Labs said that would take the carrier force down temporarily to nine and then back to 10 but would not sustain the 12 required by law for decades.

Labs said skipping the Truman refueling would deplete the Newport News Shipbuilding workforce’s knowledge on how to do that work and would reduce their ability to do refueling in the future. He also warned that the plan to delay the next LHA amphibious ship until 2024 would create a seven-year construction gap that would “impact the efficiency of the shipbuilding workforce.”

Early congressional hearings on the Navy’s budget indicated that Congress was not likely to allow the Truman’s early retirement.

Bryan McGrath, managing director of the FerryBridge Group and another retired Navy officer, said the plans to buy unmanned surface vessels and more small manned combatants, such as the new guided-missile frigates, would be a way to offset the higher costs of manning and sustaining the larger fleet. But he noted that the budget proposal for the large unmanned ships did not include any details on what sensors or weapons they would carry and no concept of operations showing how they would be deployed.

O’Rourke and others said buying the unmanned ships was part of the new acquisition policy of acquiring new technology and putting it into the fleet quickly for testing.