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Navy's New, "Truly Unstoppable" Warship Breaks Down Three Weeks After Launch
Here’s a dramatic video of the USS Milwaukee, the Navy's newest Freedom-class littoral combat ship, charging along at 45 knots (note the epic musical score):
That’s from acceptance drills during October when the ship's crew was described by Commander Mark Haney as 'truly unstoppable.’
Fast forward to Friday and this was the scene as the Milwaukee was towed more than 40 nautical miles to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia.
As it turns out, the Milwaukee is ‘truly unstoppable’ unless “fine metal debris” accumulates in the lube oil filter. If that happens, the vessel apparently goes from “unstoppable” to “unusable,” and must be towed to port.
According to NavyTimes, “the ship suffered an engineering casualty while transiting from Halifax, Canada, to Mayport, Florida, and ultimately its home port of San Diego.” Here’s more:
Problems with the propulsion plant began almost as soon as Milwaukee got underway from Halifax. The ship’s computer system triggered an alarm and the ship called away an engineering casualty.
Engineers cleaned out the metal filings from the lube oil filter and locked the port shaft as a precaution. In the early hours of Friday morning, the ship was conducting steering tests and lost lube oil pressure in the starboard combining gear due to the presence of the same metal filings in that filter.
The ship then dropped anchor while the engineers worked on the system. By mid-morning, the salvage ship Grapple rendezvoused with Milwaukee and connected a towing hawser line for the trip back to Little Creek.
John McCain was note happy. "Reporting of a complete loss of propulsion on USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) is deeply alarming, particularly given this ship was commissioned just 20 days ago,” everyone's favorite Senate warhawk said. “U.S. Navy ships are built with redundant systems to enable continued operation in the event of an engineering casualty, which makes this incident very concerning."
According to the Navy, "the Milwaukee is a fast, agile, focused-mission platform designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation" - or not, apparently. And more: "It is designed to defeat asymmetric "anti-access" threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft."
That sounds pretty impressive, so perhaps someone should ask Stephanie C. Hill, vice president of Ship & Aviation Systems for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training business what went wrong. Here's how Hill described the vessel when it was commissioned in November:
“The USS Milwaukee is a warship with capabilities unlike any others. The entire Lockheed Martin-led LCS industry team is proud to deliver USS Milwaukee to the crew who will bring this great ship to life to participate in the defense of our great nation.”
(crew members board the Milwaukee at its commissioning)
We're sure someone at Putin’s new multi-billion, National Control Defense Center got a kick out of this.
Because there's not much more we could add to make this any more amusing than it already is, we'll siimply close with one last quote, this one from the Honorable Ray Mabus, secretary of the Navy:
"The spirit of the people of Wisconsin is evident in the work of the shipbuilders whose tireless efforts have brought the soon-to-be USS Milwaukee to life. It is this spirit that will live on through this ship as it carries the name Milwaukee across the globe and helps ensure our Navy and Marine Corps remain the most formidable expeditionary fighting force the world has ever known."
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Reminds me of when we rebuilt the carbs on the SS minnow on the side of Otisco lake.
Of course, that was a mid 60's Sea Ray and we were young and broke.
pods
GILLIGAN, ZATCHEW???
Spoctor Din
Just sit right back and you'll hear tale, a tale of a fateful trip...
Is the music coming from the ship? That's not very stealthy..
Weapons procurement demonstrates how insane the US has become.
They continue to talk about 6th generation fighters, next generation bombers, the next multi-billion dollar aircraft carrier... all completely ignoring the fact they are insolvent. They should be talking about the next generation slingshot.
That would be the one I'm getting for X-Mass: Chief AJ's Slingbow.
Hmmm, metal filings, those pesky russkies sabotaged it...
Spoctor Din
Perhaps a new Stuxnet for high tech ships?
This is why ships have shakedown cruises.
Shakedown cruise is the right term: shakedown for another fat .GOV check to pull the entire engine apart to see what failed or what tools/junk were left inside by the hung over contractors...
The US Navy's unstoppable floating platform. There fixed that for you.
Truly unstoppable when going down you mean.
"dive,dive,dive, o wait.....we are not on a submarine".
"As it turns out, the Milwaukee is ‘truly unstoppable’ unless “fine metal debris” accumulates in the lube oil filter."
I thought for sure it was gonna be the french fry grease used as fuel...lmao!
So I guess we don't flush the fuel & lube systems anymore to get rid of any "fine metal debris" before the Wookie breaks the champagne bottle on the bow? ;-)
Couldn't get it through the doors of the local Jiffy Lube...
lol..."Ok, we've changed your oil and topped off your fluids Commander. We found you air filter is in really bad shape though. We can install a new one for $2,041,500.99 plus tax. Whadya say?"
How much for a new pair of wipers? ;)
$506.20 with Faaarrreee! installation! ;-)
lol. may I point out that Freedom isn't the only translation of the word... French? sounds dangerous, to allow a Wookie next to a warship. the furry creatures are known to steal ships
;-)
Some times the presence of "fine metal debris" indicates some problems with the equipment the oil is lubing up - the engines or gears are grinding too much to stay in operation...
"quiet diesel submarines"
"sound of silence"
"jumbo shrimp"
etc.
I'll take "Oxymorons for $500", Alex
"USS Milwaukee"
That's just asking for it.
"But Milwaukee isn’t just your average brewing town. It’s the hardest-drinking city in America, according to Forbes.com’s ranking of America’s Drunkest Cities."
They should have stopped by Jiffy Lube for an oil change.
tsk tsk tsk.
The F-35 of the sea has clogged up and broke down.
I saw that new aluminum destroyer, the Zumwalt. It's another boondoggle like this.
drink up me hearties yo ho!
Freedom-class littoral combat ship
AKA Freedom-clittoral ship...the best kind.
I love LM's use of the term "Defense of our great nation".
Yeah, sure, the way we just keep 'defending' our way through one country after another.
Why don't they just come out and admit that they are being used to deter a country from having policies that might be contrary to our imperial ambitions?
Another sign of the dying Amerikan empire.
And it can't come soon enough.
Sinking American Empire.
So who machined the engine parts and why didn't they get the filings out or filtered out in harbor?
Sounds like too much technology & not enough elbow grease and common sense to me.
Kind of like modern American society; screens and thumbs - little work or thought.
The computer told them there were filings in the oil? Sheesh...
Chinese and Mexican parts, assembled with union labor! Murica, fuck yeah!
Lowest bidder... Normally when one finds metal debris in the oil, you would generally flush out EVERYTHING twice inclding 'other' oil compartments, and replace every damn filter. Seems something else is awry here however, metal shavings usually happen during the first start up phases of testing. Most likely another mechanism failed either due to low oil, wrong oil, or NO oil. They will never tell us what exactly happened.... but common sense, and shit.
Sounds like a lack of burn in testing.
The engines are series 8000 built by mtu in germany they are installed as any engine is installed, as a complete unit. And they are also run in on a dyno before being shipped to customer.
“U.S. Navy ships are built with redundant systems to enable continued operation in the event of an engineering casualty, which makes this incident very concerning."
The evidence would indicate otherwise Senator. Just because someone says it is redundant and the specs called for it to be redundant doesn't mean it actually is redundant.
it's redundant. both systems sucked.
McCain knows nothing about the Navy. Ships 20 days old are still undergoing a shakedown cruise. That period can last a while.
McCain was an aviator.
He knows nothing about ships.
But if you need some information for the communists....he's your man.
In other news, John McCain declares war on "metal filings" and is seeking authorization for 100,000 troops to combat this terrible enemy.
That's hilarious. congrats :-)
Though, as the plot thickens, there are now credible pictures of Cenataur Mcain meeting with metal fillings to discuss U.S. Support.
Maintenance Crew too busy videotaping Ensigns Laverne & Shirley through the peepholes.
When financial sociopaths are in control, all kinds of bad stuff happens.
"John McCain was note happy. "Reporting of a complete loss of propulsion on USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) is deeply alarming, particularly given this ship was commissioned just 20 days ago,” everyone's favorite Senate warhawk said. “U.S. Navy ships are built with redundant systems to enable continued operation in the event of an engineering casualty, which makes this incident very concerning."
John McCain and redundant, well there you go.
did they have any transgender engineers on board to fix the problems....I thought that was suppose to solve the navy's issues?
Actually, and this is from reliable news reports, when the malfunction initially occured, the engineers, all of whom are recent university graduates, first huddled in their designated safe spaces as soon as they heard the enlisted sailors start cussing.
Unfortunately this is a common problem with new equipment - all the filings get caught up in fuel/oil/hydraulic systems and will probably need to go through a dozen filters before the filing levels get down to acceptable levels.
Thank you for explaining and rationalizing.
Gouverment employed ?
These fuckers are really sickening, aren't they? How can you live in that USS Shit Hole anymore?
I guess that's why all new cars and airplanes break down and stop a few times before they are usable. (Make sure to fly only old planes.)
I assume these are mostly one-off machined parts, not exactly a mass produced automobile.
Time for larger capacity filters. Like 55 gallon drum size ones.
The US defense contractors love to make expensive and complex military toys that break down.
US needs to learn from Russia and their T90 tank. Russia has learned a hard lesson when it lost millions in WWII.
Russia also has a way of disabling cruise missiles that has the west scared.
"Russia Developing Electronic System Capable Of Disabling Cruise Missile, Enemy Military Satellites"
http://www.ibtimes.com/russia-developing-electronic-system-capable-disab...
Russia is developing a new electronic warfare system, which can disable cruise missile and other high-precision weaponry guidance systems and satellites used by enemy forces, Radio-Electronic Technologies Group, also known as KRET, a subsidiary of state corporation Rostec, said Thursday. The system will be mounted on ground-based, airborne and seaborne carriers.
According to KRET’s Deputy CEO Yuri Mayevsky, the new electronic system will target the enemy force’s weaponry, including deck-based, tactical, long-range and strategic aircraft and other electronic means. The system will also be used against foreign military satellites’ radio electronic equipment, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
“It will fully suppress communications, navigation and target location and the use of high-precision weapons,” Mayevsky told TASS. “The system will be used against cruise missiles and will suppress satellite-based radio location systems. It will actually switch off enemy weapons.”
When GPS switches off the missile goes to dead reckoning. I doubt if they can switch off a fired weapon.
Well obviously they didn't spend enough money on it.
And now they will have to build and stock more expensive parts, faster logistics for parts delivery, locations for storage of these parts, security for these parts, etc. etc. And who owns or has financial interest in these resources,, your politicians and Jewish business folks.
Taxpayer doesn't even get so much as a Christmas card.
This is what we'd expect from some typical third world dump like Argentina, India or Italy.
But since the USA is now joining that exclusive club of decaying nations, we'd best get used to it.
Columbian coke smugglers build better subs than we do ships, wtf?
What's with the sorta relief port in the bow that sends spray all over the bridge. Who is assigned to climb out and replace the windscreen wipers so some Annapolis grad can see where he is going (better, see when a sea-skipping antiship missile is homing on on the Milwaukee).
That's not sea spray. That's beered-up crewmen in the fo'c'sle opening cans of PBR.
That spray up through the deck is probably where the filter blew out
The tiny corvettes that Vlad used to launch 10 or 11 cruise missiles (each) from the Caspian Sea into ISIS targets in Syria have one-third the displacement of our littoral crappy ships. The little crappy ships are armed with popguns.
The little crappy ships are a trillion dollar corporate welfare boondoggle fuckup on par with the F-35.
On the positive note, expensive target ship at least not fall from sky on "engineering casualty".
And I bet those cruise missiles flew faster than 45mph. Just sayin...
I thought milwaulkee's best was a beer, not a ship. And yikes, I hate to see their 2nd best (the beer, obviously - I have lost interest in the ship already).
Soon to be sold to Europe as the "F36" EU version.
Reservations now possible !
I bet Cameron has already got an order in. Always eager to please. So sorry Camerons Trident program depends on bankrupt Rolls Royce.
LOL
There is nothing unexpected about fine metal debris as a new engine parts wear in. So the question is why didn't the designers include a fliter system that could cope?
They did but THOSE filters were considered a 'luxury' item and nixed. Hey - got to keep the costs down.
"accumulates in the lube oil filter." That's the part I don't get - it DID have filters, cannot see why that was unresolvable. Maybe no spares for the trial? No maintenance schedule worked out for this mysterious diesel engine thing that NASA and the JPL must have developed in a lab somewhere??
It's "complicated"...
Some dumb ass forgot to blow out the chips.
Another dumb ass didn't check the first dumb asses work.
We are surrounded by dumb asses.
What is wrong with America? - Too many dumb asses.
This country was once filled with machinists. MEN, who knew how to make a part, with a machine tool, and NOT just load a hunk of metal, and watch a computer controlled machine do its thing.
I surmise a lot of machinists are now computer geeks with clean hands. That's not a machinist. Who understands and feels the metal.
The really experienced machinists are dead. Along with our manufacturing base.
I am not surprised one bit by this.
I can envision a bunch of kids, with laptops and I-pads, huddled, trying to solve the problem, while trying not to get dirty.
Every garage should have a Bridgeport mill, a Clausing lathe, and a DoAll surface grinder.
Or the modern replacement, a 3D printer.
Airbus just rolls out 3D-printers to every service-airport.
POTD
They should have built this ship in Oklahoma,
think of how many jobs they could have created getting it to the sea afterwards!
Should give some of that lube with metal shavings in it to Reggie -
How many more tugs are we building...seems to be a need for more of those
Long Tugs!
and not the massage parlour ones neither...
and not the massage parlour ones neither...
What's wrong with those? QE X is coming...everyone deserves some of that fresh helicopter money, even the local massage joint!
Did she breakdown, weeping for what was once America?
Stephanie C. Hill, vice president of Ship & Aviation Systems for Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training business, announced today that they will be selling a replacement oil filter to the US Navy for 6.8 millon dollars, and that use of a non-genuine filter, such as those available at any WalMart, will void the factory warranty.
The Magnussen-Moss Warranty Act states you cannot require a factory part to maintain warranty unless you provide it for free.
I owned an auto repair shop. This was a big deal. So big in fact, The Act is usually printed in its entirety in the front or back cover of aftermarket filter catalogs.
It was how we answered " the dealer said my warranty is void if we don't use their parts".
Not a lawyer, but I know this shit.
We've been polishing these things for two days! If we take them out there in that rain, they'll rust up on us. [Cowboy, Kelly's Heroes]
What's all the excitement about? It was built for profit, not for function, duh...
Seriously, if fine metal accumulates in a FILTER, why is that not a maintenace fix? Cars are been playing that game since I was a kid, especially new - replace oil filter at 500 miles, then 2000...? Not rocket surgery.
They couldn't find the oil filter.
Yeah - as I understand it that's why we have a filter - to take out particles. 'Course, if those particles indicate the crankshaft is grinding itself to a pulp, there might be cause for concern.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNx6bjO-HfU
maybe they wrecked the machine with the first full speed ride.
a ship that starts like this will be no lucky ship in future
> Strength & Freedom
> Weakness & Tyranny
"> Strength & Freedom
> Weakness & Tyranny"
Neither. Rather "Strength & Tyranny"
If I had WB7's skills I make a picture of the MIC fucking Joe Public up the ass, while the media stand in front of them telling them "It's all for your own good." Maybe Hilary in the background saying "What does it matter?" While Bibi and King Salman suckle on her tit.
Just a thought.
That would make for a nice amusing pic.
I have also lamented my lack of artisitic skills having had many ideas over the years of cartoons I'd love to draw.
How fucked to be known as "King Salmon".
Put your glasses on dude!
I know, Snake.
Hey, I thought you were dead.
Chicken of the Sea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da6rYqI8z_4
What made Milwaukee famous has made a clunker out of this ship.
Infamous. There, fixed it for you.
Well, according to several Ansys simulations it is unstoppable. This is what engineering in the West has been reduced to. A pile of nonsense numerical simulations by well connected MIC software vendors.
Milwaukee
the name travels the Earth on rusted Pabst Blue Ribbon cans
Any of you gents remember the YF-23...?
LMT seems to have quite the lock (3-point variety) around Congress' neck, does it not...?
The ship, which unsurprisingly is run on beer, will be rechristianed as the USS Obama.
Isaac the jive bartender is hanging his head in shame from his battle station on the promanade deck.
The beer...er...boat that made Milwaukee famous.
when is nato going to realize its military isn't for defense. it's for government expansion, a form of social service, like welfare and food stamps. the chinese and russians are actually a step ahead. by collapsing their government, has gotten the fat out and become leaner, whereas nato nations are disgusting, sloppy, lazy subhuman government-parasites. well, this story is as old as the beginning of time with pride and the resulting downfall, but what do you expect when your country worships satan, lucifer, and prometheus?
Unsinkable sunk and unstoppable stopped. You'd think that naval architects would learn...
An old Elco PT boat could go through that sea with less spray and splash as it planed along 10 knots faster than the above video.
That were icebergs. Unfair.
Time to get private silicon valley geniuses like Elon Musk involved ... err wait ... SpaceX also seems to be having metal fatigue problems as well ...
45 knots per hour, and it stop at 40 nautical miles?
what kinda perfromance is that?
For a moment I thought it's a kind of the much touted "Chinese-made crap"!
Coincidentally, putins new ballistic missle fires fine metal shavings. Entire US Navy taken out.
With the final cost of Obama Care Website @ over 1 billion is this really a suprise?
Metal filings in the oil isn't the problem. There are filters for that. The problem is where they came from.
Anyone else noticed the similarities between Lockheed and OCS?
I hope they brought some jumper cables...
Oh Schlitz!
"We got a hole through the radiator - into the timing case. Gonna take at least 24 hours."
Too bad ISIS isn't so unstoppable. Future designers should just think low tech sneakers and pickup trucks. They'll save the US taxpayer a lot of money and get better ROI.
And how is it the ISIS terrorist threat propaganda videos have better production than this video?
Well Graf Spee had problems, but that happens in war. And she didn't need a tow into Montevideo Harbor.
The Graf Spee was a pocket battleship. It was highly effective
as a raider in the early days of WWII, much like the Confederate ship, the Alabama.
It was not towed into Montevideo, but came under its own power.
A great ship not to be confused with the American piece of junk
"And how is it the ISIS terrorist threat propaganda videos have better production than this video?"
That's actually a mystery, because both videos are produced in the same studio.
Powered by Yugo.
Can''t even make ships right anymore.
Have to bum rides to space on Russian rockets.
Face it, Americans can only print money, produce debt and go on welfare.
The US has become the world's welfare nation. Supported by printed money and being the reserve currency.
CHEM TRAILS all over that pix, wonder how long that will be on the 'Net, total embarassment to the deniers............
At least the sailors aboard the USS Milwaukee still had oxygen. When the YF-22 fighter plane breaks down it's like being inside a flying gas chamber...Moar Oxygen please!
There are only 2 yf-22's and they don't fly much.
You are thinking of the F22 made by lockheed martin.
You're right I meant F22. Too much oxygen deprivation on my part I guess.
They need to outsource to China. They are happy to do it with everything else. In fact, outsource the entire empire to China one time and we can try to progress back to 1966 when the place was worth living in.
The dam filter itself is probably from China.
Must be some Muzz oil. lol.
Actually, sabotage would not be out of the question.
Well, the love boat did not last long. I pasted a link yesterday on this, but here are a few others if you want a laugh:
USSA hardware is only made for hollywood and to milk money for the oligarchs, performance or reliability don't even count.
Sputnik news: F-35, software problems, bet they still not fixed.
http://sputniknews.com/military/20150313/1019429096.html
Medium News: F’d: How the world got stuck with the World’s worst new combat aircraft.
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/fd-how-the-u-s-and-its-allies-got-stuck-with-the-worlds-worst-new-warplane-5c95d45f86a5
Littoral Combat Ship Will Be Modified, If Not Replaced
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2014/August/Pages/LittoralCombatShipWillBeModifiedIfNotReplaced.aspx
Can the Navy's $12 Billion Stealth Destroyer Stay Afloat?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/22/can-the-navy-s-12-billion-stealth-destroyer-stay-afloat.html
LA Times: The Pentagon's $10 billion radar doesn't work
http://fortruss.blogspot.co.at/2015/04/la-times-pentagons-10-billion-radar.html
DOT&E Report: The F-35 Is Not Ready for IOC and Won't Be Any Time Soon
http://www.pogo.org/our-work/straus-military-reform-project/weapons/2015/not-ready-for-prime-time.html
Delivery of Troubled Zumwalt Stealth Destroyers Delayed for US Navy
http://sputniknews.com/news/20150311/1019322119.html#ixzz3hMaZuxHS
Moar True Stories of the MIC:
So, I needed a job. I got one, fixing MRAPS. Our company refurbished the vehicles, then, a second company removed all the work we did. Then they added on the same stuff.
So, I suspect the MIC has lost its old can do attitude and is now just sucking money for shit products, while the Russlies are fielding new secret weapons.
"
So, I suspect the MIC has lost its old can do attitude and is now just sucking money for shit products, while the Russlies are fielding new secret weapons."
Wrong. Its all a hollywood production, and you are sleeping along with most people.
“We already have the means to travel among the stars, but these technologies are locked up in black projects and it would take an act of God to ever get them out to benefit humanity… ...anything you can imagine we already know how to do.”
Ben Rich, former Head of the Lockheed Skunk Works
"An ignition interlock device or breath alcohol ignition interlock device (IID and BAIID) is a breathalyzer for your vehicle.[1] It requires you to blow into a mouthpiece on the device before starting your vehicle. If the resultant breath-alcohol concentration analyzed result is greater than the programmed blood alcohol concentration (which varies between countries), the device prevents the engine from being started."
The Queen's latest remarks on empire;-
"Oh deary one , ours was a more civilized empire if one may say so. Drones were something out of P G Wodehouse and gallant young men looked the enemy in the eye. And instead of reducing our empire to rubble and hoping for the best, we took it over and ran it properly while showing the natives what a real party looked like."
Fitting - Milwaukee is a dying rust bucket town too!
"Old Milwaukee"
Milwaukee also brought us "Milwaukee's Best" "beer"........
Did anyone check the Warshipfax?
I did but there was only one entry; something about it being less stealthy than expected.
It's very stealthy. The electronic surveillance systems can only detect moving targets.
Built of stealth tin foil, including the engine. They should of built it out of passport material.
We cut some corners.
Scott Walker should be proud...the Milwaukee is foundering at sea just-- like the economy of Wisconsin. They're both dead-in-the-water.
http://milwaukeenns.org/2015/09/04/foreclosures-persist-in-milwaukee-because-of-high-poverty-rate/
You...say that again.
Milwaukee, Detroit, what's the difference?
Probably designed by foreign engineers working here on H1B visas, running software written by Microsoft's diverse workforce, using various components made in China, and assembled by Asian and Hispanic line workers. You want cheap? You got it.