Billion Dollar Boondoggle

The Navy just received its latest class of Legacy warships, the San Antonio. Supposed to ferry our amphibious forces into the 21st Century she is in fact a billion dollar boondoggle riddled with defects according to Strategypage:

The 25,000 ton ship, the first of a class of twelve, is two years late, and $400 million over its original budget of $830 million. But that’s not the major problem. While the ship performed well on its sea trials, inspectors came up with a list of 37 major deficiencies.

and:

Fixing all the problems are expected to push the ultimate cost of the ship, which is actually a small aircraft carrier that carries a reinforced battalion of marines, up to $1.8 billion. The problems with LPD-17 are, to many navy admirals, all too common these days. The navy is not happy with the firms currently building warships. But these outfits are well connected politically, and cannot be pushed as much as the navy would like to.

This loudly showcases the state of America’s shipyards, the last relics of the Military Industrial Complex which we were warned of by Dwight Eisenhower. Riddled with corruption, archaic management ideas, and dependent on government handouts, they are kept on life support through Congressional favors, who care not for America’s defenses, but for votes. In contrast the Navy has also received a real 21st Century warship from private shipyard Titan. This is the Sea Fighter (FSC-1), first of the littoral ships, which at $50 million is called an “Affordable Weapon” in this article:

Hunter said sacred cows in both Congress and the Navy had to be slaughtered to develop the Sea Fighter.By finding funds outside the normal defense appropriations process, and by ignoring special interests such as traditional ship builders and Navy officials who "want to keep building big slow ships," Hunter said he, Issa and Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, helped military and private industry visionaries "conspire to beat the bureaucracy."