Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 15, 1985)

Navy (continued from page 13) fleet. Of the 48 LA-class boats au- thorized through FY 1985, 29 al- ready have been delivered and are now operating with the active fleet.

The five-year program projects con- struction of another 18, including four in FY 1986 at a combined cost of $2,770.3 million, and another four in FY 1987 ($2,625.0 million). As is the case with all nuclear ships, the 688s have almost unlimited range, with crew endurance the only inhib- iting factor. Speed is classified, but reported by Jane's to be "over 30 knots." The 127-man crew includes 12 officers, 115 enlisted. The only two yards building the 688s (or any other U.S. nuclear ships) are New- port News Shipbuilding, Newport

News, Va., and the Electric Boat

Division (in Groton, Conn.) of Gen- eral Dynamics.

Both of those companies also are competing on the design for the

Navy's new SSN-21 nuclear attack submarine, which will first comple- ment and eventually replace the 688. The SSN-21 (so named because it is being designed "to meet the

Soviet submarine threat of the 21st century") will be bigger, faster, quieter, deeper-diving, more versa- tile, and more sophisticated in gen- eral than the LA-class 688s. More important, it will be much more advanced in most areas of subma- rine warfare than anything now in the Soviet inventory or likely to be on the USSR's drawing boards for some time to come. The cost of the first ship, for which full funding will be requested in FY 1989, will be an estimated $1.6 billion. Cost will drop somewhat for later units, and level off at about the $1 billion per- ship level with the fifth or sixth ship. It seems most likely, therefore, that the still highly classified pro- gram will be the most expensive by any measurement, in U.S. Navy his- tory.

TACS Auxiliary Crane Ship: De- signed for the unloading of what the

Navy terms "non-self-sustaining containerships," the auxiliary crane ships are among the more imagina- tive new ships and small craft which will convert the rapid deployment force concept into an operational reality. Containerships selected by the Navy and Maritime Administra- tion for conversion into more "mili- tarily useful" vessels, they will be assigned, after conversion, to the

FY 1936-90

Shipbuilding Program

FY 1986-90

FY FY FY FY FY Five-Year 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 Total

New Construction

TRIDENT i Ballistic Missile Submarine! 1 1 1 1 1 5

SSN-688 (Attack Submarine) 4 4 4 2 4 18

SSN-21 (Attack Submarine - _ - 1 _ 1

CG-47 (Guided Missile Cruiser! 3 3 3 2 - 11

DDG-51 IGuided Missile Destroyer) 2 5 5 5 17

LHD-1 (Amphibious Assault Ship! 1 - 1 1 1 4

LSD-41 (Landing Dock Ship) 2 - - - _ 2

LSD-41 Follow-on Handing Dock Ship) - - 2 2 2 6

MCM-1 (Mine Countermeasures Ship) 4 1 _ _ 5

MSH-1 (Mine Hunter-Sweeper) 4 4 : 4 _ 16

AOE-6 (Multipurpose Stores Ship) - 1 1 1 1 4

AE-36 (Ammunition Ship) — - i 1 1 3

AR (Repair Ship) - - _ _ 1 1

TAO 187 (Oiler) 2 2 2 2 2 10

TAGOS (Surveillance Ship 2 2 - - - 4

Total 23 20 24 22 18 J 07

Con versions/SLEPs/ Reactivations

CV (Aircraft Carrier! SLEP 1 _ 1 2

BB (Battleship! Reactivation 1 _ 1

LPD-4 (Landing Platform Dock Ship) SLEP - 3 3 7

AO ("Jumbo' Oiler) Conversion - - 1 2 2 5

AG 'Acoustic Research Vessel) Conversion 1 _ _ _ 1

TAVB lAviation Support Ship! Conversion 1 _ _ _ 1

TACS (Crane Shipi Conversion 3 2 2 - 7

Total 5 4 4 5 6 24 14

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