Work Begins on the USS John P. Murtha

Shipbuilders down in Pascagoula, Miss. have begun work on the tenth San Antonio-class amphibious transport, the USS John P. Murtha, just as the program is overcoming its latest set of major obstacles, the Navy says. Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy, the  head of Naval Sea Systems Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that NavSea thinks it has finally solved one of the main problems that has plagued the LPD 17 class: Polluted lube oil that can badly hurt the ships’ propulsion.

Poor design, poor workmanship, poor quality control — they’ve all been constant as the Navy has struggled to build and deploy its San Antonio class. The early ships especially have had problems with welding, propulsion, their onboard computer networks and other systems. And yet the endemic issues with the LPD 17 class have mostly escaped public notice: The fifth ship, USS New York, was probably the most famous Navy warship in America at the time of its commissioning, because it has steel from the World Trade Center wreckage in its bow stem. Still, news organizations couldn’t be bothered when it too was later sidelined with engine trouble.

Doesn't appear to be any truth to the rumor that next in line for the Mississippi boatworks is the USS Lee Harvey Oswald, to be followed by the USS Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, but I'll keep ya'll abreast if'n I hear tell of any new scoop on the subject.