USS Miami nuclear sub may not be economically repairable after fire

USS Miami Fire

Article says repairs could cost $1B.

Group buy? Who wants to go in halfsies?

Sounds like some serious HEAT.

Damnit.

First...a face eating zombie and now our nuclear attack submarine may be turned into beer cans.

We can't catch a break, it seems.

At least the Marlins are winning.

Chris

After burning for 10 hours, I'd be surprised if it goes anywhere other than to recycling.

USS Miami ––––- the Dolphins versus the Heat

When has economy ever mattered to the gov?

They'll spend $5,000 to "upgrade" an old rifle instead of $2000 to buy a new model, why should we expect any different with a submarine?

Linky no worky for me. It takes me to some Cox website where they want to show me 'services available in your area'

ditto –– no link

eta: 30 year old boat, 4 alarm fire –– seems like scrap is a no brainer.

USS Miami Fire

Another link to the same article via the Boston Globe

Holy Fuck!! Lets not jump the gun. Lets wait for the full report. Shit. they are going to test the shit out of the steel before they decide anything. Even then, all we lost was the steel shell. It is cheap compared to buying a whole new one. The ER and the RC (all the expensive stuff) is fully intact and everything in the FWD comp. that had "major" value was already ripped out. Let all stop spreading rumors before you know the facts.

Click on one of the cities on the map, it takes you to the article.

$1B to repair vs $2.6B for a new Virginia class. Hmmm, might have to think about that.

did the boat not have a fire suppression system?

Guess what? YOU JYNXED IT, MAN!

Reactor fuel status matters a lot.

What type would we use? It really does not make sense to have on. Halon? So when it goes off it kills everyone? Sprinklers? So it fills the boat and it sinks and kills everyone? I am not saying I am just saying....

I do not know, I asked b/c someone might know.

To me it would seem that that if we can send men to the moon, and know the age of a nate that was on the ass of T-Rex's 6,000,000,000 years ago. I think there might, just fricken might be an ABC fire extinguisher somewhere on board.

A search (albeit a quick one) on the subject indicates that U.S. subs do not have fire supression SYSTEMs. Crew fire training and CO2 hand-carried fire extinguishers gets it done. Other countries––Russia for one––use Halon systems and they a large number of folks when one went off accidently in a submerged sub. Articles written in the U.S. after that incident state that "this couldn't happen on U.S. subs because we don't use a Halon system" yada yada. There have been DARPA studies apparently on getting a safe system, but nothing apparently has made it to the fleet. Clearly a Halon system is technically feasible, but the Navy has decided it's too dangerous.

Whether someone who really knows will comment remains to be seen.

Yes, there were several CO2 extinguishers and fire hoses on board. It just got too bad before anyone could use them on it. Think of a camp fire except in a very tight steel box. The smoke doesn't really have a place to go. So anyone without breathing protection get overcome by smoke very quickly.

NY Mets are 8 games above .500

so that's all you have to do to sink one, catch it on fire?

It's called a crew. Since it was in dry-dock for overhaul, fire suppression system was out enjoying shore time.

Fire will fuck up a ship in no time, a sub is even worse than a surface ship because it is underwater with a limited supply of air.

BER = Beyond Economical Repair.

Virginia boats are $1.8B

THat linky is bad.
It redirects to Cox Communications for cable service.

Some of us old Swabs were discussing this at work recently. Some of our team served in ships like Miami. After we heard the extent of the fire and what was burning (hull insulation) and what was almost certainly totally destroyed, we all agreed: USS Miami is headed to the breakers.

Does the USN carry fire insurance for this type of happenings? I figure probably not, the taxpayer is going to have to take the financial hit.

Link don't work, I get an advertisement

US subs rely on trained crews to fight fires. This ship was crewless at the time of the fire.

Son, I know you have a dog in this fight...but think this through:

All of the hull steel anywhere near the fire must be checked. The extreme temps surely changed the HY-100 characteristics and the boat's pressure limits. All fittings, piping and support structure within the hull must likewise be tested and probably replaced. All hull openings, valves and seawater systems as well.

All the gear in the forward section will likely require replacement/overhaul. The sonar system is likely shot. The cabling is probably ruined. Were the arrays burned out? The entire inner hull will have to be gutted and all of the insulation replaced and the forward part of the ship basically rebuilt from scratch. This is a very hard job because she was built in section and then welded together. So...do you cut her up and redo that process or try to fix her piecemeal?

Can she be fixed? Certainly, given enough money and time. Is it worth the effort? Probably not.

Sell it on the black market to Iran, stripped of course.

Don't we have any in mothballs that could be reactivated? Would that even be economically feasible?

Just built a new Virginia class. Virginia class is teh shiznit anyways.

and hatches bulkheads etc were likely removed for maintence.

Talk about a bad time to have been on watch. Imagine having OOD/POOW during that

Wow, I just did a Google on this story. Oh my.....

This boat is huge, it s longer than a football field, 360'

But I am curious what started the fire, and what is there to burn to cause such heat?. This is not like a civilian structure fire.

Personally since the boat is 20 years old, I think the USN should declare it a "total loss," and move forward from there. I bet it will probably cost more to repair & rebuild than to just to build another, even though it may take some years and the repair cost is probably conservative.

One could argue if you would have been "on watch", the thing wouldn't have happened.

Regardless...Yeah....Jesus. I remember going though a inquisition over a lighted "Exit" sign.

$1.8bn for a Virginia, excluding R&D cost and assuming 2/yr.

You are aware that a Halon system works by replacing oxygen with an inert gas, right? What could go wrong?

depends on if your wanting to salvage personal or equipment

I know, and what is important to Russia is not what is important to the US.

Repair the inside and send it to Charleston NPTU. The boats there are aging badly and this would be a great starter spot since they would have to gut any boat they would send there.

No need to check the hull and most of the piping.

The Miami is a 22 year old boat. Rebuild her, and how many years of service will we get out of her, vice replacing her with a brand-new, more capable Virginia class sub that's currently in production.

Wiki shows the Block II Virginia class subs at $2 billion a copy-that's a fixed amount, not an "estimate" that could be even higher than anticipated if the damage to the Miami is worse than expected.

Sometimes it's just better to cut your losses and walk away.

The equipment doesn't do you any good if it's left floating in the middle of the ocean with no personnel.

nevermind.

I was going by the article but it appears, upon further research, that your figure is closer to current costs.

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