THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 10, 1995 TAG: 9505100455
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
A floating battlewagon, bristling with missiles, rockets and cannon, is on the Navy drawing board as a successor to the dreadnaughts that pounded invasion shores in wars past.
With the Navy's battleships in mothballs, top officials told a Senate panel Tuesday, they have revived the long-dormant idea of a modern gunboat.
The Navy seeks ``a power-projection ship, literally an arsenal that would be able to shoot Tomahawks, ATACMs, Harpoons, Sea-SLAMS,'' said Vice Adm. T. Joseph Lopez, talking about some weapons the Navy might use to ``soften up'' an enemy shore. Lopez, deputy chief of naval operations for warfare requirements, said the ship would also have long-range artillery.
So far, the ship is no more than a gleam in the eye of Navy planners. President Clinton's budget request for the fiscal year beginning next Oct. 1 contains $6.7 million for research on the project. Under the plan outlined for the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee, the first ship would be delivered in 2008.
Dubbed ``SC-21'' for surface combatant, 21st century, the ship would carry equipment to detect minefields and ward off torpedo attack. But its main role would be to launch shells and missiles in offensive action.
With the Cold War over, the Navy has shifted its priorities from ``blue water'' operations to so-called littoral warfare - in other words, operations close to shore. The concept is embodied in the Navy's guiding philosophy, ``From the Sea.'' The emphasis in Navy shipbuilding appears to be shifting gradually from ships designed to assert control over oceans to ships designed to assist amphibious forces moving ashore.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Charles Wilhelm said Marines are looking to the Navy to provide fire support for invading forces. This includes precision-guided missiles that could hit specific targets, and shellfire designed to keep defenders pinned down in their foxholes, or, better yet, ``bring the enemy up out of the ground with white cloth on sticks.''
Lawmakers indicated they want faster progress from the Navy.
Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, the subcommittee chairman, suggested the Navy has not fully justified mothballing the World War II-era battleships that were recommissioned at great expense during the 1980s. He also suggested that Navy hopes for highly accurate missiles contradicted Marine Corps needs for basic naval gunnery designed to protect foot soldiers.
And Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., questioned whether the Navy was moving quickly toward a decision on improving its standard shipboard gun. Navy studying designs for new breed of carrier
In another major development in ship planning, the Navy is studying designs on a new generation of aircraft carriers that would be adaptable to working in amphibious operations. Results of the study of a successor to the Nimitz-class carriers are to be submitted to Defense Secretary William Perry in September.
Among other things, the Navy is considering whether to switch from nuclear-powered carriers to diesel- or gas-turbine-powered ships. by CNB