The U.S. Navy's Smaller Ships Are Not Built To Handle Stormy Weather

Small surface ships will struggle in high seas U.S. Navy

Craig Hooper, Forbes: The U.S. Navy’s Future Fleet May Run Aground In Heavy Weather

The sea is a tough place, and, given that stormy seas often damage ships and endanger sailors, the U.S. Navy has habitually worked to keep vessels out of harm’s way since 1944. But over the past 30 years the Navy became so risk-averse that it has kept surface ships out of several “strategic-but-stormy” seas for decades.

That retreat—and the general loss of sustained heavy-weather experience by the cost-conscious post-Cold War U.S. Navy—has had real consequences. As the memory of sustained, stormy weather operations faded under the weight of a tough anti-terror operational tempo, the number of U.S. sailors and other naval tastemakers who understood that battle in high seas demanded ships with particular sea-keeping features dwindled away.

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WNU Editor: Small unmanned vessels will probably be lost in such weather. This is an excellent article that analysis the impact that stormy weather and high seas will have on the effectiveness of developing smaller vessels for the US Navy.

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