Navy Just Reloaded a Vertical Launch System for the First Time While Underway At Sea
13th October 2024
The inability to do this so far has been a major factor in the Navy’s unreadiness to participate in a major military conflict, for which they have been heavily criticized by knowledgeable people.
One of the largest concerns regarding the U.S. Navy’s ability to persist in a peer conflict in the vast Pacific is the ability to keep its prized major surface combatants — destroyers, cruisers and soon frigates — stocked with weapons. The conflict with the Houthis in and around the Red Sea has only underscored the need to figure out how to reload vertical launch systems (VLS) without coming into port. If an Iranian-backed rebel group can make a big dent in American warships’ weapons stocks, China would be exponentially worse. You can read all about this glaring issue in our previous feature here. But now, the Navy has just demonstrated its fast-tracked possible solution to this pressing issue.
USS Chosin (CG-65), a Ticonderoga class cruiser, came alongside Military Sealift Command’s dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) and transferred an empty VLS weapon container to the cruiser while sailing off the southern California coast on October 11th.