Naval Historywith Dr. Alex

Q&A · 4:24:54-4:25:20

How surviving Perrys relieve the Burke fleet

Fifty-seven surviving Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates would take substantial presence and escort work away from the Arleigh Burke fleet.

Arleigh Burke Class DestroyersForce StructureFrigatesNaval ProcurementOliver Hazard Perry Class FrigatesUS Navy
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Question

If fifty-seven of the expanded Perry fleet remained in US service in 2015, how much pressure would they take off the Arleigh Burke fleet?

Short answer

A great deal: 57 additional escorts would share the fleet's operations, and sustained construction might also keep the Perry production line open.

Notes

In the proposed 108-ship Perry programme, retiring 51 ships would still leave 57 escorts in US service in 2015. Those additional ships could absorb a substantial amount of work otherwise falling to the Burke fleet. The response also questions whether production would have stopped at all if the programme had maintained that momentum. This is a broad assessment of fleet workload, without a mission-by-mission allocation.