{"id":15642,"date":"2019-01-30T20:13:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T20:13:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/01\/30\/the-us-navy-is-planning-for-its-new-frigate-to-be-a-workhorse\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:35:00","slug":"the-us-navy-is-planning-for-its-new-frigate-to-be-a-workhorse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2019\/01\/30\/the-us-navy-is-planning-for-its-new-frigate-to-be-a-workhorse\/","title":{"rendered":"The US Navy is planning for its new frigate to be a workhorse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Navy is looking to get a lot of underway time out of its new frigate<\/a> and is eyeing a crewing model that swaps out teams of sailors to maximize the operational time for each hull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called blue-gold crewing model effectively creates two crews for each ship of the class. The blue crew and gold crew switch out to keep the ships at sea for as long as possible without breaking the sailors and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the model the Navy has used for years on the ballistic missile submarine<\/a>s and is employing on the littoral combat ships, but now the model is likely to extend to the LCS successor, said Rear Adm. Ron Boxall<\/a>, the Chief of Naval Operations\u2019 surface warfare director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the blue-gold construct on FFG(X). We\u2019re planning on it, which gives us a larger operational availability \u2013 it should double it,\u201d Boxall told Defense News in an interview late last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\t