VOA慢速英語：美國海軍尋求更小、戰(zhàn)斗力更強的戰(zhàn)艦

US Navy Seeks Smaller, More Powerful Ships

美國海軍尋求更小、戰(zhàn)斗力更強的戰(zhàn)艦

The US Navy is answering criticisms that its combat ships are fast but lack the firepower and armor to survive a battle at sea. It says it wants new ships that are slower and smaller – but more powerful – than its existing ships.

美國海軍開始回應對其戰(zhàn)艦速度很快，但是缺乏在海戰(zhàn)中生存的火力和裝甲的批評。美國海軍表示希望建造比現(xiàn)有戰(zhàn)艦更慢、更小但是戰(zhàn)斗力更強的新型戰(zhàn)艦。

The Navy has asked designers for drawings of such warships. It wants them to be able to shoot down airplanes, attack other ships and counter submarines.

美國海軍已經(jīng)要求設計師繪制這類戰(zhàn)艦的圖紙。它希望這種戰(zhàn)艦可以擊落飛機、攻擊其它艦船以及反潛艇。

Loren Thompson is a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Virginia. He says the "Navy has decided that speed is less important than having a warship with sufficient weapons to defend itself."

勞倫·湯普森(Loren Thompson)是列克星敦研究所(Lexington Institute)的一名國防分析師。他說：“美海軍認為，對軍艦來說，擁有足夠保衛(wèi)自身安全的武器比更快的速度更為重要。”

The Navy wants 20 of the new ships. It does not want them to be costly. It has directed shipbuilders to use an existing design to speed up the process of designing and building the ships. It also wants the shipbuilders to provide drawings for the new ships next month and build them by 2020 or 2021.

海軍想要建造20艘這類新型戰(zhàn)艦，并且不希望成本過高。他們已經(jīng)指示造船廠利用現(xiàn)有設計來加快設計和制造這艘戰(zhàn)艦的過程，并且希望造船廠能夠在下個月提供新戰(zhàn)艦的圖紙，并于2020年或2021年前建造完成。

Large Navy shipbuilders like Bath Iron Works in the northeastern state of Maine and Ingalls Shipbuilding in the southern state of Mississippi are among the companies expected to seek Navy contracts. Smaller shipyards in Wisconsin and Alabama are also expected to compete for the contract to build the ships.

美國東北部緬因州的巴斯鋼鐵造船廠以及南部密西西比州的英格爾斯造船廠等大型海軍造船廠預計會參與了競標，威斯康星州和阿拉巴馬州的小型造船廠也有望參與競爭。

The Trump administration has announced a plan to increase the number of ships in the Navy. The Navy has a goal of 355 ships.

川普政府已經(jīng)宣布了擴大海軍艦隊規(guī)模的計劃。海軍的目標是獲得355艘戰(zhàn)艦。

The plan to build the small but powerful new ships is a change for the Navy, which is learning lessons from earlier ship designs. Those ships were supposed to be a cost-effective way to deal with post-Cold War threats. The fast ships were supposed to be easily altered to serve changing missions.

建造個頭更小但戰(zhàn)斗力更強的新型戰(zhàn)艦的計劃對海軍來說是一種變革，這是從早期艦船設計中吸取的經(jīng)驗。這些艦船被認為是應對后冷戰(zhàn)時期威脅的一種經(jīng)濟有效的方式。這些快速艦艇本應易于改造以適應不斷變化的任務。

But the alteration plans have been delayed, and the cost of the ships has risen. The Government Accountability Office, which examines government spending, also questioned the ships' ability to survive in battle.

但是這一改造方案被延誤了，同時戰(zhàn)艦成本隨之上漲。負責審查政府開支的美國政府問責辦公室也質(zhì)疑這些戰(zhàn)艦在戰(zhàn)斗中的生存能力。

The Congressional Research Service said the Navy wants to spend no more than $950 million for each ship. But the Navy says the cost per ship could be closer to $800 million, as no new technology needs to be created for the new ships. New designs and new technologies in earlier ships caused the final costs to be much higher than original estimates.

美國國會研究局表示，海軍希望每艘戰(zhàn)艦的花費不超過9.5億美元。但是海軍表示，由于不需要為這些戰(zhàn)艦創(chuàng)造新技術，每艘戰(zhàn)艦的成本可能接近8億美元。早期戰(zhàn)艦中采用新設計和新技術導致最終成本大幅高于原始估算。

Dirk Lesko is the president of Bath Iron Works in Maine. He says his designers examined both American and foreign ships to meet the Navy's demands for the new ships. The shipyard worked with a Spanish company and used an existing design from a Spanish navy ship.

德克·萊斯科(Dirk Lesko)是巴斯鋼鐵造船廠的總裁。他說，該公司的設計師考察了美國和外國的戰(zhàn)艦，以滿足海軍對新戰(zhàn)艦的要求。該船廠與一家西班牙公司合作并使用了西班牙海軍戰(zhàn)艦的現(xiàn)有設計。

Mike Keenan is the president of the Machinists Union Local S6, the shipyard's largest union. He says the shipyard's 5,700 workers are eager for the chance to build the new ships.

麥克·基南(Mike Keenan)是該船廠最大的工會、本地機械師聯(lián)盟的主席。他說，該船廠5700名員工迫切希望有機會參與建造這艘新戰(zhàn)艦。

"We know how to build them. We're ready to build more," he says.

他說：“我們知道任何建造它們，也做好了建造更多戰(zhàn)艦的準備。”

I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

凱莉·吉恩·凱莉報道。