Yeah, I mean, as nice looking as our ships normally appear, do they require more maintenance time in dock than they spend deployed?
The cosmetic stuff can be given a face lift in short order. Pneumatic chipping hammers and battleship grey paint do wonders. As far as mechanical maintenance, routine preventative maintenance is a constant ongoing job of the crew whether at sea or docked.
She was sustained by underway replenishments, about 26 or so of them. Since Stout was part of a carrier group, she had access to helicopter deliveries for much of the time as well as major unreps via ship to ship. She had several major major maintenance jobs performed by the shipboard crew that normally would be depot level jobs.
As any of the FReepers with a boat that is full time in the water could attest to, maintenance requirements are higher for an in the water vessel compared to a trailered or dry store boat. On a steel ship, it is nonstop painting. This is more on the order of touch up and small projects though. I think the Stout was likely due for some dry dock and depot maintenance when the extended sea time cropped up.
The topside paint in particular was just worn out. The waterline fouling suggests that the bottom paint was worn out. The USA is flat low on dry dock capacity and this affects depot scheduling.