Posted on 07/13/2011 4:11:37 PM PDT by Nachum
According to two top officials, the Navy is operating at an “unsustainable” pace for its current force structure. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing this week, Vice Admirals Bill Burke and Kevin McCoy described a force that was falling into disrepair and struggling to cover ever-increasing responsibilities with decreasing manpower and money.
The Navy’s maintenance issues began in the 1990s when Washington sought a post–Cold War peace dividend. One of the first casualties was manpower, and that led to smaller Navy maintenance crews.
At first, the Navy tried to get by, deferring maintenance and patching up old equipment. But the sustained high operational tempo of the past decade has finally caught up with the Navy. In 2011, nearly 22 percent of the fleet failed its yearly inspection, up from 8 percent as recently as 2007. Stretched thin by increased responsibilities such as wartime deployments, anti-piracy operations, and disaster relief, the Navy is trying to get by with broken equipment and often lacks the spare parts to make at-sea repairs.
Whether or not this decreased readiness is yet having an impact upon America’s national security is up for debate. While Admiral Burke stated that decreased ship readiness has not yet forced commanders to skip missions because of fewer available ships, he also admitted that combatant commanders generally require 16 to 18 operational attack submarines to meet regional objectives. Due to lagging maintenance and repairs, however, the Navy can provide only 10 submarines at any given time, exposing a serious gap between resources and requirements.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
“The priority is not defense of our country, it is ensuring that DOD is has done all the necessary sensitivity training to openly allow homosexuals in.”
I never liked battleship gray anyway.. I am thinking a burnt umber and maybe some curtains to brighten the place up. We. May not be the most battle hardened navy but by darn we will be the most flamboyant.
“The Navy’s maintenance issues began in the 1990s when Washington sought a post–Cold War peace dividend. One of the first casualties was manpower, and that led to smaller Navy
maintenance crews.”
No. This is false. It was under CNO Admiral Vern Clark’s “optimal manning” plans beginning in 2001 that crew numbers were dramatically reduced. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq didn’t help matters either when it came to divying up Pentagon dollars.
Outsource, hell. If 0bama could get away with it, he’d sell the US Navy to the Chinese.
“The priority is not defense of our country, it is ensuring that DOD is has done all the necessary sensitivity training to openly allow homosexuals in.”
Diversity and the environment are the Navy’s priorities these days.
It’s been over a decade, at least.
I’ll bet the Whitehouse would not even consider a Formosa Strait run now.
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