If the brass can’t manage on their budget, then they need to quit. The Navy is like a lot of universities: they make commitments based on money they don’t have yet.
The military brass {as in commissioned officers} aren't the ones who make the monetary commitments nor often the military ones for that matter. The civilian side of it SECNAV and Sec of Defense civilian staff are the ones who set funding on what gets done and what doesn't upkeep wise. But let their decisions cause a major class A screw up like the two carriers right after 9/11 and they go hunting an 0-6 to blame. For example the JFK had been unoffically used as a reserve status carrier for almost a decade and lacked maintenance funding. Two ships Captains one from the JFK the other the Kitty Hawk were offered up as the scapegoats.