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Well I can say this. Even as bad as times were under Carter the ship repairs requiring shipyard workers and shipyard got done in a shipyard not at the N.O.B. Piers. Yard times have been cut, ship yards closed. We have under 300 ships Navy wide. They are being ran ragged as are the crews. We have I think 9-10 full size carriers. In 1980 we had at least 15.

Undermanned? LOL OK why then? Explain to me who sets the maximum number of allowed active duty members of the armed forces? Who earmarks money for defense projects? When a ship is ordered to be built who approves the funding? Who sits down and decides what bases or ships will be funded and which ones closed or decommissioned. Keep in mind I'm not saying recommends but whose word is final on all these matters. Who has the authority to deploy troops and ships?

The military is vastly undermanned and has been so since the last 2 years of GHW Bush when Cheney started making closure and projects to be defunded recommendations. Our military has been cut almost two thirds and still in a 1989 mission posture. Ever hear of Morale?

When I went in I had to do 4 years active and 2 inactive meaning I did not even report to a reserve center. The ones enlisting today serve 6 years with 2 in reserves and are many times called back. How long would you work for someone with no days off? Could you withstand Navy at sea working hours and routine especially for the Propulsion and the guys working the planes?

WHY was there not enough men there to meet your standards then? It was Sunday a weekend. Most crew except duty section were at home with families they otherwise get precious little time to see except in port. Does that matter to you? It should because the Navy likely has the highest divorce rate. If you want men to do 20 years so you'll have trained senior NCO's and officers then you dern well better take care of them so they reenlist. My last year in I spent in the shipyards. Typically this up till then meant down time for crew limited hours, schools, etc. Thanks to the Iranian Hostage Crisis the entire ship spent at least 12 hour working days and 3 section duty meaning onboard every third night. I was so burned out I turned down &18K and next rank. The carrier was being readied to deploy to the PG but needed her year long repairs done first.

I can show you things congress and senior Defense Dept did that cost us a carrier and put lives at unnecessary risk. My ship from 1990-93 did three deployments in three years and exploded at the pier upon return of the third one. Congress knew the condition it was reported in US NEWS & WORLD REPORT as well as a letter read on the floor and entered into library of Congress.

So what did Congress, DEFSEC, and POTUS do. More Cuts.

Remember after 9/11 two carriers were unable to get underway? Remember two Captains lost command? SCAPEGOATS and nothing more. The conditions were caused due to lack of funding for repairs. It takes money to maintain ships and I don't think the Captain's American Express in his billfold would cover that. The one and only POTUS since Reagan who cared about readiness was Trump. Don't tell me GW Bush did. That would be a lie. Now I think we all agree things got bad under Carter but what about GHW Bush and Clinton? Here's an excerpt for yaon readiness.

Sept 1993

Excerpt: The America needs constant attention. Commissioned in 1965, it is showing its age. A month before leaving Norfolk, a senior enlisted crew member complained to his congressman: The ship was operating on only two of its six electric generators, without radar and unable to pump fuel. This would be its third six-month cruise in three years, and without the standard 18 months at home for repairs, salt water and full steaming had taken their toll. end excerpt

OK what I am saying I know about as it was my job I worked on the stuff. Two of six generators would allow for lights, fire pumps, boiler pumps, and maybe one or two chillers maybe. Chillers were the air conditioning units I worked on there were 10 and at least 8 needed for the ships Electronics to function. The Chillers at 460 volts drew from 1200-2000 amps start up and needed 175-300 amps each afterwards to run. They are the biggest power load. No A/C? No Operations Department stone cold fact. No Radar? Nope because No A/C. Unable to pump fuel? A real biggie also because that means limited boilers operational and ballast issues as well.

Now this was BEFORE she was sent on the third deployment. This is the one that when she got back she had a bad boiler room explosion so bad she was towed Cold Iron to NNSY for yet another fast repair and yet another deployment. That was her last one. She was decommissioned early and later sank.

A carrier that is conventional had a 1200 PSI 8 boiler configuration. 1200 PSI of super heated steam could not be seen nor heard. A leak the size of a pencil lead could decapitate you. In my days onboard 13 years earlier she never got anywhere near this bad. But we also were fortunate to not miss any yard times.

BTW My source from the info I posted is at https://fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/docs/940224-cr.htm It wasn't rumors it was fact. This was done both under GHWB's tenure and Clintons. This was also about the time huge cuts came aand they began defunding our military.