Is the Fleet Steaming Forward…Or Backward? -- Winslow Wheeler, Time
The prevailing wisdom holds that America’s smaller fleet is more capable than the U.S. Navy of yore because of higher capability per individual ship. It is a dangerous assumption.
To its credit, in 2010 the Navy completed a study of the surface fleet’s manning, training, and equipment readiness.
The Balisle Report was a brutal assessment: ship maintenance went underfunded for years; one-fifth of the fleet cannot pass inspections; aircraft and ships had junk as equipment and/or insufficient spare parts; fewer than one half of deployed combat aircraft are fully mission-capable at any given time; training throughout the surface fleet has been inadequate; ships are undermanned, and returning ships are cannibalized for parts to keep others running.
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My Comment: A sobering look at the US Navy .... and one that does not inspire confidence. The other two Time articles on the US Navy are the following ....
Part 1: If more money buys a smaller fleet, what does less money buy?
Part 2: More than the Navy’s numbers could be shrinking
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