The U.S. Navy's Problems Keep Growing

Smoke rises from a fire on board US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard. REUTERS/Bing Guan

James A. Russell, Business Insider/Responsible Statecraft: The Navy's problems keep growing as it takes a leading role against Russia and China

* As the Navy takes center stage in the US reorientation toward "great-power competition," the service seems beset with problems in its leadership and its hardware.
* These issues point to a maritime force that was long the nation's first line of defense but which is now beset with serious and systemic problems that need immediate attention

Last week's crippling fire on the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard raised further questions about the state of our Navy just as the Trump administration recklessly careens down a path toward maritime confrontations with China in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

The fire on the Bonhomme Richard is only the latest in a series of damaging incidents that call into question the Navy's ability to take on the central role called for in the Defense Department's priority of re-orienting the nation's armed forces away from hunting jihadists across South Asia toward focusing on revisionist great powers in Moscow and especially Beijing.

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WNU Editor: The fire that crippled the US Navy amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard last week should be a wake-up call that the US Navy is facing problems.