Overeating

I'm worried about having sufficient numbers in our Navy to have ships where we need them. But before we can worry about having more ships, we absolutely need to make sure the ships we have are combat ready. They are not, according to my Jane's email updates.

Says Jane's, "The US Navy (USN) is relying heavily on a maintenance option the service considers 'a drastic measure to only be utilised as a last resort' to allow its ships to pass basic inspections and maintain the fleet's operational effectiveness, according to previously unreleased data provided to the US Congress and obtained by Jane's . In four consecutive quarters in 2010 the USN a cannibalisation rate that was twice the maximum allowed limit (MAL) of about one instance per four ships (.28) [.]"

This should be unacceptable. Instead it is the new normal. Or do you think that even less money for the military over the next decade will have no effect on this state of affairs?