The Navy has a leadership problem, especially in the top tier 7th Fleet in the western Pacific. While these problems predate the Obama administration, his "pivot" to the Pacific was supposed to prioritize the military in PACOM (now INDOPACOM). What happened? And has Trump made a difference in 2018 after the very visibly bad 2017?
We hope our training and experience will compensate for China's growing numerical strength at sea. But good Lord in Heaven, if 7th Fleet had a ship with the problems Fitzgerald had, we are in deep doo doo.
The secretary of the Navy told the Navy that they have the money now, so they'd best have a sense of urgency in fixing the problem. It looks like the minimal manning concept is being dumped to ease the work load and allow for rest and actual combat training at sea, for example.
Let's hope it is just a coincidence that when our 7th Fleet is in some turmoil at the same time that the Chinese are making more noises about attacking Taiwan lately and not worrying about our Navy as a decisive obstacle to such an attack.
Or do the Chinese think that they have a window of opportunity before we can correct these problems.
