The Navy's admirals don't seem to realize that they need to get serious about preparing their service for a war in which American control of the seas is not assured.
Will we run out of ships to reload before we run out of missiles?
Defense Department comptroller Mike McCord told United States Naval Institute News that shipyards can’t even produce two warships a year, making Congress’ request for three unrealistic.
Yeah.
But to be fair to the shipyards, the Navy as a whole has problems:
The Navy is the most hobbled by readiness failures among the four US military service branches, according to congressional auditors, a worrisome assessment given the crucial role it would play in any potential conflict with China.
The [Navy's] inability to keep ships running is also having serious effects on the operations of the Marine Corps, which relies on Navy ships to transport and position them near mission areas, to the frustration of officials in that branch.
Unfortunately for the Marines, the Navy is focused like a laser on other "problems".* So good luck at the ass end of nowhere. And good luck to America, too.
Also from the first article:
"We would love to live in a world where the yards could make three a year, or three submarines a year, but we don’t live in that world," McCord said.
We may not live in a world where we can make three subs per year. But we live in a world where we need to make three per year.
But no worries! We have Navy leadership with a long history of fighting for naval superiority. They'll right the listing ship!
Wait. What? (Tip to Instapundit) Batting .333 is great in baseball. But when the Naval War College is indistinguishable from any woke civilian college, we have a major national security problem. Do read it all. We have massive numbers of colleges eager to do that kind of stuff and only a handful of service academies to prepare for war.
The Navy sure is focused like a laser on its real missions, eh? I mean, come on Navy. FFS! (tip to Instapundit)
This has to change. Because woke lips sink ships.
UPDATE: Priorities:
Navy officials dismissed critics of its promotion of LGBTQ+ Pride as "bigots" and "a**holes," according to emails obtained by Fox News Digital.
How many groups within the Navy get this kind of special treatment? The Irish? Furries? S & M fetishists? Lights-out-and-missionary-position-only-and-when-married types? Left-handers?
And yes, two of those apply to me. Haters.
Mission readiness should be the only mission. If some sailors are mistreating other sailors in a unit, the unit leadership should deal with those mistreating fellow sailors. I'm of course not in favor of anybody who is serving our country getting unfairly mistreated.
*My harshness toward Navy leadership isn't motivated by Army bias. When push comes to shove I believe the Navy has priority over the Army given our basic geography. Without naval superiority, our shores will become our first line of defense. I'm harsh because of the high stakes. And because I expect much better.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
