Tuesday, September 10, 2024

The Hits to the Navy Keep Coming

Our Navy has problems. Add one more to the list.


US Navy Photo

One of our Navy's strengths is sustaining naval power abroad. Wait. What? 

Military Sealift Command has drafted a plan to remove the crews from 17 Navy support ships due to a lack of qualified mariners to operate the vessels across the Navy, USNI News learned.

The MSC “force generation reset” identified two Lewis and Clark replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports (EPF) and two forward-deployed Navy expeditionary sea bases that would enter an “extended maintenance” period and have their crews retasked to other ships in the fleet, three people familiar with the plan told USNI News Thursday.

A "reset". On the bright side, our inability to expand the Navy or maintain what we have is moot if we can't sustain ships overseas.

Bye USS Herschel “Woody” Williams (ESB-4).

Maybe the Army needs to build its own ship, The AFRICOM Queen, as I explored in Military Review, to maintain a presence around Africa's littorals. 

NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.

NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.

NOTE: I'm now on Substack, with The Dignified Rant: Evolved.