■ 09 February 2012 | 9:12 PM
Navy Ship Numbers will Not Grow
Navy Ship Numbers will Not Grow: The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO), Admiral Greenert said while addressing the crew of USS Wasp (AOL Defense), “The number of ships in 2017 will be about the same, 285, but it won’t be going as high as we wanted”. For years the number has been 313 ships, coming down from the 600 ship Navy in 1990. Admiral Harvey, Commander Fleet Forces Command, told reporters at a Defense Writers Group, (Defense Daily) that the Navy is going to have to cope with fewer ships than anticipated and revising its current force posture. He said “Circumstances have now changed,---our strategic shift, our pivot, is taking place.”
But until 2017 the present number of 285 will be reduced, announced in the new Strategy, early retirement of seven cruisers and two amphibious ships and the delay of construction of some planed construction. There is a possibility of early retirement of already planed FFG’s.
What this means to the region is an unknown, but when the realignment of ships to the west coast and Spain, retirements; the new number of ships assigned locally may be permanent. There is a possibility this number could be as high as a loss of 11. When the budget is released on Monday, the 13th we should start to see some of facts, and details of the new strategy.
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with the total number of ships appearing to be stuck at 285
for the next few years, the Navy also better be doing things to protect those ships from being abused through neglect. I served on 4 ships, two of them had times of 30 quarters between overhauls. The Josephues Daniels (CG-27) was an awesome ship from the water line up, but the engineering plant was "unsafe to operate" as stated by Squadron. They left the ship in fear, concerned it might not get home. The guys had no problem getting the ship home, but the ship was never really trusted to go in harms way. 34 1/4s of neglect caused it. The snipes busted their butts on the plant, but McGyvor tactics can only go so far.
They are thinking of axing the Nimitz. She had similar abuses. Magic doesn not fix plants, yard periods do. From a black shoe.