The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has completed a review that identifies that, even if the US Navy has already taken initial steps to rebuild military readiness, years of sustained attention will be required in order to fully overcome the challenges.
The Navy has taken steps to address training shortfalls in the surface fleet but faces persistent maintenance and personnel challenges as it seeks to rebuild ship and submarine readiness. Furthermore, manning shortfalls and experience gaps continue to contribute to high sailor workload and are likely to continue through at least fiscal year 2021.
Following ship collisions in 2017, the Navy has begun to ensure its crews are trained to standards prior to deployment and made significant progress in those efforts.
Nevertheless, the Navy has struggled to complete ship maintenance. Since fiscal year 2012, only 30% of maintenance was completed on time. Leading to the unavailability of the ships for training and operations for years.
The Navy has developed a plan to improve shipyards and is re-examining its ship manning, among other actions. However, these positive steps have not yet fully addressed GAO’s recommendations.
The Navy has expressed its expectations to grow its fleet to meet demands. Nonetheless, the costs of such growth are not yet known and further funding from the currently planned levels should be required.
According to the announcement, 45 recommendations from GAO has been described in this review and the Department of Defense agreed with most of them. Although, the Department of Defense has many plans regarding the recommendations, it has not yet fully implemented any.
