The US Navy issued a Strategic Readiness Review (SRR) in light of the incidents involving the USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain warships, that resulted in significant loss of life and injury. The review examines the systemic conditions influencing and existing within the Navy over the last 30 years.
Over a 90-day time period, the review examined stress on the force due to operational culture, budgetary tradeoffs, accountability structures and risk management, as well as analyzed career patterns, manning trends, training architectures, operational tempo and the infusion of new technologies into the fleet. These elements were evaluated and assessed for their cumulative effect on the Navy’s operational readiness against shifts in U.S. strategy and evolving peer-on-peer threats.
Key findings in the SRR indicate that the Navy’s emphasis on readiness as the primary enabler of warfighting capability and capacity must be re-energized, embedded and continuously monitored throughout the Naval enterprise.
In particular, the review provided four broad strategic recommendations:
- Re-establish Readiness as a Priority: The creation of combat ready forces must take equal footing with meeting the immediate demands of Combatant Commanders. Sufficient time for training crews and maintaining ships is critical for restoring and monitoring readiness.
- Match Supply and Demand: There must be a greater appreciation for the reality that only so many ships and sailors can be made available in a given operational cycle. The Navy must establish realistic limits regarding the number of ready ships and sailors and, short of combat, not acquiesce to emergent requirements with assets that are not fully ready.
- Establish clear Command and Control Relationships: The Navy must realign and streamline its command and control structures to tightly align responsibility, authority, and accountability.
- Become a True Learning Organization: Navy history is replete with reports and investigations that contain like findings regarding past collisions, groundings, and other operational incidents. The repeated recommendations and calls for change belie the belief that the Navy always learns from its mistakes. Navy leadership at all levels must foster a culture of learning and create the structures and processes that fully embrace this commitment.
The investigation report by US Navy on USS Fitzgerald and on USS John S. McCain collisions, that took place both in summer, concluded that both incidents were avoidable and resulted from lack of procedural compliance.
Explore more by reading the full Review herebelow:
