Why the Navy’s plan to get rid of 24 ships is a really bad idea

[rebewranger]

Why the Navy’s plan to get rid of 24 ships is a really bad idea
"China is not a ‘pacing challenge’ when they will soon have double the size of our Navy."

BY JEFF SCHOGOL | PUBLISHED APR 4, 2022 12:42 PM
 
The U.S. Navy’s plan to decommission 24 ships next fiscal year has garnered universal scorn from naval experts as well as members of Congress, who feel the Navy cannot afford to shrink while China’s Navy continues to grow.

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“China has clearly shown their ambitions in the Pacific: Their aggressiveness toward Taiwan,” Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) told Task & Purpose. “The Navy is the reason that we have the world order that we have today post-World War II. We cannot cede that maritime supremacy in the Pacific to the Chinese. It requires our presence and that requires ships, and that requires investment.”


The Navy’s latest budget request calls for reducing the size of the fleet from 298 to 280 vessels by fiscal 2027. Meanwhile, China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy already has at least 355 ships, making it the largest navy in the world.

The day after the Navy announced its budget request for fiscal year 2023, Luria tweeted exactly how she felt about it: “It sucks.”

https://taskandpurpose.com/analysis/navy-plan-decommission-24-ships/

[Fishrrman]

Get rid of the "littoral combat ships".
Get rid of the Zumwalt class "destroyers".

Keep the rest.

[Smokin Joe]

Get rid of the "littoral combat ships".
Get rid of the Zumwalt class "destroyers".

Keep the rest.

Pull some out of mothballs and refit them. The more targets, the thinner the rain of Chinese missiles (as cold as that sounds). Fewer targets means a greater concentration of incoming that might overwhelm defensive systems.

Quantity has a quality all its own.