Marines, Navy Crafting Long-Term Fixes for Amphibious Warship Shortages
MALLORY SHELBOURNE
MAY 3, 2024 10:45 AM
The sun rises over the USS Wasp (LHD-1) while underway in the Atlantic Ocean, April 12, 2024. US Marine Corps
WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the long-term future for the amphibious fleet is secured with a Navy commitment to 31 amphibious warships in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, the short-term problem of getting Marines to sea is less settled.
Maintenance issues with the Navy’s aging Wasp-class big-deck amphibious warships and Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships have abbreviated Marine Expeditionary Unit deployments, forcing the Navy and Marine Corps to cobble together less-than-ideal solutions to get MEUs to sea, officials from both services said this week.
To that end, the Navy and Marine Corps are nearing an agreement that would uniformly define amphibious ship readiness requirements, as the services face maintenance challenges that have led to delayed deployments.
The CNO and Commandant agree that the services must work toward a goal of 80 percent readiness for the fleet of 31 L-class ships, which should include 21 amphibious transport docks and 10 big-deck amphibious assault ships, Smith said Thursday at the annual Modern Day Marine symposium in Washington, D.C.
https://news.usni.org/2024/05/03/marines-navy-crafting-long-term-fixes-for-amphibious-warship-shortages
