How a sailor shortage is crippling ship maintenance at sea
By Diana Stancy
Wednesday, Sep 11, 2024
A new watchdog report warns that at-sea manning shortages and other issues are hindering a Navy ship crew's ability to do basic maintenance and repairs at sea. (Navy)
The Navy’s manning shortages are curbing the service’s ability to repair its ships while at sea, according to a watchdog report released Monday.
Sixty-three percent of executive officers — a ship’s second-in-command — surveyed reported that insufficient manning made it “moderately to extremely difficult to complete repairs while underway,” according to a Government Accountability Office report released Monday.
At-sea basic maintenance and repairs are critical to ensuring a ship can carry out its mission, according to the GAO.
But Monday’s report, based on interviews of sailors and leaders across the fleet, reveals that basic maintenance duties and repairs are hindered not only by manning shortages, but also by inaccurate Navy guidelines and substandard training.
https://www.defensenews.com/news/your-navy/2024/09/11/how-a-sailor-shortage-is-crippling-ship-maintenance-at-sea/
