:chairbang:By Megan Eckstein
Jul 12, 08:55 AM
NORFOLK, Va. — The U.S. Navy has long sought more flexibility in how its deployable ships are used, but it’s been hard to break out of the mold: the high-demand destroyers, for example, go through maintenance and training, most likely deploy as part of a carrier strike group, have a few months of free time upon their return, and then start the process all over again.
Slowdowns in maintenance work have exacerbated the problem, the commander of U.S. Fleet Forces Command said. Whereas ships should be cycling through that process and heading out on deployment every 36 months, maintenance backlogs and delays have pushed that to an average of 45 months. With more ships stuck in maintenance for longer, assembling a full strike group for deployment might now take up all the available destroyers on the waterfront.
That leaves few ships to pursue Navy priorities, Adm. Daryl Caudle said, from at-sea command courses to experimentation with new tactics to missions in less-frequented locations like South America or the Arctic.
https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2022/07/12/navys-atlantic-fleet-mulling-new-high-readiness-force/
