Media: the United States does not have time to serve its fleet
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The US Navy has experienced significant delays in servicing its ships, which is especially true in the context of the rapid development of the Chinese Navy, writes the US Naval Institute website.
Justin Gray, chief of the Naval Systems Command, said China’s industrial capacity is three times that of America’s.
The USNI report notes that while the Chinese Navy’s ship strength topped 355 this year, the US Navy’s surface ship service alone is behind by a total of 4,200 days. According to the authors of the publication, such a lag is equivalent to a fleet reduction of 10 ships per year.
US Navy Command Director of Fleet Maintenance Rear Admiral Bill Green said only 36% of work would be completed on time by the end of fiscal year 2022, down from 44% last fiscal year. According to Green, the Navy currently has 41 combat-ready surface ships available, and work is underway on 100 ships.
The reasons for the delay, writes USNI, are the complexity of the upgrade, the need to mount upgraded combat systems on old hulls, and the lack of skilled workers at public and private shipyards. As noted, only four state-owned shipyards, responsible mainly for servicing submarines and aircraft carriers, are experiencing a record shortage of 1,000 shipyard workers.
To make matters worse, Congress has reportedly rejected US Navy proposals to decommission a number of ships, mainly guided missile cruisers and littoral ships, making the maintenance schedule even more challenging.
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