Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Failure on a Grand Scale

The Navy has announced the retirement of VAdm. Jim Downey.  Consider this excerpt, reported by USNI News website.
 
The dual-hatted Naval Sea Systems Command [ed. 2023-present] and Portfolio Acquisition Executive Industrial Operations Vice Adm. Jim Downey retired last week, the Navy announced.
 
Downey commissioned into the Navy in 1987 after graduating from the State University of New York. He’s a career surface warfare officer and prior to Naval Sea Systems Command, he served as the PEO Aircraft Carriers [ed. 2019-2023] led the Navy Regional Maintenance Center [ed. 2016-2019] and was the program manager for the Zumwalt guided-missile destroyer program.[1][emphasis added]

Can you think of any bigger failures than the pathetic performance of NavSea, the Navy’s toxic relations with industry, the sad state of our carriers and the abortion that is the Ford class, the Navy’s horrific maintenance performance, or the abysmal failure that is the Zumwalt program?
 
Downey not only failed spectacularly but was spectacularly rewarded for doing so with one prominent position after another!
 
What’s wrong with the Navy?  Well, this man and his career would be the poster child for it.
 
 
 
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[1]USNI News website, “NAVSEA Commander Downey Retires, 2 Admirals Take Over Roles in Interim”, Sam LaGrone, 10-Aug-2026,
https://news.usni.org/2026/08/10/navsea-commander-downey-retires-2-admirals-take-over-roles-in-interim
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2 comments:

  1. ExJuniorSailorAugust 11, 2026 at 11:11 AM

    I was just posting a comment in previous thread but it was doing its usual thing of "third try is a charm", and then this popped up so:


    Heres somthing that'll cause nausea:

    https://news.usni.org/2026/08/10/navsea-commander-downey-retires-2-admirals-take-over-roles-in-interim

    In the midst of all the Navys ongoing struggles, and string of shipbuilding failures, here's a face you can put to them. Adm Downey has headed NAVSEA for a relatively brief period, but previously headed the Carrier program, and the Zumwalts before that. This is one of the guys that had some of the responsibility for the huge waste of time and money. Rather than being investigated and probably charged with somthing, or at the very least being pushed out and forced into retirement, theres a ceremony, and he's retiring, off into the sunset. Any thoughts on which contractor he will appear at... which Board he will end up on?
    And here's the fun part. It seems the bureaucracy is growing- with new PEOs being created... more Admirals, and more staffs being created to "manage". This is exactly the opposite of I wanted to see under the new SecDef. We don't need more management, we need LESS. More accountability, less "management". I'm absolutely dissappointed in what I read here in this brief article... and to me, it doesn't make the future look any better.

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  2. Chinese GordonAugust 11, 2026 at 12:35 PM

    Adm. Downey's next post should be PEO Defiant class BB.
    Where his unique skill in program mismanagement can be of help to the Navy. /s

    ReplyDelete

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