The
Department of Defense Inspector General is going to conduct an audit of the
Military Sealift Command’s (MSC) maintenance of Pre-Positioning Ships,
according to a 26-Dec-2017 memo. (1) The audit is in response to a GAO report
highlighting material deficiencies in the surge sealift and combat logistics
vessels. (2) The GAO report was, itself,
in response to Congressional direction contained in the 2017 National Defense
Authorization Act. (2)
Highlights
from the GAO report:
- The average of the ships in the
surge sealift fleet (the collective MSC and Maritime Administration,
MARAD, fleets) is 40 years.
- MSC’s combat logistics fleet
consists of 29 auxiliary ships that provide underway replenishment support
to the surface fleet.
- MSC yearly ship casualties have
increased from 3 per year in 2012 to around 43 per year in 2016. (from Fig
3 of the GAO report)
- 83% of MSC ship scheduled
maintenance periods during the 2012-2016 time frame took longer than
expected, indicating worse than expected material conditions.
- Readiness test scores for
no-notice ship activations have declined and the number of tests have been
inadequate with at least one ship never having been tested.
- Combat logistics ships are not
meeting their stated availability goal of 270 days per year.
- Mission-limiting casualties for
combat logistics ships have increased from 69 per year in 2012 to 122 per
year in 2016. (from Fig 4 of the GAO report)
The Navy
claims to be “in the process” of developing a plan to deal with the declining
readiness of the ships but has not established funding or any concrete plans.
The Navy
will stop at nothing to fund the LCS and other new warships but is completely
ignoring the more important surge sealift and logistics support ships. This is the very same mentality exhibited by
the Navy towards all the other non-glamorous functions such as mine
countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, naval gunfire support, etc. Navy leadership is focused on the new, shiny,
and sexy carriers and Burkes but is ignoring the foundational capabilities of a
functional and effective naval fleet.
This GAO
report alone should be sufficient to make CNO Richardson resign in shame or be
fired by Congress for dereliction of duty.
What will
the audit find? It will find the same
things that every other investigation of the Navy has found – that Navy
leadership has knowingly and willfully abrogated their responsibilities to the
Navy and the nation.
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(2)Government
Accounting Office, “Navy Readiness Actions Needed to Maintain Viable Surge
Sealift and Combat Logistics Fleets”, Aug 2017, GAO-17-503,
