WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — The Navy continues to face persistent and substantial maintenance delays at its shipyards. The reason? Insufficient capacity and a shortage of skilled workers.
"We found that the Navy was unable to complete scheduled ship maintenance about 75 percent of the time, leading to over 33,000 days of maintenance delays," said Diana Maurer of the Government Accountability Office.
The GAO found that the $21 billion set aside for maintenance of naval shipyards under the 20-year Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Plan won't be enough.
"The current estimated price tag of $21 billion is essentially notional and likely to be billions more because it does not include major costs for inflation or improving underlying infrastructure," said Maurer.
The Navy has efforts underway to improve its maintenance operations. However, Navy leaders told the Senate Armed Services Committee they will require years to implement, sustained management attention and greater funding. Navy leaders said what's not helpful is Congress passing short-term Continuing Resolutions.
"Although the vectors are moving in the right direction, the biggest threat to achieving the necessary sustained performance is budget instability," said Assistant Secretary of the Navy James Geurts. "A full-year CR would be a devastating blow to ship maintenance. It would reverse all the gains we've made over the last two years and create another huge maintenance backlog that would take years to reduce."
Vice Admiral Thomas Moore of the Naval Sea Systems Command concurred. He said, "Ask any company president out there if they don't know that they've got a stable plan and guaranteed work, they're not going to hire."
Hawaii Senator Maize Hirono, whose district includes the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, found the news disturbing.
"Once ships reach the yard, fewer than 40 percent of them are completing their maintenance and availabilities on time," she said. "Fewer than 40 percent. That means that a majority of those ships do not come out of maintenance in a timely manner."
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine's district includes the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. He said a big problem is that infrastructure improvement money that has been OK'd is being taken away from shipyards and redirected toward the border wall.
"Those of us who serve on the Armed Services Committee want to know when we agree on a defense appropriations bill, that the money will be used for national defense and will not be pirated away for pet political projects," he said.