WASHINGTON — The Navy, as of Dec. 2, has 60 of its 296 deployable warships underway around the world. In the midst of a global pandemic, that, in itself is something of a feat.
"The close proximity which our sailors live aboard ship made this a real threat to our ability to operate at sea," said Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite, testifying Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Even with cumulative COVID-19-positive tests for the Navy and Marine Corps reaching a combined total of more than 26,000 cases, things look much better now, according to Braithwaite.
"We are today a better force, prepared for nuclear, biological, chemical warfare in the future because of the lessons we have learned from this pandemic," he said.
The secretary and the Chief of Naval Operations were asked about what effect the ongoing budget dysfunction on Capitol Hill could have if, as now appears possible, lawmakers fail to pass a long-term budget and instead pass a Continuing Resolution funding the military at last years' levels.
Their assessment on that issue was not as upbeat.
"The way we operate our fleet, steaming hours, flying hours, all that will be impacted, pay to our sailors, to our Marines," said Braithwaite. "There'll be a significant impact."
The CNO, Admiral Mike Gilday, added, "Over time, you begin to see significant impacts with respect to both near term readiness and investments we're trying to make in the future."
The leaders said the multi-billion repairs that are necessary to fix the arson-damaged USS Bonhomme Richard are simply too expensive, and that the prudent thing to do is to decommission the 22-year-old amphibious assault ship.
And, Braithwaite announced, Norfolk-based United States Fleet Forces Command will be realigned and its name will be changed back to U.S. Atlantic Fleet to "meet the unique maritime challenges of the Atlantic theater."