In part one of a series at DefenseNews, Chris Cavas echoes in the mainstream press sentiments I and any number of other Navy bloggers in my blogroll have been saying for years. Here’s the bulletized list:

When U.S. Navy officials tell Congress they have confidence in their shipbuilding cost projections, lawmakers don’t believe them.

When flag officers say they’ve got enough money for maintenance, fleet sailors wonder why high-tech warships aren’t combat ready.

When top admirals say they have a new maritime strategy, analysts struggle to match it with the shipbuilding plan.

When business strategies override operational needs, officers wonder if they’re war fighters or executives.

Navy leaders are suffering from a credibility gap – with Congress, with industry and, increasingly, with the fleet.

I have one quibble with Cavas jumping on the maintenance bandwagon by piling on Chosin and Stout. I’m on a ship in one of those classes that is just as old as those ships, and our INSURV report from last fall was so short it could fit on two pages. Two bad INSURVs does not a trend make, particularly when the ships aren’t even in the same class. It’s certainly cause to look a little deeper, but it’s not a reason to hyperventilate yet.

But, getting back to my main point, the dirty laundry has been in the air for quite some time and Cavas starts to ask the right questions. However, the one questions he doesn’t and can’t answer is: Can Big Navy do anything about it?

With the group think that seems to prevail and the time it will take to set things to right I have my doubts.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 and is filed under Acquisition Policy, Navy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.