by James Nault at legalinsurrection.com
This at a time when China is ramping up its Navy capabilities, and while the Biden Administration proposes cutting shipbuilding
As if the military recruiting disaster or the Biden Administration’s embrace of woke and transgender policies for the military wasn’t bad enough, now we find out that almost 40% of U.S. attack submarines, or SSNs, the kind that shoot Tomahawk missiles at land targets and torpedoes at all types of vessels at sea, and conduct intelligence collection missions, i.e. the kind critical for the defense of Taiwan, are out-of-commission and stuck in naval shipyards.
From Bloomberg:
Delays at naval shipyards mean that nearly 40% of US attack submarines are out of commission for repairs, about double the rate the Navy would like, according to new data released by the service.
As of this year, 18 of the US Navy’s 49 attack submarines — 37% — were out of commission, according to previously undisclosed Navy data published by the Congressional Research Service. That leaves the US at a critical disadvantage against China’s numerically superior fleet.
The maintenance backlog has “substantially reduced” the number of nuclear submarines operational at any given moment, cutting the “force’s capacity for meeting day-to-day mission demands and potentially putting increased operational pressure” on submarines that are in service, CRS naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke said in a July 6 report.
Worst of all, the trendline is bad and getting worse, as the 37% out-of-commission rate is “up from 28% overall in 2017 and 33% in 2022, and below the industry best practice of 20%.” “The best year for attack sub availability was fiscal 2015 when 19% — or 10 of the then 53 subs — were in overhaul, according to figures contained in a June 13 Navy information paper.”
Like I said, the trendline is bad and getting worse.
The Navy, of course, deflected responsibility and tried the old “it’s not that bad” line:
The Naval Sea Systems Command blamed “planning, material availability, and shipyard execution,” according to a statement issued in response to the new statistics. The service has launched several initiatives to address these “primary maintenance delay” drivers, it said.
The command gave an updated maintenance backlog status, saying that 16 of 49 subs, or 32%, were out of commission as of late June.
This doesn’t cut it because “US defense officials and lawmakers consider the submarine force a key advantage over China’s bigger navy,” to which I say, no kidding.
It also contrasts with the Biden Administration sending submarines on show the flag missions around the globe, in hopes of deterring some of the crazies out there:
The previously undisclosed backlog woes stand in contrast to current Pentagon policy that’s called for increased visibility worldwide for the US sub force as a message to China, Russia and North Korea. The US has occasionally showcased its submarines in the past, but the pace picked up in the last year with publicized port visits in the Arabian Sea, at Diego Garcia, at Gibraltar and in the Atlantic.
The most recent was a June appearance by the guided-missile submarine USS Michigan in Busan, South Korea.
Well, that’s not going to work too well if it’s all show and you don’t have the actual submarines available to execute the missions.
Biden seems to be doing the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt, who advised “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
Nearly 40% of U.S. Attack Submarines are Out of Commission
This at a time when China is ramping up its Navy capabilities, and while the Biden Administration proposes cutting shipbuilding
Posted by James Nault Wednesday, July 12, 2023 at 07:00pm 22 Comments
As if the military recruiting disaster or the Biden Administration’s embrace of woke and transgender policies for the military wasn’t bad enough, now we find out that almost 40% of U.S. attack submarines, or SSNs, the kind that shoot Tomahawk missiles at land targets and torpedoes at all types of vessels at sea, and conduct intelligence collection missions, i.e. the kind critical for the defense of Taiwan, are out-of-commission and stuck in naval shipyards.
From Bloomberg:
Delays at naval shipyards mean that nearly 40% of US attack submarines are out of commission for repairs, about double the rate the Navy would like, according to new data released by the service.
As of this year, 18 of the US Navy’s 49 attack submarines — 37% — were out of commission, according to previously undisclosed Navy data published by the Congressional Research Service. That leaves the US at a critical disadvantage against China’s numerically superior fleet.
The maintenance backlog has “substantially reduced” the number of nuclear submarines operational at any given moment, cutting the “force’s capacity for meeting day-to-day mission demands and potentially putting increased operational pressure” on submarines that are in service, CRS naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke said in a July 6 report.
Worst of all, the trendline is bad and getting worse, as the 37% out-of-commission rate is “up from 28% overall in 2017 and 33% in 2022, and below the industry best practice of 20%.” “The best year for attack sub availability was fiscal 2015 when 19% — or 10 of the then 53 subs — were in overhaul, according to figures contained in a June 13 Navy information paper.”
Like I said, the trendline is bad and getting worse.
The Navy, of course, deflected responsibility and tried the old “it’s not that bad” line:
The Naval Sea Systems Command blamed “planning, material availability, and shipyard execution,” according to a statement issued in response to the new statistics. The service has launched several initiatives to address these “primary maintenance delay” drivers, it said.
The command gave an updated maintenance backlog status, saying that 16 of 49 subs, or 32%, were out of commission as of late June.
This doesn’t cut it because “US defense officials and lawmakers consider the submarine force a key advantage over China’s bigger navy,” to which I say, no kidding.
It also contrasts with the Biden Administration sending submarines on show the flag missions around the globe, in hopes of deterring some of the crazies out there:
The previously undisclosed backlog woes stand in contrast to current Pentagon policy that’s called for increased visibility worldwide for the US sub force as a message to China, Russia and North Korea. The US has occasionally showcased its submarines in the past, but the pace picked up in the last year with publicized port visits in the Arabian Sea, at Diego Garcia, at Gibraltar and in the Atlantic.
The most recent was a June appearance by the guided-missile submarine USS Michigan in Busan, South Korea.
Well, that’s not going to work too well if it’s all show and you don’t have the actual submarines available to execute the missions.
Biden seems to be doing the opposite of Teddy Roosevelt, who advised “Speak softly and carry a big stick.”
And it may seem like only 18 attack submarines being “out-of-commission” out of 49 is not that bad, but the number of attack submarines the military’s operational combatant commanders say they need, “76 SSNs in the [year] 2025,” is way higher than 49, and of the subs remaining in an operational status, many of them are getting relatively minor repairs in their own homeports, or going through the long and arduous process to get certified to deploy overseas. So not all of the available subs are really available to deploy for a contingency at any one time.
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