Navy Ships Kept at Sea Despite Training and Maintenance Needs, Admiral Says
Navy said that We have allowed standards to drop as the number of certifications has grown,
After the McCain crash, the Navy relieved the commander of the Seventh Fleet, Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin; directed all 277 Navy ships worldwide to suspend operations for a day or two to examine basic seamanship
and teamwork; and ordered a comprehensive review of fleet operations, training and manning to be completed within 60 days.
That was more than a fivefold increase in the percentage of expired certifications for the
crews of those ships since a Government Accountability Office report in May 2015, he said.
But the hearing painted a disturbing portrait of fatigued crews
and commanders on a shrinking overseas fleet saddled with constant deployments — including confronting an expansionist Chinese military and keeping vigil on a nuclear saber-rattling North Korea — with little time left to train or to repair aging ships.
And they said that while crews based in the United States were almost always completely qualified before deploying, ships based overseas
and juggling multiple missions relied on a "train on the margins" approach.
As of June, 37 percent of the certifications for the crews of cruisers
and destroyers based at the Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, had expired, Mr. Pendleton said.
Mr. Pendleton noted that a 2015 study by the Government Accountability Office found
that the high demands of Navy fleets based overseas, like the Seventh in Japan, affect maintenance and training.
