Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04), Chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, announced today that he will hold a hearing on Thursday, March 22 in 2212 Rayburn to assess the current readiness posture of the United States Navy in light of the FY 2013 budget request. The hearing will examine issues impacting Navy readiness, such as the early retirement of ships, the current state of ship and aviation maintenance, the Navy’s operational tempo, stress on the force structure, and the operation and maintenance investments requested in the Fiscal Year 2013 budget.

“How well is our Navy planning for its future? America has the smallest fleet in almost a century, yet our demand for Naval ships is going up.  We are eliminating ships with more than 35% of their expected life cycles remaining and extending our sailors’ deployments. This does not add up for America. We cannot allow national security to become a last priority. In order to understand the real world impact of the Obama administration’s budget constraints on our Navy and their effect on national security, we need to take a close look at the early retirement of ships, current state of ship maintenance, and other key issues impacting Navy readiness,” said Forbes. 

HASC Readiness Subcommittee Hearing:
Navy Readiness
Thursday, March 22, 2012
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
2212 Rayburn House Office Building

WITNESSES
Vice Admiral William Burke
Deputy Chief of Naval Operations
Warfare Systems (N9)

Vice Admiral Kevin McCoy
Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command

Vice Admiral David Architzel
Commander, Naval Air Systems Command

In addition to the expected retirement of 16 ships, the Navy has proposed the early retirement of an additional seven Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers (because they lack Ballistic Missile Defense capability) and two amphibious ships in fiscal years 2013 and 2014.  The Navy has reported that six of the cruisers have 13-15 years of service life remaining and the amphibious ships have 13-18 years of service life.