The House Armed Services Committee’s readiness and seapower subcommittees held a joint hearing Thursday to discuss the budget shortfall in the U.S. Navy’s training and maintenance funds, Breaking Defense reported Friday.
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. writes the hearing is part of HASC’s effort to push for a defense policy bill that would move $18 billion from the overseas contingency operations budget to the Defense Department’s base funding for fiscal year 2017.
“I believe Congress must pursue a third option: to increase funding for the Navy to levels that will enable it to do what our nation asks without running its ships and sailors ragged or sending them into battle unprepared,†Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Virginia), chairman of the seapower subcommittee, wrote in a memo issued to his colleagues prior to the hearing.
Four Navy captains testified at the joint hearing about deployment and maintenance problems associated with the service branch’s Carrier Air Wing One, USS Normandy guided-missile cruiser and submarines, according to the report.
Capt. Greg McRae, deputy commander of Submarine Squadron Six, discussed delays in overhaul work on USS Albany and other submarines, Freedberg reports.
“Today, we are looking at a 43-month overhaul for a maintenance period that was supposed to last 28 months,” McRae said.
