CNO praises IAs, calls for expanded fleet - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

CNO praises IAs, calls for expanded fleet

The Navy’s top admiral is putting a premium on the work of sailors on the ground in the Middle East and is pushing for more ships to maintain presence around the globe.

In his first interview since taking over as chief of naval operations at the end of September, Adm. Gary Roughead spoke of the value that having thousands of sailors on the ground in a war zone brings to the fleet.

“For the first time in history, we have more sailors on the ground in the Middle East than we do at sea — 14,000 sailors ashore and about 11,000 at sea,” Roughead said during the interview in his Pentagon office.

In his first month on the job, he unveiled a new maritime strategy, written in concert with the Marine Corps and Coast Guard, and visited sailors in Iraq and Bahrain in a sweeping overview of operations there. The admiral’s own op tempo was made obvious by his office — except for the large paintings that always adorn the CNO’s workspace, the walls were bare.

During his Iraq trip, Roughead said, he had the opportunity to speak to 3,000 to 4,000 sailors on the ground.

Air Force, Army and Marine commanders all noted the strengths of sailors serving as individual augmentees in their units, he said.

“It was interesting to me that when I talked to the Army, Air Force and Marine commanders, when they are referring to U.S. Navy sailors, they refer to them as ‘my sailors,’ ” Roughead said. “And the thing that really struck me were the qualities that they talked about with respect to our sailors — a sense of accountability, the vast range of skills and capabilities that our sailors have, the discipline that they have and the way that we just do our business as sailors; the idea of how you stand a proper watch. That came through loud and clear.”

The admiral disputed the notion that an IA assignment could hurt a sailor’s career.

IA tours are producing sailors who can operate in a joint force — to the betterment of the individual sailor’s career and the Navy, he said. The skills that IA sailors bring to their parent commands are unlike what they could attain on a traditional tour, he said.

“We are becoming a much more capable force — a force that not only understands jointness, but experiences jointness in a very unique way, out there doing it with the other services,” Roughead said.

Further, he said, the new maritime strategy calls for sailors to deploy to areas of the world where the Navy has not traditionally spent much time, such as Africa.

New ships

In order to engage more with traditional allies and emerging partners around the globe, the Navy needs more ships, Roughead said. He has called the current 313-ship plan a “floor” — the minimum number of ships needed in the decades to come in order to perform myriad missions, from high-end combat at sea and near shore to humanitarian relief.

“I do believe the 313 is the low limit and the types of activities I see the Navy and Marine Corps involved in the future, particularly in the areas of maritime security and the cooperative approach that we have with friends and partners, the ships are going to be required to be able to do that,” he said.

The Navy’s planned platform for close-to-shore operations, the Littoral Combat Ship, has come under scrutiny by lawmakers due to cost growth and delays in production. Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics are each building separate LCS sea frames that will be outfitted with mission modules for surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare and mine warfare. Last month, the Navy canceled LCS 4, which was to be built by General Dynamics, due to significant cost overruns, a move that was preceded by the cancellation of LCS 3 in April, which was to be the second Lockheed-built ship.

Roughead acknowledged the challenges the LCS program has faced, but reaffirmed the Navy’s commitment to the platform.

“The fact that we made the decision to terminate [LCS] 3 and 4 in no way shakes my confidence or the need we have for the ship, but the fact of the matter is we need to get the cost down,” he said.

Stability is important to shipbuilding to control costs and assure the industrial base that the production lines will continue to have work, he said.

“It is important to get the configuration set and accurately assess the cost so that the shipbuilders and the Navy can have a good, stable production line,” Roughead said. “When you do something like we had to do with LCS, that to a certain degree is disruptive and I would like to not see that happen.”

He added that as officials draw up what they want on these new classes of ships, it’s important that the Navy puts priority on the needed items, not just the ones it wants. He said it comes down to putting the requirements side on “appetite suppressants.”

Despite the challenges to building new classes of ships, Roughead said, this is “an exciting time in the Navy” as the new classes of ships come into the fleet.

“This is a very unique time for us because there are many [new] ships that are now under construction,” he said. “And I’ve said many times, I wish I was 25 years younger again.”

“We are building a new class of submarine, our Virginias [class subs] are new, and the progress that we’re making to bring the cost down to get to [build] two submarines per year, we’re on path to do that,” Roughead said by way of example. “Our amphibious ships, the LPD 17, a brand-new class of ship, they are striking, they are capable and they are large and they will serve us in the power projection role in a very positive way.”