Harvey: Navy can fix surface force in 2 years - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Harvey: Navy can fix surface force in 2 years

A panel of top admirals conceded to House lawmakers on Wednesday that readiness in the surface Navy has faltered over the past decade, but affirmed they know exactly what the fleet’s problems are and will have many of them resolved by about 2012.

That timeline came from Adm. John Harvey, head of Fleet Forces Command, who said that if everything goes as envisioned with changes in the works to funding and manpower, the fleet will be “on track to reverse these trends in the next two years.”

For that to happen, the Navy has to get the money it requested in this year’s budget, finish planning where it will add and change billets in 2011, and then put it all together in the year after that, Harvey said.

“This is the number one issue I face every day, which is the readiness of our fleet, specifically the readiness of our surface fleet,” Harvey said, and he assured the readiness subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee that the Navy will move in the right direction.

Lawmakers from both parties pressed Harvey and his fellow panelists about recent findings of systemic dysfunction in the surface force, specifically about the poor performance of Aegis radar; the endemic problems with the fleet’s San Antonio-class amphibious ships; and the shortfalls of the Navy’s reliance on computer-based training. Appearing with Harvey were Vice Adm. Kevin McCoy, head of Naval Sea Systems Command; and Vice Adm. William Burke, the top readiness officer on the Navy Staff.

Virginia Rep. Randy Forbes, a Republican, also faulted the Navy for poor planning and budgeting — by not funding maintenance correctly the Navy has risked the long-term health of its ships, he said. Although top Navy officials have said this year that they consider maintenance funding a top priority, that wasn’t always the case, Forbes said.

“The culmination of several of these resourcing decisions, over time, has reduced the skills of our sailors and significantly reduced the surface life of the ships we were counting on for decades to come. This is the equivalent of saving up to by a fancy new car, knowing all the while that you won’t be able to afford to change the oil or rotate the tires,” he said.

Each of the Navy witnesses conceded that the surface Navy’s experiments in “running like a business” hadn’t panned out as officials had initially hoped, but said the fleet already has plans in place to get back on track in each of its troubled areas.

For example, “blended training,” which combines classroom and virtual instruction, keeps some of the savings of computer-based training but produces more competent sailors, Harvey said. Engineers are applying the lessons of the Navy’s San Antonio investigation elsewhere in the class, McCoy said. And Harvey’s plans to add sailors for sea and shore jobs will fill the gaps created by years of cuts and “optimal manning,” he said.

Harvey did not give specifics about how many people the Navy is adding or where they’ll be assigned. He and McCoy dashed out of the hearing room into a waiting motorcade after the session was over, declining to answer reporters’ questions.

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For much more on the House readiness hearing, look for Monday’s print edition of Navy Times.

DISCUSS: HARVEY’S CLAIM