Since Fleet maintenance/readiness appears to be a problem, and production is behind schedule, do we need to build a new class of ship? We are short of our L Class ships. It's time, now, to cancel the Landing Ship Medium program for FD. This will become another naval boondoggle like the Littoral Combat Ship program was.
Having just caught up with the saga of the “temporary Gaza humanitarian aid pier” and further details not only of the fire in the engine room of the USNS 2nd Lt. John Bobo, but equally the failure of the US Army support vessels to make any progress towards the Gaza port, further reading makes it clear things are worse than any could imagine. Further, as the US House of Representative’s approved yet another massive spending bill, for “aid” to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on the way to the US Senate and POTUS’s desk for confirmation, our erstwhile DoD with a budget of some $883 Billion can’t get 3-4 deep water vessels from point A to point B. (By the way when has the USA ever done anything in the way of a temporary anything?? Bagram airbase the worlds largest self licking ice cream comes to mind as the last temporary anything…) Most distressing though, having just read the Medal of Honor citation for Second Lieutenant John Bobo USMCR is that the Navy and the crew aboard the ship in a sense dishonor the memory and honor of John Bobo. Imagine how his family still alive might take the news. The Bobo is the laughing stock of the fleet, well sort of, the Wasp and Boxer are vying for that title and moniker. But imagine the anguish someone might feel that so great a sacrifice made for his Marines would be for lack of a better word so desecrated. The rot in the Navy Department is rife and smells bad. We don’t just need more ships, we need a Navy ready to support the ships needed. Heads ought to be rolling but doesn’t look likely. One of the problems is to many stars chasing too many bars. Senator Cotton’s report on the surface warfare navy was chilling in many ways. Chief among them that the bridge on many warships has closed circuit TV monitoring capabilities. So that the Admiral in charge sitting at his desk can monitor in real time the effects of his zero defects “management” style. As the report points out, under the current arrangements at sea, and zero defects mentality, Admirals Halsey, Nimitz and King would have been left ashore and cashiered out of the Navy before the start of WWII for some mistakes made as young officers. Of course at the time we had a Department of War and Navy Department back then and a funny word “accountability” was often heard in business, government and the military.
The underlying here is as has been mentioned, the Corps needs to take on more responsibility for the status and nature of the seagoing vessels it needs. If nothing else the memory of Lieutenant Bobo among others demands it.
HQMC needs to be monitoring ship maintenance status if it is not already doing so. Sometimes, the competing priorities of the admirals differ from CMC priorities. Also, if possible, the Marine Corps needs to reduce the number of ships required to support the MEU to reduce the impact of ship maimtenance requirements.
Since Fleet maintenance/readiness appears to be a problem, and production is behind schedule, do we need to build a new class of ship? We are short of our L Class ships. It's time, now, to cancel the Landing Ship Medium program for FD. This will become another naval boondoggle like the Littoral Combat Ship program was.
What happened to all of the equipment in the Norwegian Cave Storage!
Where did all of the MPS equipment for several MEBs go… Ukraine? Barstow? Reserves?
Having just caught up with the saga of the “temporary Gaza humanitarian aid pier” and further details not only of the fire in the engine room of the USNS 2nd Lt. John Bobo, but equally the failure of the US Army support vessels to make any progress towards the Gaza port, further reading makes it clear things are worse than any could imagine. Further, as the US House of Representative’s approved yet another massive spending bill, for “aid” to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on the way to the US Senate and POTUS’s desk for confirmation, our erstwhile DoD with a budget of some $883 Billion can’t get 3-4 deep water vessels from point A to point B. (By the way when has the USA ever done anything in the way of a temporary anything?? Bagram airbase the worlds largest self licking ice cream comes to mind as the last temporary anything…) Most distressing though, having just read the Medal of Honor citation for Second Lieutenant John Bobo USMCR is that the Navy and the crew aboard the ship in a sense dishonor the memory and honor of John Bobo. Imagine how his family still alive might take the news. The Bobo is the laughing stock of the fleet, well sort of, the Wasp and Boxer are vying for that title and moniker. But imagine the anguish someone might feel that so great a sacrifice made for his Marines would be for lack of a better word so desecrated. The rot in the Navy Department is rife and smells bad. We don’t just need more ships, we need a Navy ready to support the ships needed. Heads ought to be rolling but doesn’t look likely. One of the problems is to many stars chasing too many bars. Senator Cotton’s report on the surface warfare navy was chilling in many ways. Chief among them that the bridge on many warships has closed circuit TV monitoring capabilities. So that the Admiral in charge sitting at his desk can monitor in real time the effects of his zero defects “management” style. As the report points out, under the current arrangements at sea, and zero defects mentality, Admirals Halsey, Nimitz and King would have been left ashore and cashiered out of the Navy before the start of WWII for some mistakes made as young officers. Of course at the time we had a Department of War and Navy Department back then and a funny word “accountability” was often heard in business, government and the military.
The underlying here is as has been mentioned, the Corps needs to take on more responsibility for the status and nature of the seagoing vessels it needs. If nothing else the memory of Lieutenant Bobo among others demands it.
I met the Bobo family in 1984 while assigned to Marine Corps OCS in Quantico. A new mess hall was dedicated and named after this heroic Lieutenant.
HQMC needs to be monitoring ship maintenance status if it is not already doing so. Sometimes, the competing priorities of the admirals differ from CMC priorities. Also, if possible, the Marine Corps needs to reduce the number of ships required to support the MEU to reduce the impact of ship maimtenance requirements.