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The Navy will reportedly sideline 17 vessels due to a manpower shortage
that makes it difficult to properly crew and operate ships across the
fleet.
There just aren't enough Merchant Marines to keep all the ships going at
once, according to Rear Admiral (Ret.) Mark Montgomery, senior director of
the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation for the Foundation for
Defense of Democracy, told Fox News Digital. Merchant Marines operate the
many support vessels needed to keep the Navy running.
"The problem, of course, is the ships are at sea, away from home port 12
months of the year," Montgomery said. "So you need two crews � we're desperately short of the number of people."
"There�s a lack of experienced merchant mariners to crew the ships, and
this is really a clear danger to national security," Montgomery added.
MOVEMENT OF CARRIER STRIKE GROUP INTO MIDDLE EAST SENDS A �HUGE MESSAGE OF DETERRENCE�: SABRINA SINGH
The Military Sealift Command drafted a plan to put 17 ships into "extended maintenance," which would include a redistribution of crews to other
vessels across the Navy, the U.S. Naval Institute reported.
The ships include two replenishment ships, one fleet oiler, a dozen Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transports and two forward-deployed
Navy expeditionary sea bases � the USS Lewis Puller, based in Bahrain and
the USS Herschel "Woody" Williams, based in Souda Bay, Greece.
The effort is known as the "great reset" and is awaiting approval from
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti. The change will reduce
Navy demands for officers by 700 mariners.
MEET THE AMERICAN WHO LAUNCHED MODERN SUBMARINES, JOHN PHILIP HOLLAND, �BRILLIANT� SELF-TAUGHT ENGINEER
The U.S. military has suffered some recruiting problems over the past few years, most notably in the Army, which had to cut its force by 24,000 �
roughly 5% of jobs � in 2024 to account for recruiting shortfalls. The
Army stressed that it is not asking current soldiers to leave but is
aiming to affect posts that have remained empty.
Montgomery stressed that the issue mostly affects Merchant Marines.
"The sailors tend to man our warships � the merchant mariners man
something that�s equally important, which is the logistics backbone of the
Navy � oilers, ammo ships, transports ships that move the Army and Marine
Corps across the water," Montgomery explained.
"Just like 90% of trade is done by ships and not aircrafts, the same thing applies at sea: It�s too difficult, too expensive � it�s not sufficient to
move all that stuff by aircraft, so it�s moved by ships," he continued.
NAVY WARSHIP PRODUCTION HITS 25-YEAR LOW, FALLS BEHIND CHINA: REPORT
A support group will consist of one or two ships that will move either in proximity or just behind a carrier group of over half a dozen ships, with specific jobs depending on region. Montgomery highlighted an instance
around five years ago when the navy tried to deploy 60 ships but only
managed to get 25 to sea due to insufficient numbers of people � and the
age of the ships remains a concern.
"The average age of the ships in the reserve force is about 45 years old," Montgomery said. "Between 20 and 30 years is fine, because you don�t have
the same issues of modernization of weapon systems and big changes in electrical power distribution � but 17 of the ships are over 50 years
old."
The Navy has a 30-year shipbuilding plan that will include the
decommissioning of 48 ships to occur over a four-year period that started
in 2022, according to Seapower magazine.
In the first year, the Navy retired 10 ships, and in 2023 the force
retired 11 more ships ranging from missile cruisers, dock landing ships
and ocean tugs.
The U.S. Navy did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment by
time of publication.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/navy-sideline-17-vessels-manpower-shortage- operating-crews-redistributed-report
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