The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has published a report recommending that the US Navy take steps towards ensuring the operational readiness of its fleet of amphibious ships.
The navy's amphibious fleet transports Marines and their equipment, including vehicles and aircraft, for critical missions. The GAO said the navy must maintain a fleet of 31 operational ships to meet these needs. However, half of the fleet is in poor condition and some ships have been unavailable for years at a time.
To save money, the navy proposed early retirement for some ships and cancelled critical maintenance on them. However, the navy is still relying on these ships—which haven't been well-maintained—while it waits for new ones to be built. The GAO said that, as a result, it will be hard for the service to continue meeting the 31-ship requirement.
Amphibious warfare ships are critical for US Marine Corps missions, but the navy has struggled to ensure they are available for operations and training. In some cases, ships in the amphibious fleet have not been available for years at a time.
The navy and marine corps are working to agree on a ship availability goal but have yet to complete a metrics-based analysis to support such a goal. Until the navy completes this analysis, it risks jeopardising its ability to align amphibious ship schedules with the marine corps units that deploy on them.
As of March 2024, half of the amphibious fleet is in poor condition and these ships are not on track to meet their expected service lives.
The GAO identified factors that contributed to the fleet's poor condition and reduced its availability for marine corps operations and training. For example, the navy faces challenges with spare parts, reliability of ship systems, and cancelled maintenance. The GAO found that the navy cancelled maintenance for aging amphibious ships it planned to divest before completing the required waiver process.
Navy officials said they no longer plan to cancel maintenance prior to completing the process, but the service has yet to update its maintenance policy to reflect that decision. Updating the policy would help ensure ships the navy plans to divest do not miss maintenance if Congress restricts funds for divestment.
The GAO said the navy is likely to face difficulties meeting a statutory requirement to have at least 31 amphibious ships in the future given the age of many ships and other factors. The navy is considering extending the service life for some ships to meet the 31-ship requirement.
However, these efforts will require up to US$1 billion per ship, according to the navy, with six ships needing service life extensions in the next three decades amid rising ship construction costs and maintenance backlogs.
The navy maintains a fleet of large amphibious warfare ships that are used primarily for Marine Corps missions, such as amphibious assault and humanitarian response. There are currently 32 amphibious warfare ships in this fleet, one more than the minimum the navy is statutorily required to maintain.
House Report 117-397 includes a provision for the GAO to review plans for the amphibious warfare fleet. The GAO's report examines the extent to which the navy and marine corps are addressing challenges with fleet availability; the navy is addressing maintenance challenges; and the navy is positioned to meet its fleet size requirements into the future.
The GAO reviewed navy and marine corps documentation and interviewed officials responsible for overseeing fleet availability, maintenance, and new ship acquisition plans. The GAO also visited six ships and spoke with officers and crew about maintenance issues.
The GAO is making four recommendations, including that the navy use metrics to define amphibious ship availability goals and update its policy to clarify that it should not cancel maintenance when divesting ships before completing the waiver process. The navy concurred with three of the four recommendations.
The navy partially concurred with updating its policy but noted actions it will take to address the recommendation. The GAO maintains that documenting these actions is needed.