I know OldNFO is traveling somewhere, so he might not have seen this yet. Or he knew about it weeks ago and I just missed his post.
Navy: Lincoln Refueling Delayed, Will Hurt Carrier Readiness
The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.
Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.
“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said.
“CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.”
This is what happens when you have a President who doesn’t value or understand how important it is to have a ready military.
And it gets worse.
The move by the navy is the second this week involving funding for carriers. On Wednesday it announced it would delay the deployment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) to the Middle East do to the ongoing budget strife bringing the total number of carriers in U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) to one until funding normalizes.
The US Navy is supposed to project power around the world and discourage would be trouble makers from getting frisky. You can’t do that when your fleet carriers are tied up in port awaiting permission to sail.
I know, we still have several carriers at sea and aren’t defenseless, but how many other ships are due or over due for maintenance? How long is the back log going to last? The world has become less safe and less stable over the last four years. Now is NOT the time to have ships sitting in port unable to go to sea if needed.
Every day I see another story that makes me think we are becoming a third rate military power and a third world economic one.
As Chester A. Riley would say, “What a revoltin’ development this is.”
Congress is tasked with passing a budget; the President only signs or vetoes it. With one chamber controlled by Republicans and the other by Democrats, it seems a bit dishonest to place ALL the blame for budgetary concerns on the President.
Maybe if Congress, and the majority of the U.S. population for that matter, would be more concerned about the state of the country and not some infantile “My party is better than your party, nyah!” pissing contest, we wouldn’t be worrying about whether our military will be paid and refueled.
They are tasked with passing it, not proposing it. The budget comes from the White House and goes to the House which does whatever and then sends it to the Senate. Harry Reid has refused to send the budget sent to him by the House to the floor for the past three, going on four, years. The President has also proposed major cuts in defense in every budget he has sent to the House. The House has passed a number of budgets and sent them to the Senate, where again, Harry Reid has sat on them.
WH and Senate have NOT submitted a budget, by default forcing the government to the 2010 budget $$… Re USS Lincoln, this is the result of the lack of budget and sequestration issues. Contracts like this (Expensive, long term) are on hold, not just for carriers, but also for subs. And we are down to 9 ‘serviceable’ carriers, which are 2 less than required to maintain ‘basic’ level of readiness… And you haven’t seen ugly YET! After sequestration hits, that will pretty much park the Navy with the exception of forward assets.