Nearly 40% of U.S. Attack Submarines are Out of Commission

[GURPS]

As if the military recruiting disaster or the Biden Administration’s embrace of woke and transgender policies for the military wasn’t bad enough, now we find out that almost 40% of U.S. attack submarines, or SSNs, the kind that shoot Tomahawk missiles at land targets and torpedoes at all types of vessels at sea, and conduct intelligence collection missions, i.e. the kind critical for the defense of Taiwan, are out-of-commission and stuck in naval shipyards.


From Bloomberg:

Delays at naval shipyards mean that nearly 40% of US attack submarines are out of commission for repairs, about double the rate the Navy would like, according to new data released by the service.

As of this year, 18 of the US Navy’s 49 attack submarines — 37% — were out of commission, according to previously undisclosed Navy data published by the Congressional Research Service. That leaves the US at a critical disadvantage against China’s numerically superior fleet.
The maintenance backlog has “substantially reduced” the number of nuclear submarines operational at any given moment, cutting the “force’s capacity for meeting day-to-day mission demands and potentially putting increased operational pressure” on submarines that are in service, CRS naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke said in a July 6 report.

Worst of all, the trendline is bad and getting worse, as the 37% out-of-commission rate is “up from 28% overall in 2017 and 33% in 2022, and below the industry best practice of 20%.” “The best year for attack sub availability was fiscal 2015 when 19% — or 10 of the then 53 subs — were in overhaul, according to figures contained in a June 13 Navy information paper.”

Like I said, the trendline is bad and getting worse.


The Navy, of course, deflected responsibility and tried the old “it’s not that bad” line:

The Naval Sea Systems Command blamed “planning, material availability, and shipyard execution,” according to a statement issued in response to the new statistics. The service has launched several initiatives to address these “primary maintenance delay” drivers, it said.
The command gave an updated maintenance backlog status, saying that 16 of 49 subs, or 32%, were out of commission as of late June.

This doesn’t cut it because “US defense officials and lawmakers consider the submarine force a key advantage over China’s bigger navy,” to which I say, no kidding.

Nearly 40% of U.S. Attack Submarines are Out of Commission

This at a time when China is ramping up its Navy capabilities, and while the Biden Administration proposes cutting shipbuilding

legalinsurrection.com

 

[Kyle]

Perhaps if they weren't spending so much time and money on DEI, Trans-Soldier Surgery and celebrations they could fix the boats.

 

[BOP]

Those are just the ones IN reporting status. How many of the rest of them are only partially mission capable?

"The Biden administration wants to enact sharp budget cuts to the U.S. Navy that would force it to prematurely retire almost a dozen ships and take offline critical missile systems that serve as a primary deterrent to Chinese aggression."

And that's the point; to disable our ability to act as a deterrent to Chinese aggression.