"Budget Cuts for the Navy." Topic

Crisis?
"If automatic Pentagon budget cuts go through as scheduled next week, the Navy is going to grind its major operations practically to a halt. Or at least that's the message it's sending on social media.

The Navy's top public-affairs officer, Rear Adm. John Kirby, tweeted out an updated plan Tuesday for how the Navy absorbs billions of dollars in budget cuts scheduled to take effect on March 1. The deployments of 10 destroyers will be cancelled, including seven tasked with missile defense. Four aircraft-carrier air wings will be "shut down." The Navy will "Reduce Investment in ships, aircraft, weapons, R&D" by $7.75 USD billion. Should a crisis break out somewhere in the world in 2013, only one aircraft carrier strike group will be available for deployment.

Others in the Navy public-affairs shop took to their own social-media accounts to spread the word. The Navy's official Twitter account retweeted the planning document to its 114,000-plus followers. Consider it a form of public pressure.

Tweeting the expected impact for what's called "sequestration" inside the Beltway fits a recent Navy pattern. The seafaring service has been vocal in advertising how budget cuts will hobble it. Earlier this month, it publicly cancelled the deployment of the USS Harry Truman to the Middle East, leaving the region with only one U.S. aircraft carrier near Iran for the first time in two years, right before a new round of nuclear negotiations with the Iranians. Days later, it said it would delay the years-long refueling and retrofitting of another aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which saves money by putting additional strain on the other carriers. (And something also prominently tweeted by the Navy.) Air-show attendees will also have to do without the Blue Angels…"
Full article here.
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Amicalement
Armand

Hard to believe all this is going to happen due to a 2.8% budget cut (not an actual cut as were still going to have a bigger defense bufget next year then today). I can't believe there isn't 3% waste in budgets that have grown over 30+% in the last 5-years.

Word.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

I would imagine the issue is one of timescale and the fact that commanders usually don't have much actual freedom of manoeuvre. Project savings and personnel reductions often take years to materialize. At the other end of the scale, if you cut utility and office support budgets completely (assuming that were even possible), it usually doesn't add up to a great deal in percentage terms. A bit simplistic, but if Fleet Commanders need to make significant savings now it pretty much boils down to cutting the fuel budget. Hence cancelled deployments.

What they really should do is cancel the F-35 Lightning II program, but alas that's not going to happen since too many jobs in too many congressional districts are at stake.

Even harder to believe that they have Rear Adm. John Kirby sitting around with nothing to do but tweet.

Let's let a few of the "Perfumed Princes" go and keep the fight fleet.

As I understand it, we had far fewer star grade officers during WWII then we do now.

Vince

Perhaps if they weren't purchasing those ridiculously expensive bio-fuels, they could purchase more of it, or have money for more important things, like weapons, sailors, etc.

Ah well, I'm officially going to name this "The Friendship Dividend", since surely if we are just nice to others, they will be nice to us, and peace will break out around the globe, right.

What they really should do is cancel the F-35 Lightning II program, but alas that's not going to happen since too many jobs in too many congressional districts are at stake.

The LCS program is a much better candidate for a cut.

Screw it all. Mines are the way to go. No one wants to admitted it but mines sunk more ships then torpedoes and planes. Just plant them off the harbors of your enemy and restocked them now and then by air or sub and call it a day. Cheap and low risk for your side.

Mines are one way, but WWII US Navy losses (ala wikipedia, YMMV) offer up lots of other effective ways to do it:

link

No matter how we got here, the military will be doing less with less no matter where the cuts are made.

OBTW, has anyone noticed the parallels between GW hate and LCS hate? ;-)

Lost Pict an unabashed US Navy and LOTR fan-boy

Um, as an object of the sequestration, it's actually a 12.7% cut.

And remember, since we are under a CRA, the DoD budget is last year's budget minus 10%, less OCO funding.

So, yes, things really suck right now. I'm preparing my 57 Fed Techs and 26 Contractors to be furloughed.

I only happen to be responsible for $3.89 USD Billion in US Army property… Happy Days.

Eric