Signs of Decline

This is what stretched thin looks like in practice.

When the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group headed to sea in August for the first of three planned exercises with Marines, it got underway with only two of its three ships.

The dock landing ship Pearl Harbor remained in San Diego while the amphibious transport dock New Orleans and amphibious assault ship Makin Island conducted “blue-green” training ahead of their deployment later this year.

Pearl Harbor is completing a scheduled-but-extended maintenance period at a San Diego shipyard, so its crew sat out the first set of training. When the ARG gets underway again later this month for its composite training unit exercise, Pearl Harbor won’t be joining them for that one, either, officials say.

That will be one fewer ship Marines and Navy commanders have for training to handle helicopters and vehicles, launch landing craft and support operations ashore.

But Navy officials are “cautiously optimistic” that Pearl Harbor will be ready to join the final training that ultimately deems the ARG and Marine expeditionary unit “ready” to deploy.

“We are not going to relax a single certification standard for the Pearl Harbor as they integrate into this ARG/MEU,” said Rear Adm. Gerard Hueber, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3.

I am curious if the continuing resolution process for FY11 earlier this year contributed to this delay. The fleet does not appear to have any margin for errors or delays anymore - whether from political process or an accident. When something happens that delays any single ship, due to the smaller fleet the cascading impacts always seem to always have broader impacts to schedules and training of other ships and crews.

The rest of the article does a good job discussing options and alternatives. It's worth reading to understand the depth of the issue.