| Submit your comments on this article | |||
| Home Front: WoT | |||
| Pac Fleet shrinks over past decade | |||
| 2016-01-06 | |||
| The U.S. Pacific Fleet is shrinking even as the U.S. and its allies are facing challenges posed by China's growing military power. U.S. Navy officials say the more advanced ships of today make up for the decline in numbers. But the Navy has also had to lengthen deployments and postpone maintenance to maintain its presence with fewer ships. Peter Jennings, an expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank, said the issue in peacetime is whether there are enough American vessels to reassure friends and allies. "I think this is emerging as a serious long-term problem," he said. The Pacific Fleet currently has 182 vessels, including combat ships like aircraft carriers as well as auxiliary and logistics vessels, said spokesman Cmdr. Clay Doss. That compares to 192 nearly two decades ago. The Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy has more than 300 surface ships, submarines, amphibious ships and patrol craft, according to the Pentagon's Asia-Pacific Maritime Security Strategy report released in August.
Questions about whether the Pacific Fleet has enough resources are more of a reflection of regional anxieties than the Navy's actual capability, said its commander, Adm. Scott Swift. "I'm very comfortable with the resources I have," Swift said.
One consequence of a smaller fleet has been more time at sea. Retired Adm. Zap Zlatoper, who commanded the Pacific Fleet in the 1990s, said deployments longer than six months made it harder for the Navy to retain sailors. Ships now deploy for an average of seven to nine months, though the Navy plans to lower this to seven. Ship conditions have also suffered. The USS Essex left an exercise with Australia early in 2011 and skipped another with Thailand the following year because it developed mechanical problems after delaying maintenance to stay at sea. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank, said these are signs the status quo is unsustainable. In a November report, Clark outlined alternatives: build more ships, though this would require money Congress may not give the Navy, or deploy less, though the Pentagon has been reluctant to accept less of an overseas presence. The other choices: keep more ships at overseas bases where they would be closer to where they operate or mix up how ships deploy. One example would be to send fewer escorts with an aircraft carrier.
| |||
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #7 More Net News this still-wet Guam AM ... * MILITARY TIMES > NEW US NAVY LEADER [Incoming CNO ADM. John M. Robertson]: "NUKES [+ New Tech = New Gener Nuclear Submarines] ARE 'FOUNDATIONAL' TO OUR NATIONAL SURVIVAL". US likely to be see return to "Great Power(s) geopol competition [OWG Co-Superpower(s)?] NOT seen for 25 years. To paraph an early 1970's PBS Ad in support of improving Amer's General Reading Skills + Books, NUKES + NUKE SUBS "IS FUNDAMENTAL"??? * SAME > AFTER NORTH KOREA NUKE TEST, 25,000 US TROOPS WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. * TWITTER @ROBERTCOBRIEN > SENSING US WEAKNESS, CHINA TERRITORIAL AIMS ARE NOW BEYOND SPRATLYS AND SENKAKUS TO THE RYUKYUS INCLUDING OKINAWA [Island] | [Daily Beast = Repost] NOW CHINA WANTS OKINAWA, SITE OF US BASES IN JAPAN. BEIJING IS PUSHING IN ALL DIRECTIONS FROM THE SOUTH CHINA SEA TO SEVERAL JAPANESE ISLANDS, WITH EYES ON THE EASTERN PACIFIC THAT LAPS ON AMERICA'S SHORES [US West Coast]. IOW, even iff CHINA gets both GUAM-WESTPAC + HAWAII-EASTPAC, ITS AGENDA + AMBITIONS MAY CAUSE IT TO MOVE EVEN FURTHER BEYOND HAWAII TOWARDS CONUS ITSELF. * MANILA TIMES > CHINA LANDS TWO MORE [Civilian[ PLANES IN DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA - STATE MEDIA [Xinhua]. * ZERO HEDGE > CHINA SET TO ESTABLISH NO-FLY-ZONE [ADIZ] OVER [SCS] ISLANDS AFTER SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHT [flights]. Once NON-MILITARY TEST FLIGHTS/LANDINGS are completed, DE FACTO TESTS USING VARIOUS TYPES OF LIGHT + HEAVY PLA MILITARY AIRCRAFT IS LIKELY - when all is complete, China may then base PLAAF Fighters, etc. there. * BIGNEWSNETWORK > [ANI] NORTH KOREA NUKE TEST IS "SERIOUS THREAT" TO JAPAN: ABE, + cannot be tolerated or accepted. YES + NO = IMO KJU = Pudgy = NOKOR won't attack Japan unless NOKOR collapse cannot be stopped, Inter-Korean Reunification has NOT occurred, + CHINA STILL HASN'T RECOVERED TAIWAN. IFF NOKOR H-A-S OR M-U-S-T GO DOWN, + SOKOR THE ONLY REMNANT OF ANCIENT PAN-KOREAN HOMELAND, IMO PUDGY IS GOING TO TAKE EVERYONE WID HIM TO HELL, BOTH CHINA + US-ALLIES, ETAL. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-01-06 23:01 |
| #6 Sorry, #5, I tried to keyword search and verify the author, + it does appear this AM to be Stalin, not Clausewitz. It might also be Friedrich the Great but I haven't keyword searched him. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-01-06 22:12 |
| #5 Soviet Premier Jozef Stalin = "Quantity has a Quality all of its own". If I recall correctly, that quote/sentiment should be attributed to von Clausewitz |
| Posted by: badanov 2016-01-06 21:39 |
| #4 What and end military welfare for first world nations? I suspect they'll end up stepping-up anyway, out of a lack of trust in your President and his administration, if anything. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-01-06 21:19 |
| #3 ...and have our allies in the region take on more of the burden. What and end military welfare for first world nations? Next you'll tell me there is no magic money tree. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-01-06 09:59 |
| #2 China is launching tons of ships all the time. The scary part is, it's not all frigates and destroyers, they're building lots of boring logistics and supply ships. http://china-defense.blogspot.com has the details. |
| Posted by: Thraling Hupoluns2819 2016-01-06 02:17 |
| #1 Soviet Premier Jozef Stalin = "Quantity has a Quality all of its own". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-01-06 01:41 |