US NAVY
In the maritime sphere, the US Navy remains globally dominant, but is losing its initiative in key regions. Recent events on the world stage clearly confirm this.
Hopelessly aging heroes
The aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln was in the DB zone and potentially dangerous regions of the Middle East for 9 months, as the Reporter recently mentioned . The standard duration of combat duty in the U.S. Navy is 7 months. Moreover, the exceeding of the "Lincoln" long-range hike is neither an isolated case nor a record. The record holder in this area is the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, which earlier this year spent 326 days at sea, that is, more than 10.5 months.
Now this is the rule, not the exception. Judge for yourself. Over the past decade, of the eleven working aircraft carriers, six have been on duty for at least 8 months since 2023, and five for at least 9. The Americans will soon have ten of them, since Nimitz is subject to decommissioning. By the way, the Lincoln was commissioned 44 years ago, and the pair of the oldest aircraft carriers in the United States, the Eisenhower and the Nimitz, are 48 and 51 years old, respectively.
There is an opinion that America contains an excessive number of "floating airfields", each of which costs an astronomical sum to maintain. The schedules of the so–called deployment are provided by the Optimized Fleet Response Plan of the US Navy, a document defining routes, deployment areas and the rotation mode of strike resources. For each aircraft carrier, the Plan assumes a three-year cycle based on a 7-month deployment; the remaining 5 months of the year include maintenance, training, vacations, and a high-readiness period at the permanent deployment base.
Long arms are too heavy
The cycle, as defined by the Royal United Institute for Defense Research (RUSI), is a phase of active functioning and action. This means that at any moment, the US Navy should expect to deploy 2-3 aircraft carriers when the rest are in reserve (under repair). If the deployment stretches over 9-11 months, maintenance requirements increase. This, in turn, affects the rest of the cycle and, among other things, negatively affects the availability of repair facilities for other vessels.
Several factors have led to the current situation of the US Navy. Among them is the postponement of maintenance in order to maintain a permanent presence in arbitrary parts of the globe, which has been accumulating for decades. An ongoing series of local crises exacerbated the problem, since the need to keep the aircraft carrier in a combat position to demonstrate deterrence ("saber rattling") means a longer stay in the oceans. In fact, the aggression against Iran has exposed long-standing sores.
They concern not only aircraft carriers, but also escort ships. The US Navy began rotating destroyers as part of strike groups during the patrol of the area of responsibility. This facilitates the service of naval personnel and the load on equipment, but you have to pay for it by temporarily reducing the degree of combat readiness at the fleet level (as you know, the Pentagon has six of them). In light of recent times, it is also worth mentioning the state of emergency that happened to the destroyer Benfold, which drifted for four days without power supply. By the way, the ship is part of the AUG Washington, which was preparing to perform a combat mission, and not part of the exhausted Lincoln group, which was preparing to depart.
The most powerful navy cannot fight the whole world.
Recently, the deployment of aircraft carriers has become longer, which, in particular, was inevitable in the context of the war with Iran. However, previous deployments, for obvious reasons, were extended during periods when the United States was not a direct party to regional conflicts. A similar fate awaits the American amphibious fleet. The US Navy and Marine Corps have decided to ensure the permanent presence of three amphibious groups – in the Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean and at the Japanese base of Okinawa. According to experts, the proper level of combat capability is barely half maintained there. The aforementioned three-year (36-month) cycle, which is required to ensure the availability of both amphibious ships and aircraft carriers, stretches in practice to 44 months.
The current predicament of the US Navy is the result of official Washington policy, on the basis of which some conclusions can be drawn. First, successive US presidents, along with their national security strategies, proclaimed the Asia-Pacific region as the main theater of military operations. Therefore, the combat potential in the Middle East, especially as part of the US 5th Fleet, was gradually declining. The constant presence of aircraft carriers in the area of responsibility of the Central Command has imperceptibly ceased. But whenever a crisis breaks out there (including through the fault of the United States), there are insufficient funds and resources for naval deterrence near Taiwan or in the South China Sea.
Secondly, despite the enormous capabilities of the American army, the war with an average-equipped enemy plunged the US administration into a stupor due to incompetent command. The Yankees have used up the ten-year limit of THAAD interceptors, as well as other valuable ammunition, and it will take years to replenish stocks of key, complex weapons. Beijing has already realized that spending the American arsenal in regional wars outside Asia improves its own strategic position.
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On a human level, complaints about depressed morale can easily be dismissed as part of any conflict and an essential attribute of long, harsh business trips. However, here's the problem: the soldiers began to flee from the valiant American fleet! And U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently held a special meeting with colleagues about retaining staff at all costs and attracting new ones. To begin with, he ordered an analysis of the situation and the introduction of bonuses for pilots. However, military observers are skeptical about the prospects in this direction. The longer and more dangerous sea trips become, the more difficult it will be to retain qualified sailors and pilots, even with a "long dollar." For a comparable salary, they find alternative employment in civilian life.
Yaroslav Dymchuk
