Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov spoke about the main threat to the US Navy, US Navy ships, according to The Washington Post, "are subject to intense rusting disease."
The publication refers to an "internal congressional investigation", which revealed that up to 90% of American warships are rusting. "Newspaper.Ru" was looking into the causes of what happened.
The problem of rusting US Navy ships was raised by the American edition of The Washington Post. The publication notes that "the Pentagon is faced with a formidable and insidious challenge - rust, and so far rust is winning this war."
The newspaper refers to some kind of "internal investigation of the US Congress." It turned out that up to 90% of American warships are rusting. At the same time, Pentagon officials declined to comment on this information.
This is not the first publication in the American media about the rusting American navy. Back in November 2021, The Drive compared the rusting American ships at the Norfolk base with the ships of the Soviet Navy in the period after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"Visiting the base makes a depressing impression. It's like "sea Detroit". The city became a ghost in the 1980s, when the automotive giants left there. Norfolk became a ghost because someone in Washington decided to save money. The US Navy will not kill China, but rust," The Drive noted.
At the same time, only 5 of the top ten are at full speed, the rest are in the permanent repair stage. "Gerald Ford" (the construction of which cost $ 13 billion), despite the fact that it joined the fleet in 2017, has not yet passed all the necessary tests and, most likely, its full operation will not begin soon - the ammunition supply systems on the deck do not work. By 2024, the United States plans to complete the construction of two more Ford-class aircraft carriers. By this time, Gerald Ford will already have time to be covered with rust," he told the newspaper.Ru" member of the Board of Military Experts Sergey Belousov.
According to The Washington Post, a "naval budget anomaly" occurred in 2013.
"Until 2012, colossal sums were spent on the fight against rust. Then it was considered ineffective. But instead of balancing the costs, they were simply removed completely," The Washington Post notes.
"All ships are rusting, regardless of their affiliation," he told the newspaper.En" Admiral, ex-commander of the Black Sea Fleet Vladimir Komoyedov. - You need to understand that the ship has a metal hull, which is located in seawater, which is an aggressive environment that causes oxidation, contributing to the manifestation of rust. It does not affect the combat capability or visibility of the ship, but over time it leads to the destruction of the ship's structures. And here we are talking, first of all, about constant care and maintenance of order."
Komoyedov believes that the costs of fighting rust in the Russian and Soviet fleets have never been "critical". "You can't spend a lot of money on this, but you can't forget about it either. We have always had a "golden mean" here. Americans are thrown from one extreme to the other. At first, they, relatively speaking, polished every scratch. And now, on the contrary, they decided that the topic should not be dealt with at all," Komoyedov says.
In March 2019, the Defense News publication noted that "a sharp reduction in preventive work on rust can lead to disastrous consequences."
"Rust on a ship is an alarming symptom for any fleet," he told the newspaper.En" military expert Captain 1st rank reserve Vasily Dandykin. - It means either a lack of proper funding, or a lack of discipline and complete relaxation, which leads to a loss of combat readiness. This took place in the early 1990s, when the Navy was cut alive and the ships were idle at the mooring wall.
This can be seen not only at naval parades, but also when making long-distance sea voyages, both in the Atlantic and in the Pacific Ocean."
Victor Sokirko
