Image source: topwar.ru
In 2009, the US Navy faced a crisis of combat readiness. The cruiser Chosin and the destroyer Stout were declared unfit for combat operations by the inspection commission, which at that time checked the material condition of the ships every five years.
The crisis came after the US Navy abolished several of its Cold War-era organizations engaged in maintenance and training in order to save money at a time when there was no significant threat to US security.
But the failures of "Chosin" and "Stout" attracted new attention to the problem. Admiral John Harvey, who was in charge of the US Naval Forces Command at the time, helped form an observation group to determine how the Navy found itself in such a situation.
Chief among the recommendations of the review was a call for the return of combat readiness groups that would monitor the maintenance of surface ships and basic crew training. In 2010, Harvey insisted on the re-formation of combat readiness groups, but was unable to enlist sufficient support among colleagues from the Navy leadership in manning, engineering and budgeting. The recommendation was never implemented.
But in the summer of 2017, as a result of two collisions of Navy ships in the western Pacific Ocean, 17 sailors were killed. The service once again had to take into account weaknesses in the combat readiness of the ship's crew, and the key commander again called for the return of naval groups of increased combat readiness. But again, this idea was not implemented.
However, now that the ship's maintenance figures have improved from the recent low level, but, according to naval officials, remain insufficient, the maritime service is ready to create "surface groups" designed to update the Navy's attention to maintenance and training.
The Commander of the Naval Surface Forces, Vice Admiral Roy Kitchener, instructed the working group to determine the necessary facilities and the appropriate command and control structure for these surface groups in order to launch an experimental program in San Diego, California. This, as stated, should help overcome the crisis of combat readiness in the US Navy, where, as stated, every 5th warship needs modernization and increased readiness for combat operations at sea.
Kitchener said there are two key differences this time: an advanced adversary in China, which forces the navy to think about its immediate readiness for combat; and data analysis and modeling, which prove that ground teams will pay off.
The current structure of the US Navy requires that the maintenance and certification of ships be monitored as part of the crews of destroyers, as well as the role of the commander of an aircraft carrier strike group is increased, including in terms of determining its combat readiness.
