Ruh-roh. Now that sequestration is hitting military readiness, will the GOP start to cave?
In May 2012, the attack submarine
USS Miami was ravaged by an arson fire while undergoing an overhaul at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Now the Navy has announced that due to delays and increasing costs, primarily caused by sequestration, they have abandoned plans to repair the sub and will retire her instead.
Posting on the official US Navy blog Navy Live, Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge writes:
The Navy recently completed a comprehensive assessment of the extensive fire damage, finding that the submarine is fully repairable from a technical perspective; however, inspections have revealed a greater scope of work than originally envisioned. Under the financial constraints imposed by sequestration, we simply cannot afford to undertake the repairs. Sequestration effects this past year (work force limitations) coupled with the increased scope of work have combined to raise the estimated cost of repairs from $450M to $700M. Given the fiscal challenge facing the country and the strain that such an investment would make on the maintenance for the remainder of the fleet, the responsible decision for our Navy is to inactivate Miami.
(Emphasis added.)
With sequestration, the Navy had to shift damage assessment from Navy Yard personnel -- government workers -- to the private workers at Electric Boat. (Yet another example of sequestration costing more money rather than saving it.) And even that may not be enough, according to Adm. Breckenridge:
Sequestration could levy a devastating burden on FY 2014 maintenance spending, causing the potential cancellation of up to 60 percent of scheduled [maintenance] availabilities. The shift in Miami repairs and the increased cost estimate means that without $390M in additional resources in FY 2014, funding the repairs would require cancellation of dozens of remaining availabilities on surface ships and submarines.
(Emphasis added.)
So, faced with the possibility of losing dozens of ships down with repairs, or losing the Miami, the Navy did the logical thing.
The GOP has now sunk more US subs than the Soviets did in the Cold War.