{"id":32345,"date":"2020-04-20T20:29:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T20:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/20\/defense-department-study-calls-for-cutting-2-of-the-us-navys-aircraft-carriers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:39:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:39:30","slug":"defense-department-study-calls-for-cutting-2-of-the-us-navys-aircraft-carriers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/04\/20\/defense-department-study-calls-for-cutting-2-of-the-us-navys-aircraft-carriers\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense Department study calls for cutting 2 of the US Navy\u2019s aircraft carriers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2013 An internal Office of the Secretary of Defense assessment calls for the Navy to cut two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/12\/06\/with-china-gunning-for-aircraft-carriers-the-us-navy-says-it-must-change-the-way-it-fights\/\" target=\"_blank\">aircraft carriers<\/a> from its fleet, freeze the large surface combatant fleet of destroyers and cruisers around current levels and add dozens of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/heres-5-things-you-should-know-about-the-us-navys-plans-for-big-autonomous-missile-boats\/\" target=\"_blank\">unmanned or lightly manned ships<\/a> to the inventory, according to documents obtained by Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The study calls for a fleet of nine carriers, down from the current fleet of 11, and for 65 unmanned or lightly manned surface vessels. The study calls for a surface force of between 80 and 90 large surface combatants, and an increase in the number of small surface combatants \u2013 between 55 and 70, which is substantially more than the Navy currently operates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The assessment is part of an ongoing DoD-wide review of Navy force structure and seem to echo what Defense Secretary Mark Esper has been saying for months: the Defense Department wants to begin de-emphasizing aircraft carriers as the centerpiece of the Navy&#8217;s force projection and put more emphasis on unmanned technologies that can be more easily sacrificed in a conflict and can achieve their missions more affordably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A DoD spokesperson declined to comment on the force structure assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We will not comment on a DoD product that is pre-decisional,\u201d said Navy Capt. Brook DeWalt.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/breaking-news\/2020\/02\/09\/defense-secretary-mark-esper-on-how-the-navy-can-get-to-355-ships\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/esper_navy_1.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Defense Secretary Mark Esper on how the Navy can get to 355 ships<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">In an exclusive interview with Defense News, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper makes the case of how and why the Navy can hit 355 ships by 2030.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy is also working on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/13\/in-a-quest-for-355-ships-us-navy-leaders-are-unwilling-to-accept-a-hollow-force\/\" target=\"_blank\">its own force structure assessment<\/a> that is slated to be closely aligned with the Marine Corps\u2019 stated desire to become more closely integrated with the Navy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cutting two aircraft carriers would permanently change the way the Navy approaches presence around the globe and force the service to rethink its model for projecting power across the globe, said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and analyst with the Telemus Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe deployment models we set \u2013 and we\u2019re still keeping \u2013 were developed around 15 carriers so that would all fall apart,\u201d Hendrix said, referring to standing carrier presence requirements in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. \u201cThis would be reintroducing reality. A move like this would signal a new pattern for the Navy\u2019s deployments that moves away from presence and moves towards surge and exercise as a model for carrier employment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A surge model would remove standing requirements for carriers and would mean that the regional combatant commanders would get carriers when they are available or when they are needed in an emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With 9 carriers, the Navy would have between six and seven available at any given time with one in its mid-life refueling and overhaul and one or two in significant maintenance periods. The net result would be significantly fewer carrier deployments in each calendar year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The assessment reducing the overall number of carriers also suggests that the OSD study didn\u2019t revamp the Carrier Air Wing to make it more relevant, Hendrix said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Esper has taken a keen interest in Navy force structure, telling Defense News in March that he had directed the Pentagon\u2019s Office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE), along with the Navy, to conduct a series of war games and exercises in the coming months in order to figure out the way forward toward a lighter Navy, but said any major decisions will be based around the completion of a new joint war plan for the whole department, which the secretary said should be finished this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think once we go through this process with the future fleet \u2014 that\u2019ll really be the new foundation, the guiding post,\u201d Esper told Defense News. \u201cIt\u2019ll give us the general direction we need to go, and I think that\u2019ll be a big game changer in terms of future fleet, for structure, for the Navy and Marine Corps team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When it comes to carriers, Esper said he saw a lot of value in keeping carriers in the force structure, and that it wasn\u2019t going to be an all-or-nothing decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis discussion often comes down to a binary: Is it zero or 12?\u201d Esper said. \u201cFirst of all, I don&#8217;t know. I think carriers are very important. I think they demonstrate American power, American prestige. They get people&#8217;s attention. They are a great deterrent. They give us great capability.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"4539\" height=\"2884\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-29053\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg 4539w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg?resize=300,191 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg?resize=768,488 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg?resize=1024,651 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg?resize=1536,976 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/two_carriers.JPG.jpg?resize=2048,1301 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 4539px) 100vw, 4539px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The carriers Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman in the Arabian Sea March 18. (Photo: Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Revamped Surface Fleet<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The OSD assessment also calls for essentially freezing the size of the large surface combatant fleet. There are about 90 cruisers and destroyers in the fleet: the study recommended retaining at least 80 but keeping about as many as the Navy currently operates at the high end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy\u2019s small surface combatant program is essentially the 20 littoral combat ships in commission today, with another 15 under contract, as well as the 20 next-generation frigates, which would get to the minimum number in the assessment of 55 small combatants, with the additional 15 presumably being more frigates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The big change comes in the small unmanned or lightly manned surface combatants. In his interview with Defense News, Esper said the Navy needed to focus integrating those technologies into the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat we have to tease out is, what does that future fleet look like?\u201d Esper said. \u201cI think one of the ways you get there quickly is moving toward lightly manned [ships], which over time can be unmanned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can go with lightly manned ships, get them out there. You can build them so they\u2019re optionally manned and then, depending on the scenario or the technology, at some point in time they can go unmanned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cTo me that&#8217;s where we need to push. We need to push much more aggressively. That would allow us to get our numbers up quickly, and I believe that we can get to 355, if not higher, by 2030.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2020\/01\/08\/the-surface-navy-needs-to-fundamentally-reshape-itself-to-defeat-the-chinese-threat-study-finds\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"176\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MCain-leaves.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">The surface Navy needs to fundamentally reshape itself to defeat the Chinese threat, study finds<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">A new study calls for radical changes to the structure and operation of the U.S. Navy&#039;s surface fleet.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/12\/21\/the-us-navy-gets-its-large-unmanned-surface-vessels-in-2020-with-strings-attached\/\" target=_blank>currently developing a family of unmanned surface vessels<\/a> that are intended to increase the offensive punch for less money, while increasing the number of targets the Chinese military would have to locate in a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s a push that earned the endorsement of the Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday in comments late last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI know that the future fleet has to include a mix of unmanned,\u201d Gilday said. \u201cWe can\u2019t continue to wrap $2 billion ships around 96 missile tubes in the numbers we need to fight in a distributed way, against a potential adversary that is producing capability and platforms at a very high rate of speed. We have to change the way we are thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Aaron Mehta contributed to this report from Washington.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An internal Defense Department study is calling for big changes to the fleet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":57509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news","middle-column","home"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"7":{"categories":["daily-news-roundup","newsletters","your-navy","news","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[160,16,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-32345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-naval","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"Y3NU6RX2SRHKJBCHQAF7SDQE4Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2020\/04\/20\/defense-department-study-calls-for-cutting-2-of-the-us-navys-aircraft-carriers\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Defense Department study calls for cutting 2 of the US Navy\u2019s aircraft carriers - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An internal Defense Department study is calling for big changes to the fleet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Defense Department study calls for cutting 2 of the US Navy\u2019s aircraft carriers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An internal Defense Department study is calling for big changes to the fleet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/04\/20\/defense-department-study-calls-for-cutting-2-of-the-us-navys-aircraft-carriers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-20T20:29:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T22:39:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. 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