{"id":43622,"date":"2020-10-05T13:55:38","date_gmt":"2020-10-05T13:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/10\/05\/the-us-navys-aging-surface-fleet-struggles-to-keep-ships-up-to-spec-report-shows\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:40:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:40:12","slug":"the-us-navys-aging-surface-fleet-struggles-to-keep-ships-up-to-spec-report-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/10\/05\/the-us-navys-aging-surface-fleet-struggles-to-keep-ships-up-to-spec-report-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"US Navy\u2019s aging surface fleet struggles to keep ships up to spec, report shows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2018\/06\/07\/the-us-navys-ships-are-getting-old-they-might-be-getting-a-lot-older\/\" target=_blank>U.S. Navy\u2019s aging surface fleet<\/a> is getting harder to maintain, and overall is showing declining health in several key areas, such as its main propulsion systems, electrical systems and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2019\/01\/14\/the-future-of-the-us-surface-fleet-one-combat-system-to-rule-them-all\/\" target=_blank> Aegis combat systems<\/a>, according to an annual report of the Navy\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/digital-show-dailies\/surface-navy-association\/2018\/01\/10\/lawmakers-chide-us-navy-on-step-back-from-transparency\/\" target=_blank>Board of Inspection and Survey <\/a>submitted to Congress earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The so-called INSURV inspections found that over five years, the surface fleet found big dips in the main propulsion systems \u2014 the plants that produce the power to push the ship through the water \u2014 as well as in the electrical systems and aviation systems. The Aegis systems, a collection of sensors and software that protects the ship primarily from air threats, has also shown some signs of slipping over the last half-decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The declining trend comes after years of intense <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2020\/01\/15\/the-us-navys-top-officer-says-hell-trade-growing-the-fleet-for-readiness\/\" target=_blank>focus on readiness<\/a> inside the Defense Department, but the Navy says that recent changes to how the Navy conducts the notoriously intrusive INSURV inspections are making the fleet more ready. Still, the slipping scores do raise questions about whether the Navy\u2019s much-in-demand surface combatants are getting adequate time in maintenance.<\/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\/naval\/2020\/02\/07\/the-us-navys-vaunted-deployment-plan-is-showing-cracks-everywhere\/\" 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=\"178\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/truman.jpg_bea704.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 US Navy\u2019s vaunted deployment plan is showing cracks everywhere<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Despite lofty promises of stability, the Navy&#039;s fleet deployment plan is a shambles.<\/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\">For INSURV, ships are graded across a wide variety of systems, with scores adding up to a \u201cfigure of merit\u201d where perfect equals 1.0. Over more than 30 surface ship inspections in 2019, the Navy tracked a 20 percent drop in scores between 2014 and 2019 in the main propulsion plant and another 20 percent drop in scores for the ships\u2019 electrical systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aegis, which is the beating heart of the combat systems on cruisers and destroyers, saw a slight but concerning drop from a figure of merit of 0.88 in 2017 to 0.77 in 2019. Aviation systems, the systems concerned with launching and recovering rotary wing aircraft, dropped from 0.77 in 2014 to 0.68 in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By contrast, scores from submarine main propulsion \u2014 governed by strict Naval Reactors guidelines and inspections \u2014 scored figures of merit of 0.94, submarine electrical systems scored 0.90, and submarine combat systems scored a 0.84.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Overall, the Navy\u2019s surface fleet got high marks in navigation systems, medical systems, anti-submarine warfare systems and preservation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>INSURV changes<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Navy accounts for its drop in scores by pointing to a recent change in how the service conducts the inspections. In 2019, the chief of naval operations ordered that INSURV be conducted once every three years, the length of one deployment readiness cycle where the ship is maintained, the crew is trained, and the ship deploys. The inspections were also changed from an event that is planned for well in advance, to an event that comes with little notice, and requests for delays to the inspection were prohibited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The short-notice INSURV inspections are designed to get a more accurate picture of ships&#8217; readiness, instead of allowing sailors ample time to borrow parts from other ships and make temporary fixes that can boost the overall score on the inspection, according to Naval Surface Force Pacific.<\/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\/naval\/2020\/09\/19\/is-the-us-navy-winning-the-war-on-maintenance\/\" 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=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Nimitz-drydock.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\">Is the US Navy winning the war on maintenance delays?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">There are signs of life in the U.S. Navy&#039;s moribund shipyard maintenance system.<\/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\">\u201cBecause ships knew exactly when the inspection would occur, they were able to put their best foot forward during the exam,\u201d said SURFOR spokesperson Cmdr. Nicole Schwegman. &#8220;Over time, it became clear the (consistently good) INSURV scores ships were receiving did not accurately capture the material condition of the surface fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs a result, Navy leadership directed that future INSURV inspections be performed at any time during a ship\u2019s [deployment cycle], and with minimal notice. At the same time, the Board of Inspection and Survey eliminated the possibility of ships receiving a delay to their inspection date due to a late occurring equipment casualty. The inspection is therefore more \u2018come as you are\u2019 than it has been in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SURFOR has also directed that ships conduct more rigorous and regular shake-out tests, such as directing the ships to max out their propulsion system in what\u2019s known as a \u201cfull power run,\u201d and has increased the frequency of inspections of the ship\u2019s transmission, known as the main reduction gear, and monitoring of the health of the ships&#8217; SPY-1 radar system, Schwegman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The surface fleet has made investments in increasing self-sufficiency of sailors so they can fix their own gear and made sure they have the right spares on board their ships to make sure they can fix broken gear, Schwegman said. The goal is to make sure the fleet gets away from relying too heavily on technical experts employed by the companies who make the gear on ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhile we have the funding and availability of technical representatives (and we send them, to include with COVID-19 protocols in place), we will continue to ensure that ships are able to maintain most if not all of their equipment should technical assistance not be immediately available,\u201d Schwegman said.<\/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\/naval\/2020\/09\/24\/the-pentagon-is-eyeing-a-500-ship-navy-documents-reveal\/\" 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=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/50036487948_d5d2928c6c_k.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 Pentagon is eyeing a 500-ship Navy, documents reveal<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The Pentagon is weighing a dramatically different fleet that relies heavily on unmanned ships and submarines.<\/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\"><b>Lingering questions<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Part of the issue, of course, is that the Navy\u2019s surface fleet is getting older. The cruisers are all closing in on their expected 35-year expected hull lives, and the first 27 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are not far behind them. Keeping the radars going in earliest ships has been a particular challenge, as has maintaining the aging engineering plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There remain questions, however, about how much the roughly 10-to-20 percent drop in scores across critical areas inspected by INSURV is attributable to the change in the inspection regime that SURFOR points to, said Bryan Clark, a retired U.S. Navy submarine officer and senior fellow at Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cProbably part of that 10-20 percent is a function of just not being able to prepare as much as you would in the past,\u201d Clark said. &#8220;The way you\u2019d do it in the past is you\u2019d see you had INSURV coming up and you\u2019d have a bunch of [preventive maintenance checks] you\u2019d perform to make sure the equipment they were going to test was in working order. You\u2019d go run things that are almost never run and see, \u2018Oh, I need to go fix that.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo, really the old system was to both test the ship as well as force the ship to make sure all of its systems were working at the right level of capability. Now it\u2019s much more of a test where they come on board, test a bunch of stuff and they see if it works or not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1321\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48322515217_36d6f8c2c0_k.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), front, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) transit the Atlantic Ocean on July 18, 2019.\" class=\"wp-image-13229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48322515217_36d6f8c2c0_k.jpg.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48322515217_36d6f8c2c0_k.jpg.jpg?resize=300,194 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48322515217_36d6f8c2c0_k.jpg.jpg?resize=768,495 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48322515217_36d6f8c2c0_k.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,661 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/48322515217_36d6f8c2c0_k.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,991 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), front, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen (DDG 82) transit the Atlantic Ocean on July 18, 2019. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Maxwell G. Higgins\/Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But given that the downward trends go back so far, it\u2019s also likely that the high demands placed on the force continue to degrade the material condition of the ships without adequate time for maintenance, Clark said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cPart of it has to be that the Navy continues to struggle to put the time and money into maintenance availabilities that they need to,\u201d Clark said. \u201cParticularly in the surface fleet, the ships&#8217; schedules have just not been able to be freed up they way they need to be, and in some cases they\u2019ve had to manage costs and growth, which meant they couldn\u2019t do all the maintenance they needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move to schedule more INSURV inspections will likely yield good results over the long term, he added, but said the whole outlook on how the Navy deploys must change if any significant progress is to be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cDoing INSURV more frequently is a good time, especially since it is pretty much the most comprehensive inspection your ship is going to get,\u201d Clark said. &#8220;You test things that you use infrequently so that you don\u2019t need to find out they don\u2019t work in extremis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut I suppose I question how much the Navy really has taken a turn on readiness. They\u2019ve put more money into it due to supplemental funding. They\u2019ve done a much better job managing availabilities. But Navy-wide, you need to complement that with a supply-based model where you tell combatant commanders \u2018We just can\u2019t get you the forces you want because they need to go into maintenance and they have to be there for as long as they need to be there.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A report on inspections of U.S. Navy ships shows the surface fleet struggling with declining readiness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":83898,"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","left-column","home","middle-column"],"primary_category":"your-military"},"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","left-column","home","middle-column","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[160,11,16,36,48],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-43622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-naval","category-newsletters","category-the-americas"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"FO4AZEWPVBFOBNSHPKC3KSL4II","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2020\/10\/05\/the-us-navys-aging-surface-fleet-struggles-to-keep-ships-up-to-spec-report-shows\/","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>US Navy\u2019s aging surface fleet struggles to keep ships up to spec, report shows - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A report on inspections of U.S. Navy ships shows the surface fleet struggling with declining readiness.\" \/>\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=\"US Navy\u2019s aging surface fleet struggles to keep ships up to spec, report shows\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A report on inspections of U.S. Navy ships shows the surface fleet struggling with declining readiness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2020\/10\/05\/the-us-navys-aging-surface-fleet-struggles-to-keep-ships-up-to-spec-report-shows\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-05T13:55:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-07T23:40:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David B. Larter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David B. 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