{"id":34106,"date":"2019-06-30T20:07:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-30T20:07:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/06\/30\/a-top-us-navy-engineer-says-the-fleet-needs-to-get-out-and-bust-the-rust\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:34:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:34:38","slug":"a-top-us-navy-engineer-says-the-fleet-needs-to-get-out-and-bust-the-rust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2019\/06\/30\/a-top-us-navy-engineer-says-the-fleet-needs-to-get-out-and-bust-the-rust\/","title":{"rendered":"A top US Navy engineer says the fleet needs to get out and bust the rust"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 With the U.S. Navy attempting to keep its surface combatants such as the Arleigh Burke-class<\/a> destroyers for 40-45 years each<\/a>, sailors and maintainers must do everything they can to keep corrosion under control, one of the service\u2019s senior-most engineering duty officers told attendees of the annual American Society of Naval Engineers\u2019 Technology, Systems and Ships conference on June 20.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice Adm. Thomas Moore<\/a>, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command, said the fleet spends billions to keep corrosion under control and that all levels of maintenance must make that a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCorrosion is one of the big things if we want to keep the ships around for 40-45 years; we have to do what is necessary on the corrosion side of things,\u201d Moore said. \u201cI don\u2019t have the exact numbers, but we are spending $10 billion on our ship depot maintenance. And I\u2019m guessing that several billion of that is corrosion-related, so it\u2019s a significant portion of the budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have to stay on top of it. We have to be willing to do the work necessary to limit corrosion on the ship. And it\u2019s not just at the depot. It\u2019s in intermediate maintenance and its with ship\u2019s force. We have to recognize that this is a law-of-physics thing and stay on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t