The head of U.S. Pacific Command, Adm. Samuel Locklear, said yesterday the Navy is unable to supply him with an adequate number of ships to meet his mission requirements because of the high global demand on the fleet.
The Navy currently has 285 ships with plans to reach 300 by the end of this decade. The Navy said in January that it will require 306 ships, lowering the number by seven from a 2010 assessment.
Locklear said at the moment there are not enough vessels to carry out his missions in the Pacific region, in part because of the demand for the ships in the Middle East and to counter piracy in the Horn of Africa.
As the U.S. shifts focus to the Asia-Pacific region, Pacific Command will continuously have to deal with challenges that are becoming more complex to meet requirements to deter, assure access and prevent crises, Locklear told the House Armed Services Committee.
Locklear, clarifying that he was speaking as head of Pacific Command rather than a naval officer, said the size of the fleet matters despite the technological advances that have made U.S. Navy ships “much more powerful” than in the past.
“The number we have in the Navy today are too small because my requirements are not being satisfied by the Navy today,” he said.
Locklear’s comments came as the Navy and the rest of the Pentagon are trying to cope with automatic budget cuts known as sequestration that took effect on Friday, and the prospect of operating under a continuing spending resolution (CR) for the rest of the fiscal year. The CR would keep 2013 spending at roughly 2012 levels, prompting the Navy to warn it is running out of money in operations and maintenance accounts.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert has said sequestration could over the long run cause the Navy to shrink to about 230 ships.