SAN DIEGO (Nov. 23, 2015) Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Noe Mendoza, from Harlingen, Texas, raises the American flag aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71). Theodore Roosevelt arrived at its new homeport of San Diego after completing an eight-month around-the-world deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Anthony N. Hilkowski/Released)
As noted in an editorial in Sea Power, according to Bryan Clark and Jesse Sloman of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, the Navy/Marine Corps team is at a tipping point, with a 272-ship fleet still tasked like its the old school Lehman 600-ship Navy of the Cold War, of possibly not being able to meet commitments.
The fix, instead of either just pulling a Royal Navy post-Suez drawback or moving to 9-month+ deployments, is to keep more ships overseas and use civilian-manned vessels more. You know, how like we moved the fleet from California to Pearl Harbor in 1940.
One alternative is to “increase further the portion for the fleet that is forward deployed,” the report notes. The advantage of forward-deployed ships is that fewer ships are required to maintain a given level of presence. The adaptation of some Military Sealift Command ships as expeditionary ships in relatively permissive environments, with rotational crews, also could reduce the burden on warships. Maintaining forward-deployed ships is more costly, however.
Clark said the forward deployment of a second aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific would enable the Navy to meet the requirement for a carrier strike group year-round using only forward-deployed forces. This would allow the Navy to get by with a total of nine carriers or, with 11 carriers, it would allow the Navy to keep an East Coast-based carrier deployed to the European area of operations, leaving the Persian Gulf to West Coast-based carriers and the Western Pacific to the two forward-deployed carriers.
