Do we still have what it takes to build a good aircraft carrier?

"Here is my point to all this blather. We expect the best out of our young sailors. Sometimes it is not an easy life. But if we are to expect the best out of them, it is up to us to give them the best to work with. Having workable toilets when you are deployed to a war zone is not too much to ask."   

If the Navy were smart (and they usually are), they would do an in-depth "lessons learned" on what happened during the 265-day deployment of the USS Lincoln. To take 5,000 young men and women, put them on a large ship (but not that large), and expect them to be close to flawless in their performances on a very important mission, might need a closer look. Why do I say that? We need to examine the good, the bad and the ugly of that recent experience. Maybe there is a point, where no matter how mentally tough some of these young folks are, which is too much. Or maybe not. But in any event, since this was the longest deployment ever for a Nimitz Class carrier, it needs a closer look.

And it is not just the aircraft carriers. Again, to put over 100 young men and women in a tube and have it submerged for weeks or months at a time - there might be a breaking point on that experience also. I know, I know - the folks who qualify to be submariners are as tough as nails. But still - is there a limit to what can be absorbed before stress starts to win the day? I am not trying to borrow trouble by asking this, but if (and that is a big if) there was a problem on the Abe, the Navy needs to address that problem head on. 

Right now, out of our eleven carriers, we have two in dry dock. It is interesting that one which is in dry dock is our newest carrier, the USS Ford. That leaves nine carriers to be ready to be on station should the need arise. But one thing needs to be understood about the current state of our Navy - we are lagging behind China. Why? Not to put blame on Obama and Biden but maintaining a Navy which could do battle on two oceans at once, was not on their radar. Plus, the fact we have lost some of the recipe cards on how to build quality ships rapidly, has left the fleet with some holes in it. Like, many of our Ticonderoga Class cruisers are getting ready to sunset, and we have nothing to replace them with as yet. That is a whole lot of VLS cells that the Navy will be short. 

The USS Kennedy is going through sea trials as fast as humanly possible. What is the rush? The Kennedy, like our submarines and other surface ships - is behind schedule. But even with that, the Kennedy will not be ready for delivery to the Navy until March of next year. There is a lot of excitement about the Kennedy, on how much of an improvement it will be to the carrier it will replace. There was excitement about the USS Ford also, until the toilets quit working. For how much time and money went into the Ford, there was no excuse for that one!

Here is my point to all this blather. We expect the best out of our young sailors. Sometimes it is not an easy life. But if we are to expect the best out of them, it is up to us to give them the best to work with. Having workable toilets when you are deployed to a war zone is not too much to ask.