The U.S. Navy is Screwed OR is it?

[35_aoa]

I agree with you. I think we're talking about different things, however. I was mostly talking about availability of skills/people.

You're right that that there's a whole other issue of how well the government can manage contracts etc. But then again, its been 16 years of continuous war. I'm not sure it can be managed a hell of a lot better in that situation.

Contracts are a problem, but there's usually only 1 customer (the government) and usually only 1 supplier (in this case likely the original manufacturer). That's been the biggest problem of any military, forever. That's not going to change.

Ultimately, and this is IMHO, the ball was dropped in Washington years ago during sequestration. That's where/when the parts supply chain began only prioritizing units who were either deployed or immediately approaching a deployment. That's also where/when the depot ground to a halt with folks being effectively furloughed and work being effectively stopped for the better part of 2 years. Both of these obstacles have either continued (parts shortfall) or the second and third order effects have persisted since then (depot backups). 5+ years later, we are still playing catch up.