The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued a damning report about the state of the US Navy’s amphibious fleet and the efforts to undertake much-needed maintenance work.
The 3 December report, Amphibious Warfare Fleet: Navy Needs to Complete Key Efforts to Better Ensure Ships Are Available for Marines (GAO-25-106728) – the latest of several that highlight serious problems in the US Navy – says half of the ships in its fleet of 31 amphibious vessels are “in poor condition” and that “some ships have been unavailable for years at a time”. To save money, the US Navy proposed early retirement for some ships and cancelled critical maintenance works. However, it still relies on the ships, which have not been well-maintained, while awaiting the deliveries of new vessels. As a result, it will be hard to continue meeting the 31-ship requirement.
The GAO notes that the US Navy is considering extending the service life of some ships to meet the 31-ship requirement, but these efforts will require up to US$1 billion per ship, with six ships needing service life extensions amid rising ship construction costs and maintenance backlogs. The GAO adds that amphibious ships are critical for Marine Corps missions, but the US Navy has struggled to ensure they are available for operations and training.
The US Navy and Marine Corps are working to agree on a ship availability goal but have yet to complete a metrics-based analysis to support this. “Until the Navy completes this analysis, it risks jeopardising its ability to align amphibious ship schedules with the Marine Corps units that deploy on them,” the GAO says.
The GAO has identified several contributing factors to the fleet’s poor condition and reduced availability. For example, the US Navy faces challenges with spare parts, reliability of ship systems and cancelled maintenance.
The GAO has also found that the US Navy cancelled maintenance for older amphibious ships it planned to divest before completing the required waiver process. US Navy officials say they no longer plan to cancel maintenance prior to completing the process, but the Navy is yet to update its maintenance policy to reflect that decision. The GAO says updating the policy will help ensure that ships the US Navy plans to divest do not miss maintenance if Congress restricts funds for divestment.
The GAO has made a number of recommendations, including that the US Navy use metrics to define amphibious ship availability goals, and that it updates its policy to clarify that it should not cancel maintenance when divesting ships before completing the waiver process. The Navy has concurred with three of the four recommendations and partially concurred with updating its policy.
