Navy surface fleet faces rough waters trying to maintain ships.

• Author: Insinna, Valerie

The Navy in the past decade has found itself in a downward spiral of maintenance problems. It has subjected the fleet to high operational tempos that increased wear and tear and has cut back routine practices that help identify onboard repair needs, such as ship inspections and assessments.

The service is trying to revamp its maintenance policies to include more inspections, new technology and a shift in culture. Progress is occurring, but changes will take a while to stick, and the service will likely have to deal with budget cuts that make it more difficult to maintain its ships, Navy and industry officials said.

"I think the Navy is doing all the right things to correct what was undone and to improve the processes, but they've had a 10-year problem, and what they institutionalized takes time to work through the system," said retired Rear Adm. Joe Carnevale, senior defense advisor to the Shipbuilders Council of America. "There's a big time lag between implementing all of these initiatives and getting ship availabilities improved."

A 2010 fleet review panel found that many actions led to degraded surface force readiness. The Navy instituted a shorter period of time to complete repairs, reduced the number of maintenance assessments and cut back training. It also underestimated the amount of funding needed to properly maintain ships, the panel found.

Since then, the Navy has made inroads, establishing the Surface Maintenance Engineering Planning Program (SURFMEPP) to help manage lifecycle maintenance for ships and the Navy Regional Maintenance Center Command (RMC) to oversee its execution.

In 2012, the service published a new surface force readiness manual requiring that a material inspection must take place after the basic phase, which is when a ship is certified that it can execute its mission. Ships will have to go through either the thorough INSURV inspection, or one conducted by a type commander, who controls the vessel before it is deployed.

But implementation of the manual could be hampered by continued high operational tempos and a lack of staff, said a 2012 study by the Government Accountability Office. This could lead to deferments in lifecycle maintenance and increased costs, it said.

High operational tempo has long been a problem. It limits the amount of time the Navy has to conduct assessments, wears down the ship, and puts added strain on the crew, who may not have enough time to do maintenance, Carnevale said.

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