Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, speaks with Capt. Wayne P. Liebold, executive officer of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2), during a scheduled visit to the ship on Jan. 5, 2023. US Navy Photo
The Navy has set a new goal to have 75 mission-capable surface ships that are prepared to deploy at any given moment Read More
Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander, Naval Surface Force, speaks with junior officers at the Mariner Skills Training Center, Pacific (MSTCPAC) on May 6, 2022. US Navy Photo
Surface warfare reforms crafted to improve mariner skills and manage demand for ships are trickling into the fleet five years after two fatal collisions in the Western Pacific forced the Navy to retool how the service trains the surface fleet. Read More
Damage Controlman 2nd Class Aracely Morales, center, assigned to San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD-24), trains sailors assigned to San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) on Aug. 14, 2021. US Na
vy Photo
ABOARD THE LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP USS KANSAS CITY, OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA – The Navy has made several adjustments to its practices aboard surface ships and at shipyards in the wake of the fire that gutted an amphibious warship last year. Read More
A firefighter working on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) fire on July 15, 2020. US Navy Photo
THE PENTAGON – Lessons from the fire that took out a 40,000-ton U.S. warship are trickling out into the fleet a year after the blaze, the head of U.S. Naval Surface Force told reporters this week. Read More
USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) departs Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula shipyard to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing on Feb. 3, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s surface warfare community is weighed with a culture that values administrative chores over training to fight, ship commanders that are micromanaged and an aversion to risk, according to a new survey overseen by a retired Navy admiral and Marine general at the behest of a group of Republican lawmakers. That culture was at least partially responsible for a string “of high-profile and damaging operational failures in the Navy’s Surface Warfare community,” the report found. Read More
Sailors on the bridge of USS Antietam (CG-59). US Navy Photo
Surface warfare officers are leaving the Navy at a higher rate than other unrestricted line officers despite reforms in training the service has instituted since two fatal collisions in 2017, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. Read More
Information Specialist 1st Class Matthew Stephenson mans the lines as the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS-11) gets underway on Aug. 30, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy has installed a one-star admiral to oversee a task force focused on refining the employment, maintenance and reliability of the Littoral Combat Ship program, the service announced today. Read More
The following is the May 27, 2021, Government Accountability office report, Navy Readiness: Additional Efforts Are Needed to Manage Fatigue, Reduce Crewing Shortfalls, and Implement Training. Read More
Cmdr. Jeffrey Servello, executive officer aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117), conducts a berthing inspection on Sept. 5, 2020. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s surface fleet has a new set of orders that updates a sleep policy to give sailors on watch rotations a bit more sleep and create a culture supporting a more ready, rested and focused seagoing force. Read More
The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training ships JS Kashima (TV 3508), left, and JS Shimayuki (TV 3513), right, sail alongside the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) during an exercise, June 23, 2020. US Navy Photo
Navy officials in Washington and on the waterfront are trying to help the Littoral Combat Ships grow more reliable and maintainable, amid a surface navy-wide effort to focus on crew-level maintenance as a means of improving operational availability. Read More
