Rep. Luria Pushes Navy For More Efficient Ship Maintenance

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Today, House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Vice Chair Elaine Luria pressed members of the Naval Sea Systems Command on the maintenance delays that are significantly impacting operational availability. Her questions came during a (HASC) Readiness Subcommittee hearing on Ship and Submarine Maintenance where she stressed that investments in public and private shipyards, and that workforce, will increase the effective size of the fleet.

Vice Chair Luria also questioned the rationale for decommissioning ships that are less than ten years old, like the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) or older platforms with service life remaining such as the Ticonderoga class cruisers, drawing on her own experience as Executive Officer of USS ANZIO (CG 68).  She asked Vice Admiral William J. Galinas to provide the Readiness Subcommittee with the amount of funds required to retain the 11 cruisers and the first four LCS that the Navy proposes to decommission in its recent “Battle Force 2045” plan. 

You can see the first line of questioning here and her second line of questioning here.

Congresswoman Elaine Luria represents Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, where she is the committee’s Vice Chair, the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where she serves as Chair of the Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs Subcommittee, and the House Committee on Homeland Security.