As the CNO Steps Up, Expect Fireworks

ADM Roughead hasn't said much since his memo to say nothing regarding the budget process, so it is good to see him stepping up and taking point in the conversation.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead said he intends to get the required congressional dispensation to decommission the ship in 2012 or 2013, taking the flattop fleet down to 10 ships for a few years until the Gerald R. Ford comes online. That’s expected in 2015.

“We really need to take Enterprise out of service,” he told Navy Times. “That ship is old, and it has served extraordinarily well. It has served longer than any aircraft carrier in the history of the United States Navy. And it’s time. She’s safe. She’s going through an availability now. But Enterprise deserves to go to pasture.”

The Big E currently is slated for decommissioning in 2012, pending the congressional waiver.

“I’ve got to get relief from the law, but I’d like to get her out in ’12 or ’13,” he said. “What we have to do is go before the authorization committees and make the case [for 10 carriers].”

The USS Enterprise (CVN 65) was commissioned on November 25, 2024, and will have served over 50 years by 2012. It is truly a statement to how great a ship the USS Enterprise is that it will have served that long, but the truth is she is almost out of nuclear fuel and is easily the most expensive ship to operate in the fleet.

The Navy is going to make a series of tough choices. Reducing the number of aircraft carriers is, by all indications, part of the tough choices that will be made. I do know one thing, we are in a period where the US Navy can accept some risk in the short term to redirect Navy resources looking forward, in particular I see the necessity to get all our plans in alignment by 2012 with a focus towards 2020. The early retirement of the USS Enterprise (CVN 65) falls into the catagory of necessities to move forward that make my short list.

It is noteworthy that at the end of the article, ADM Roughead stands by the 11 carrier mark.

“We have looked at our carriers and carrier schedules to meet the presence requirements from combatant commanders. And because of the Fleet Response Plan we can do it with 10 carriers,” he said. “I do believe that our carrier force of 11 is what the nation and the Navy needs to fulfill the presence requirement and the response requirement.”

This is the first time Roughead has had comments regarding any issue for FY 2010 budget, so I'm going to use this opportunity to forward something that I think could happen.

I think it is entirely possible that ADM Roughead and SECDEF Gates end up opposition regarding the FY 2010 Navy budget. When Gates announced he was keeping Mullen, I admit I was pretty surprised. I am going to say what nobody in the Navy can say publicly.

ADM Mullen has done a good job as CJCS, and can legitimate be called the best CJCS in the 21st century, but he was promoted despite promoting a failed shipbuilding vision as CNO. All the shipbuilding problems in the Navy today can be laid at the feet of Clark and Mullen. In his book The Gamble, Thomas Ricks decided for some reason to ignore that ADM Mullen was one of those officers under the Bush administration promoted despite a record of failure. My guess is that is why ADM Mullen didn't get much attention at all as the new CJCS in that book.

Gates appears to favor Mullen, probably because from a strategic vision perspective, Mullen and Gates agree more than Gates and Roughead. I will not be surprised if Gates fires Roughead this year because of shipbuilding, even though Roughead is the one trying to change the bad shipbuilding moves of Mullen.

There is friction between Mullen and Roughead, Roughead is trying to clean up the disaster in shipbuilding that was set forth by his boss, Mullen, without offending his boss, Mullen. That is hard to do, Roughead has to take the blame for all of Mullen's poor decisions, particularly with Gates favoring Mullen.

When Stavridis was appointed COCOM for Europe, my initial reaction was to wait and see. I still say it is entirely possible either Mullen or Roughead is gone by this summer, and just as Stavridis followed Roughead on the USS Barry (DDG 52) once upon a time, Stavridis could follow Roughead as CNO in the near future. Stavridis could also follow Mullen though, because Gates could potentially lose the respect of the entire Pentagon if he blames Roughead for Mullen's mistakes, a fact that would be lost on nobody.

Which is why I encourage people to be patient after Monday's announcement by Gates regarding defense cuts. Wait and compare his choices in the context of the FY 2010 budgets of the various services before deciding whether the cuts are good or bad. It is entirely possible Gates leaned on Admiral Mullen for advice regarding what technologies to cut. That would not necessarily be a good thing, Admiral Mullen's procurement record would have earned him being fired under anyone but President Bush, who consistently promoted failure instead.