Congress may tighten amphibious warship readiness requirements in future authorization legislation to ensure vessels sidelined by extended maintenance problems are not designated “operational” by the Navy and counted toward the service’s legal requirement to maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious vessels, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) said yesterday. The 31-ship requirement was established by the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which allows vessels designated “temporarily unavailable” by the Navy to be counted towards this total. On Tuesday, Kaine, the...
