Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who chairs the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee, said Friday that lawmakers crafting their version of the annual defense authorization bill used their "best military judgment" balanced against spending limits to arrive at a directive for 24 amphibious ships to be available for deployment at any given time. At a press conference Friday, Kaine described maintenance delays as degrading naval readiness. “We decided what we want to shoot for is 31 [amphibious ships] with the expectation...
