Ship Gap

The Navy will take a close look at a looming cruiser and destroyer gap over the next several budget cycles to see how the problem might be mitigated, Vice Adm. Terry Blake, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources (N8), said today.

Last September, the Senate Appropriations Committee expressed concern that the Navy would fall below its requirement for 94 DDG-51 destroyers and CG-47 cruisers after 2021, dipping to as low as 65 ships in 2034. Blake told reporters following his presentation at the Surface Navy Association's annual symposium that the Navy would tackle that issue over the upcoming budget cycles.

"You are not going to be, at the current prices, going to be able to afford four or five [cruisers or destroyers] per year," Blake said. "So we are going to have to deal with that. And there's a number of ways to look at dealing with issues such as that."

He said the Navy would consider a range of options, including extending the service lives of vessels and implementing rotational crewing.

"We have highlighted the problem," he said. "We're going to have to have a deliberate discussion over the next several POMs [program objective memoranda] to deal with that issue in the 2020 to 2030 time frame."