Ship Shape

Last week, InsideDefense.com reported that the Pentagon, hoping to avoid disrupting the Navy's tightly orchestrated aircraft carrier maintenance schedule and crimp the service's ability to surge naval power, was seeking congressional permission to use fiscal year 2012 funds to finance work on two aircraft carriers that would otherwise be delayed under a pending FY-13 continuing resolution.

We now have the reprogramming request.

From the story:

On Sept. 18, Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale proposed reprogramming $219.1 million into the Navy's shipbuilding and conversion accounts to finance three warship projects: the refueling of the aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and the completion of construction on DDG-1000 ships.

Specifically, the Defense Department is seeking to move $68 million into Navy accounts for the six months of the continuing resolution -- October through March -- to cover continuing efforts to refuel and overhaul the Roosevelt and "achieve the planned completion date of June 2013," the reprogramming request states.

In addition, the Pentagon proposes shifting $96.1 million to commence work on the refueling and complex overhaul of the Lincoln, considered a new start because no funding was appropriated for the project in FY-12. "Failure to provide funding and authorize a new start in FY-12" will carry a number of consequences, including a late delivery of the completed overhaul, DOD states. "The department will be unable to maintain a fleet response plan of three carriers deployed/available, two carriers within 30 days, and one carrier available within 90 days," the reprogramming warns.

Another ramification: "Potential inability to meet additional combatant commander emergent tasking," according to the proposed budget action. Lastly, any delay to the refueling of the Lincoln will disrupt plans to begin inactivating the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-65), slated to begin in December 2014, according to the Pentagon.

UPDATE 6:00 p.m.: A Navy spokeswoman just told InsideDefense.com that lawmakers had approved the reprogramming request.