Navy Ship Days Delayed by Maintenance Reduced 80% in 2020

Damage Controlman 3rd Class Quiana Quezada, from St. Petersburg, Fla., assigned to Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Halsey (DDG 97), disassembles the aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) concentrate pump during maintenance. U.S. Navy / Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Andrew Langholf

ARLINGTON, Va. — The number of ship days delayed by maintenance has been reduced by 80% in fiscal 2020, a senior Navy engineering duty officer said, even with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting operations.

“The needle is really moving, and moving in a good direction,” said Rear Adm. Eric Ver Hage, commander, Regional Maintenance Center, speaking Sept. 15 in a webinar of the Virtual Fleet Maintenance & Modernization Symposium of the American Society of Naval Engineers. “Even with the challenges of COVID, we’ve achieved an 80% reduction in the days of maintenance delay in [fiscal] ‘20 as compared to [fiscal] ’19.”

Ver Hage said, “It’s not just about on time, it’s also getting the required work complete. In our 2020 DDG [guided-missile destroyer] availabilities, we are tracking to complete 99% of all of our mandatory technical requirements, the things required to keep a ship operating to its full expected life cycle. That also is an improvement over last year.”

The admiral said that fiscal 2020 has been a super-busy year, with 50 CNO [chief of naval operations] availabilities and another 100 in planning; almost 700 emergent availabilities; 20,000 intermediate-level tasks; and 25,000 technical assists.

He said that also conducted were 157 ship readiness assessments, which help “our ships prepare for deployment and really importantly, on preparing for the next CNO avail.”

Ver Hage said the accomplishments were the result of “a great team effort,” while noting that “there has been steadily improving collaboration between industry and the government.”