US Navy ships overseas plagued with problems: Watchdog

‘US Navy ships on overseas missions have lost operational readiness due to a slew of problems ranging from maintenance to training, a government agency warns, in the wake of two deadly maritime mishaps that badly damaged the force’s reputation.
A new review by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that overworked and undertrained workers on board the state-of-the-art warships often miss to carry out vital maintenance operations on time.
“The Navy has been warning for some time that they have been keeping a pace that is unsustainable. Our work has confirmed the difficulties,” said John Pendleton, a GAO director.
The organization warned that the number of soldiers with insufficient training in the Navy had increased five-fold in two years.
According to the report, the problems are mostly apparent in vessels operating under the command of the Navy’s 7th Fleet, which is based in Japan and conducts high-profile missions in the South China Sea and off the Korean Peninsula.’
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