All 6 East Coast Carriers In Dock

via Breaking Defense.

When the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman missed a planned deployment last month after suffering major electrical problems, the only East Coast-based carrier currently capable of deploying was forced to head back to the dock.

As the Navy scrambles to get the Truman out to sea, it is pulling material and work crews from two other carriers undergoing their own long-planned refit and repair availabilities, though Navy officials say they don’t expect the Truman’s problems to affect those other repair efforts. As it sits pier-side in Norfolk, the Truman has plenty of company, joining an already crowded Norfolk waterfront where six of the Navy’s 11 carriers are currently tied up. At the time we’re going to print that means not one of the six carriers based in Norfolk are ready to be deployed.

One congressional staffer familiar with Navy issues called the fact that there are so many ships at Norfolk at the same time “unusual,” but said this has happened before. “How much of an issue this will be operationally will depend on how long the situation lasts,” the staffer said.

Normally, six carriers are based in Norfolk. Four are based on the West Coast, with two based in San Diego and two in Bremerton, Wash. The final carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, is the only carrier based outside of the United States, in Yokosuka, Japan.

It’s unclear how long the Truman will be out of commission, but early estimates that it would be ready by the end of November might be too optimistic, according to a person familiar with the issue.

Story here.

Interesting.

I'm not sure what to make of this.  Bad maintenance?  Lack of cash?  Too high a tech force that is difficult to maintain?  Op Tempo out of control leading to unnecessary wear and tear?

The reason doesn't matter.

What matters is this.

We have many big deck carriers but they're all at port.

It's like owning a car you can't drive.  What good is it?  The more I look at the force we're building the more it begins to remind me of the WW2 German military.  It's equisite.  It's high tech.  Taken individually they're war winning. But the sum of those parts when combined just ain't cutting it.

Side note.  I think a certain reader that frequents these pages has been proven right again.  Tons of carriers in port, only a few at sea.  This is a terrible look.