GAO: US Navy faces maintenance struggles for combat ships despite additional $1 billion in funding

February 4, 2025, by Fatima Bahtić

The US Navy faces significant challenges in maintaining its combat surface ships, even after receiving an additional $1 billion beyond its initial budget requests for maintenance, a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found.

As disclosed, the new report, published on January 31, 2025, reveals that the US Navy continues to face maintenance challenges for non-nuclear-powered combat ships, even though additional funds have been allocated.

Specifically, the report identified problems, including limited spare parts, a lack of sufficient and qualified maintenance personnel, and a continual need to defer maintenance.

In line with that, the US Department of Defense (DOD) spent tens of billions of dollars in operations and maintenance (O&M) and other appropriated amounts annually to operate and maintain its weapon systems, including combat surface ships.

The US Navy operates over 230 surface and subsurface vessels, including submarines, aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers, and support ships. In this review, GAO focused on the ships in the navy’s non-nuclear surface battle force.

As of 2024, the US Navy operates 149 of these ships. The 149 ships account for roughly two-thirds of the Navy’s battle force, with the remainder consisting of submarines, aircraft carriers, and support ships.

Sustaining combat surface ships involves several activities that allow the ships to reach their expected service life. These activities—which include maintenance and modernization—help the ships meet, and in some cases extend, their service life.

In its report, GAO stated that:

The US Navy requested almost $24.9 billion to maintain combat surface ships during fiscal years 2020 through 2023. The navy reported that almost $25.9 billion was appropriated for maintenance activities during those same years—$1 billion more than requested.
As of the end of fiscal year 2023, the US Navy reported obligating 99.7 percent of the $25.9 billion, or about 25.8 billion, for expenditure to sustain combat surface ships during fiscal years 2020 through 2023.

Several navy offices are responsible for managing the maintenance of the combat surface fleet. Key organizations involved in maintaining the fleet include: Type Commanders, Surface Ship Maintenance Engineering Planning Program (SURFMEPP), Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Expeditionary Warfare Division (N95), and Surface Warfare Division (N96).

The navy has a detailed process to manage surface ship sustainment that involves developing a budget, submitting the budget request, executing (obligating and expending) the funds, and reporting on results.

Additionally, the US Congress provides various appropriations to DOD for activities that broadly support operations of combat surface ships.

To address these issues, GAO has made a total of 46 recommendations that, as of September 2024, have not been implemented. For example, GAO recommended that the Navy:

set material availability requirements that fully capture all factors that could preclude a ship from being ready when needed;
require documentation of the factors it considers when determining whether enlisted crewing target levels should be adjusted; and
annually report on the assessments of the operational, technical, and economic risks associated with deferred maintenance on surface ships.

The US Navy is currently making some progress towards implementing 12 of the 46 recommendations, GAO concluded.

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