NewsMilitary

Actions

Greenert details cuts to Navy shipbuilding if budget battle continues

Posted at 6:12 PM, Sep 18, 2013
and last updated 2013-09-19 09:42:10-04

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert testified before the House Armed Services Committee today that if a budget is not passed and military cuts are not stopped, they will have to stop building one Virginia class submarine, one littoral combat ship, and one forward afloat staging base.

In addition, the delivery of the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier to the Navy will be delayed, and the USS George Washington aircraft carrier will not go in for its mid-life nuclear refueling.

How to contact your lawmakers

Both of those projects are being done right here at the Newport News Shipyard.

He did not mention what would happen to the upcoming contract for the USS John F. Kennedy carrier, still yet to be built.

In addition, 54 ships would have their upcoming maintenance cancelled resulting in more than 8,000 jobs lost by defense contracting workers.

Those layoffs would mostly affect Hampton Roads and San Diego.

In addition, Greenert says that the Navy could only afford to have one carrier deployed at a time.

Right now, the Navy has three because of the situation in Syria. Normally they have two, one in the Middle East and one in the Pacific.

Congress has until September 30th to pass a budget.