Congress prepares to hear damning report into US Navy training standards
The dire state of the US Navy’s training set up has been laid bare in a damning report from the Government Accountability Office.
With four accidents in the Pacific this year, including two deadly collisions with merchant ships, the US Navy is under extreme scrutiny.
The Government Accountability Office found that as of June 2017, 37% of the warfare certifications for cruiser and destroyer crews based in Japan — including certifications for seamanship — had expired, according to testimony submitted to the House Armed Services Committee and obtained by Bloomberg Government.
Moreover, the navy’s reductions to crew sizes just over a decade ago may now be creating safety risks, the watchdog maintains. Some sailors are reportedly working more than 100 hours a week.