Commander Naval Surface Forces

SWO Boss Sets Goal for 75 Mission-Capable Surface Warships Ready to Deploy

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, Commander, Naval Surface Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, speaks with Capt. Wayne P. Liebold, executive officer of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD-2), during a scheduled visit to the ship on Jan. 5, 2023. US Navy Photo

The Navy has set a new goal to have 75 mission-capable surface ships that are prepared to deploy at any given moment

The readiness objective to keep a little less than half of the surface ship inventory ready to deploy is part of a larger...

https://news.usni.org/2023/01/10/swo-boss-sets-goal-for-75-mission-capable-surface-warships-ready-to-deploy

SWO Boss: Surface Fleet Reforms See Positive Results Five Years After Fatal Collisions

Vice Adm. Roy Kitchener, commander, Naval Surface Force, speaks with junior officers at the Mariner Skills Training Center, Pacific (MSTCPAC) on May 6, 2022. US Navy Photo

Surface warfare reforms crafted to improve mariner skills and manage demand for ships are trickling into the fleet five years after two fatal collisions in the Western Pacific forced the Navy to retool how the service trains the surface fleet.

Multiple investigations and criminal prosecutions found that basic failures in...

https://news.usni.org/2022/06/17/swo-boss-surface-fleet-reforms-see-positive-results-five-years-after-fatal-collisions

SWOBOSS: Bonhomme Richard Blaze Prompted Navy to Add More Fire Marshalls, Training

A firefighter working on the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) fire on July 15, 2020. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON – Lessons from the fire that took out a 40,000-ton U.S. warship are trickling out into the fleet a year after the blaze, the head of U.S. Naval Surface Force told reporters this week.

While the results of the official investigation of how the Navy lost the former USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) likely won’t be made public until September, the Naval Surface Forces have moved to tighten up fire...

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/24/swoboss-bonhomme-richard-blaze-prompted-navy-to-add-more-fire-marshalls-training

Lawmakers Survey: 94% of Sailors Say ‘Damaging Operational Failures’ Related to Navy Culture, Leadership Problems

USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) departs Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding’s Pascagoula shipyard to conduct comprehensive at-sea testing on Feb. 3, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s surface warfare community is weighed with a culture that values administrative chores over training to fight, ship commanders that are micromanaged and an aversion to risk, according to a new survey overseen by a retired Navy admiral and Marine general at the behest of a group of Republican lawmakers. That...

https://news.usni.org/2021/07/12/lawmakers-survey-94-of-sailors-say-damaging-operational-failures-related-to-navy-culture-leadership-problems

GAO: Navy Struggling to Retain Surface Warfare Officers; SWOs Want More Training, Specialization

Sailors on the bridge of USS Antietam (CG-59). US Navy Photo

Surface warfare officers are leaving the Navy at a higher rate than other unrestricted line officers despite reforms in training the service has instituted since two fatal collisions in 2017, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

Compared to aviators, submariners and the special warfare/explosives ordnance disposal community, “SWOs had shorter average careers and higher separation rates compared with...

https://news.usni.org/2021/06/18/gao-navy-struggling-to-retain-surface-warfare-officers-swos-want-more-training-specialization

Navy Taps One-Star To Drive LCS Program Improvements

Information Specialist 1st Class Matthew Stephenson mans the lines as the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS-11) gets underway on Aug. 30, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Navy has installed a one-star admiral to oversee a task force focused on refining the employment, maintenance and reliability of the Littoral Combat Ship program, the service announced today.

Rear Adm. Robert Nowakowski, the deputy commander of Navy Recruiting Command and Naval Education and Training Command Force...

GAO Report on Sailor Fatigue, Crewing Shortfalls

The following is the May 27, 2021, Government Accountability office report, Navy Readiness: Additional Efforts Are Needed to Manage Fatigue, Reduce Crewing Shortfalls, and Implement Training.

From the report

What GAO Found

The Navy issued a fatigue management policy in 2017, but has inconsistently implemented it and sailors are not receiving adequate sleep. GAO conducted a survey in 2020 and estimates that 14 percent of officers received the then recommended 7 hours or more of sleep a day during...

https://news.usni.org/2021/05/28/gao-report-on-sailor-fatigue-crewing-shortfalls

Latest Surface Navy Sleep Policy Aims for Better-Rested, More Alert, Healthier Crews

Cmdr. Jefferey Servello, executive officer aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Paul Ignatius (DDG-117), conducts a berthing inspection on Sept. 5, 2020. US Navy Photo

The Navy’s surface fleet has a new set of orders that updates a sleep policy to give sailors on watch rotations a bit more sleep and create a culture supporting a more ready, rested and focused seagoing force.

The “Comprehensive Crew Endurance Management Policy,” signed off Dec. 11 by Naval Surface Force...

Navy Working on Better Maintainability, Self-Sufficiency for LCS and Rest of Surface Fleet

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) training ships JS Kashima (TV 3508), left, and JS Shimayuki (TV 3513), right, sail alongside the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) during an exercise, June 23, 2020. US Navy Photo

Navy officials in Washington and on the waterfront are trying to help the Littoral Combat Ships grow more reliable and maintainable, amid a surface navy-wide effort to focus on crew-level maintenance as a means of improving...

https://news.usni.org/2021/01/20/navy-working-on-better-maintainability-self-sufficiency-for-lcs-and-rest-of-surface-fleet

+ More