Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Pending Nominations

Statement

Hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Pending Nominations

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SEN. SUSAN M. COLLINS (R-ME): Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

First, let me thank all of you for your public service -- your extraordinary service. I look forward to supporting each of you in your new role.

Admiral Roughead, it's a particular pleasure to welcome you back to Washington. We worked together when you were head of the Navy's Liaison Office and I really enjoyed working with you, particularly on shipbuilding issues back then. And I could not be more delighted with the president's nomination of you to be the new chief of Naval Operations.

ADM. ROUGHEAD: Thank you, Senator.

SEN. COLLINS: I was very pleased that my two colleagues from Virginal mentioned Admiral Mullen's farsighted plan for a 313-ship Navy. You and I had the opportunity to discuss that in the office. I was very pleased to hear you repeat publicly today that you view it as a floor because I think we have been underfunding shipbuilding for many years and it takes a great deal of time to turn that around -- to ensure that we do have the capability necessary to meet our national security requirements. And I look forward to ensuring that you have the resources not only to implement, but go beyond Admiral Mullen's plan.

Now part of the plan includes 55 Littoral Combat Ships, which will give the Navy a new capability that it has not previously had. That program has run into some problems, both with schedule and with cost overruns. But it seems to me that it's still vitally important and I would like to hear your comments on the important of the LCS program in terms of giving the Navy a needed capability that it currently lacks, but also in helping us achieve the goal of a 313-ship fleet.

ADM. ROUGHEAD: Thank you, Senator.

The Littoral Combat Ship is very important for the Navy. I've said on several occasions that had I had some littoral combat ships in the Pacific when I was commanding the fleet there, I could have done much more.

The littoral combat ship represents a new way of taking on the threats that we anticipate in the future. It is incorporating new technology that is relevant to the manning concepts that we will have to have in place as we move into the future. And LCS brings that together.

It is very important. It is not simply a ship that will be used in what I refer to as the green water, but it's one that, because of its flexibility in antisubmarine warfare and mine warfare and anti- surface warfare, it will be integral into our more conventional force packages -- our carrier strike groups and our expeditionary strike groups.

So even though LCS has gone through some challenges, I believe that the steps that the secretary and others have taken are appropriate to get that ship to the fleet where we need it, and we need it quickly, and we need it in those numbers that you talked -- 55. LCS is very important to our Navy.

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you. Another part of the plan that is very important to achieve the size fleet that we need is the DDG modernization program. Could you comment on that as well?

ADM. ROUGHEAD: Yes, Senator; and in addition to the DDG, also our LPD and our cruiser modernization. It is important that when we have a fleet of 313 ships, that those ships be relevant to the type of threats that we will face in the future.

The modernization plan allows us to do that. We have made significant investments in our ships, particularly our DDGs and cruisers. We must make that modernization plan a reality so that those ships will be able to serve for the life that we envisioned. And that is equally as important to ship-building, but keeping our current fleet relevant and capable into the future.

SEN. COLLINS: And indeed we're able to apply some of the lessons that we're learning on the DDG-1000 project in order to reduce the crew size, for example, on the DDG-51 class of destroyers, which I think also has benefits in terms of the life-cycle costs.

ADM. ROUGHEAD: Yes, ma'am.

SEN. COLLINS: Admiral, I want to switch to another important installation in my home state of Maine, and that is the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which is one of the four public yards that the Navy has.

Recently, the employees and the commander of the shipyard have brought to my attention that they have been forced to turn away submarine availabilities, including SRAs for the USS Alexandria and the USS San Juan.

Due to the workforce constraints that have been imposed by the Navy, Portsmouth is now limited to a civilian workforce of just over 3,900 civilians. Yet the Navy has submarines in need of maintenance and repair work, and it seems that this work is being delayed due to what appear to be arbitrary manpower and overtime limitations. In addition, there is always unforeseen emergency maintenance or repair work that needs to be done.

If you are confirmed, will you evaluate the imposed workforce levels at the public shipyards, including Portsmouth, to ensure that they're sufficient to handle emergency and other unforeseen work on Navy ships and submarines?

ADM. ROUGHEAD: I will, Senator, because our four Navy shipyards and the work that they do, particularly on our nuclear fleet, is very, very important. And it's not just the workforce but the scheduling and the improvements that we make there. All are factors in providing a ready fleet. And I will be involved in that very closely.

SEN. COLLINS: Thank you. I very much look forward to working with you, as well as the other members of the panel. The other members of the panel, I do have questions for the record for you. But Maine's a big Navy state, so I had to focus on Admiral Roughead.

Thank you.

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