Top priority missions, such as ballistic missile defense due to tensions with North Korea, will likely continue despite the pause, said Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the non-partisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Navy veteran and former senior civilian official at the Pentagon.
Commanders and crews elsewhere will examine training plans and how prepared sailors are before they’re deployed, Clark said.
Since 2000, the Navy’s fleet has shrunk but demand for ships at sea around the world has risen, Clark said. That mismatch means sailors and ships are stressed.
“Each ship is working 20% more,” Clark said.
There are 11 cruisers and destroyers, including the Fitzgerald and McCain, based in Japan, Clark said. Their temporary loss for repair will increase the workload on the remainder of the ships in the western Pacific. The Fitzgerald must be piggybacked on a larger ship and sailed back to the United States to be made seaworthy.
Ships based in Hawaii or the United States will likely be called on for longer-than-normal deployments to replace them, he said.