The Navy is in trouble

We've all read about the recent crashes of Navy ships. It doesn't look as though it will be getting better soon, at least as far as Military Sealift Command ships are concerned. They perform a wide variety of support services and missions, including transporting military equipment and supplies in the event of a major contingency and replenishing fuel and provisions for U.S. Navy ships at sea. The GAO has just released the conclusions of their recent study of the Command. They are not heartwarming: 

• The average age of the ships in the surge sealift fleet is nearly 40 years, and the number of surge sealift ships reaching the end of their programmed service lives over the next 10 years will reduce sealift capacity by over 25 percent.
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• Plans does not include a needs assessment or project prioritization comparing the costs and benefits of proposed investments to each other.
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• An aging surge sealift fleet in which some ships are more than 50 years old, and a combat logistics force tasked with supporting more widely distributed operations (i.e., the employment of ships in dispersed formations across a wider expanse of territory), present several force structure and readiness challenges.