U.S. Media: Iran Conflict Intensifies U.S. Navy Maintenance Crisis

Reference News Network reported on November 4 An article titled "How the Iran War Intensifies the U.S. Navy's Maintenance Crisis" was published on the website of the U.S. magazine National Interest on October 30, authored by William Hartung. The full translation is as follows:

A recent report from the "Defense One" website provides deeper insights into the potential costs of the Iran War. The U.S. naval bases in the Gulf region have been damaged, meaning that the only place in the region currently capable of safely repairing U.S. warships is the U.S. military base at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, located 2,500 miles (approximately 1,600 kilometers) away from the Gulf region. This slows down maintenance progress and forces warships to remain at sea for extended periods, far exceeding the recommended deployment time, which will increase future maintenance costs and continue to impose significant hardships on U.S. Navy personnel serving on these ships.

These difficulties are extremely severe. The U.S. Navy previously acknowledged that the USS Abraham Lincoln, which set the record for the longest continuous deployment without port calls in U.S. military history, faced extremely harsh conditions onboard, with eight sailors attempting suicide.

Former U.S. Navy Commander Bryan Clark stated that U.S. Navy combat vessels involved in military operations against Iran may see their maintenance time double due to prolonged continuous operations at sea, extending from seven or eight months to a year or even a year and a half.

The maintenance crisis is just one of the unexpected costs that have emerged from this war. The Trump administration did not consider that Iranian attacks could severely damage bases located in Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, to the extent that U.S. warships could not safely use the ports of these countries.

There are also discussions about building new bases further away in the region instead of repairing existing ones. The costs of doing so would be difficult to estimate.

This again underscores the need for more careful study before launching further strikes against Iran. The Trump administration has hinted that it may resume strikes after the midterm elections. Such studies should include ultimately seeking congressional approval and allowing for more thorough debate by the media and the public. However, none of this work was done before the war against Iran began at the end of February. Had this been done initially, it might have completely avoided this war, preventing the significant human and economic costs already incurred, and there would likely be more costs in the future.

Ammunition shortages are another unexpected consequence of the Iran War. To shoot down Iranian drones, the U.S. has expended a large amount of expensive interceptors, but with mixed results, as evidenced by the damage to U.S. bases.

The Trump administration has used the so-called "ammunition crisis" as a primary justification for significantly increasing the Department of Defense budget, proposing an increase of $500 billion, but the cost of replenishing ammunition only accounts for a small portion of that $500 billion. Congress should demand that the Department of Defense provide transparent accounting of actual ammunition needs, and the Pentagon should not receive another penny. Some or all of these funds could even be diverted to projects like "Iron Dome," which are both wasteful and impractical.

Congress should also demand the production of cheaper and more reliable interceptors and artillery shells. New types of ammunition should be simple enough to be produced faster than existing systems. Developing a new generation of ammunition takes time, so the sooner the Department of Defense starts this work, the better.

As the costs of the Iran War continue to rise, the Trump administration has proposed a record Department of Defense budget, and lawmakers should now exercise their constitutional and legal powers to prevent any conflict that has not been approved by Congress. (Translation by Liu Yuehua)