Navy to ask for advance money if Congress stops Truman retirement

摘要

Posted March 21, 2019 The Navy plans to ask Congress for fiscal year 2021 advance procurement money to refuel a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier if lawmakers prevent the service from retiring the vessel early. "If Congress directs the Department to restore the CVN 75 refueling complex overhaul (RCOH), the Navy will need to request the first year of advance procurement funding in FY 2021," Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Chambers told Inside Defense in a statement. Chambers said if this path is taken it would mean the Harry S. Truman's (CVN-75) refueling process would begin in FY-25. The Navy in its FY-20 budget submission said it would retire the Truman early, rather than refuel the vessel in 2024, when the ship's overhaul had been programmed. But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are skeptical about the Navy's choice. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-OK) said he is "disturbed" by the Navy's plans not to refuel the carrier. "I still am not happy with the results of that, and my mental numbers don't agree with that," Inhofe said during last week's hearing on the Defense Department's FY-20 budget request. Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told the committee the decision not to refuel the Truman "was made in concert" with the Navy's block purchase of two new Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Shanahan described the decision as one of the Pentagon's "strategic choices" in its FY-20 request.