My ship spent half of the 13 months I was aboard underway, half in port, and that period fell between two major yard periods, where she spent months getting overhauled in drydock. Ships are high maintenance items, although it varies from type to type, and I don't know if technology has changed the maintenance schedules one way or the other. Also, a major capital ship like an aircraft carrier may have a different maintenance schedule than her many escorts, or the fleet train that keep them supplied on the line.

Some stay at sea for long periods, so they spend correspondingly long periods at the dock, refitting and giving their crews a rest. The longest I ever spent on wartime patrol was during the Pueblo Crisis, when we were underway for 56 days before a boiler casualty forced us to go back to Japan. I was told we had broken a record for days at sea for our class ship (Coontz Class Frigate). Our average cruise on the gun line or SAR duty was about two weeks.

If I had to guess, I would say our long wars in the MidEast have left the fleet exhausted and way behind on maintenance. And after 10 years, a substantial portion of the ships were probably retired and replaced.

My ship was scrapped after 35 years of service, during which time she had undergone several major upgrades. Much longer than that and they cost more to maintain than a new one costs to operate. Now that things are winding down, I wouldn't be surprise that there is a lot of catching up going on.

It's been a long time since I was in the NAV, and I don't keep up as well as I should, but my guess is that ship deployments and refits are probably not reflecting any particular anticipated actions in the near future.

Stand down, Bowser. Strike below.