NORFOLK, Va. — New questions are being raised about Navy ships heading out to sea with an insufficient number of sailors.
In a new report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said that while crewing ships with an adequate number of personnel who have the right skills and experience is vital for executing missions and mitigating risks, the Navy "has historically assigned fewer crewmembers to ships than are required to operate them safely."
The GAO said ships are heading out to sea with just 84% of the enlisted sailors that they're supposed to have.
"The Navy does not have enough sailors for the current fleet, much less the fleet of the future," said GAO Defense Capabilities and Management Team Director Diana Maurer, during testimony Wednesday before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The report said that the Navy has been treating some personnel as fully qualified to "fit" a position aboard the ship when they do not have the corresponding experience level.
In an interview with 13News Now, Maurer said the Navy needs to improve the reliability of its ship crewing data and close these gaps.
"We found instances where there was this misalignment between the desired skills and experiences of what the Navy wanted for a particular position and what the people they were actually putting into those positions. That creates a potential risk," she said.
The report said crewing shortfalls contributed to fatal Navy surface ship collisions in 2017.
The GAO is making 11 recommendations to improve the reliability and management of Navy ship crewing data.