Darrell Castle talks about the U.S. Navy and its readiness for combat as determined by a recent Congressional inquiry.

Transcription / Notes

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE UNITED STATES NAVY?

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 16th day of July in the year 2021 and on this Report, I will be talking about the U.S. Navy and its readiness for combat as determined by a recent congressional inquiry. Yes, congress or I should say some members of congress are so concerned by reports coming from the Navy including accidents at sea, fires at sea, cancellations of expensive projects, etc. that they commissioned a study and a Report which is the subject of this Castle Report.

The Castle Family is doing well this week as we try to find something of what is left of those things, we used to call normal. We haven’t been together as a family in about two years so this weekend we will gather for a reunion. Joan and I are looking forward to it, but the family daughter will unfortunately be unable to leave fortress Los Angeles.

There are many things of a current nature that I could talk about today. Things like the long-term dangers of intentionally destroying legal institutions, customs, and traditions to achieve a short-term goal. Things like the President of the United States channeling Joe Stalin, i.e., its not who votes, its who gets to count the votes that matters. Yes, comrade we know, and I know that is why you are so afraid of voter I.D., but Instead, I’ve decided to continue last week’s Report on how this new politically correct world is affecting the U.S. military’s readiness.

I will confess that I have always loved the Navy. I spent many days being transported around the oceans of the world when I served in the Marine Corps. I’ve seen the North Atlantic and I’ve seen the South Pacific all thanks to the U.S. Navy, and that is why my ears always perk up when I hear or read stories about the current condition of the Navy. That current condition is troubling according to members of Congress, so they decided to find out exactly what is going on in the U.S. Navy.

Several recent incidents including collisions at sea, a fire that killed some sailors, and the cancellation of a ship building project in which hundreds of millions had already been invested. Families complain to Congress when their kids in the Navy complain to them so Senator Tom Cotton, Congressman Jim Banks, Congressman Dan Crenshaw, and Congressman Mike Gallagher, led a commission to appoint Lieutenant General Robert E. Schmidle, USMC, Ret. And Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery, USN, Ret., to investigate and report back to Congress in writing.

The review of the Navy was non-partisan and it consisted of the usual ship tours but more importantly many long form interviews with numerous personal both commissioned officers and enlisted. They sought to get to the bottom of a series of damaging operational failures in the Navy’s Surface Warfare Fleet. Can the Navy still fight, and could it defeat the Chinese Navy on the high seas? Congress wanted to know; thus, this review was conducted.

Concern ran high and after this review you might have similar concerns. Concern within the Navy ran so high that when asked whether incidents such as the two destroyer collisions in the Pacific, the surrender of a small craft in the Arabian Sea, the burning of the Bonhomme Richard and other incidents were part of a broader cultural or leadership problem in the Navy, 94% said yes, 3% no and 3% were unsure. When asked if the incidents were directly connected, 55% said yes 16% no and 29% unsure. The sentiment among serving officers and men that the Navy is dangerously off course was overwhelming.

There were six or seven issues that most of the sailors raised as problematic. Those issues were: 1. Insufficient leadership focus on warfighting. Finding and sinking enemy fleets should be the primary mission of a navy,