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GAO-06-279R 1 (2005-12-13)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptasim0001 and id is 1 raw text is: S=GAO Accountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 December 13, 2005 The Honorable Roscoe G. Bartlett Chairman, Subcommittee on Projection Forces Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives Subject: Issues Related to Navy Battleships Dear Mr. Chairman: Until World War II U.S. Navy battleships provided an impressive show of force and outgunned and outmaneuvered their ocean-going enemies. From World War II until the Persian Gulf War in 1991, the Navy's Iowa class battleships provided Naval Surface Fire Support capabilities with their 16-inch guns. Naval Surface Fire Support, together with land- and air-based components, makes up the joint fires triad, which is used to support Marine Corps amphibious assault operations. The last Iowa class battleship was decommissioned in 1992. In 1996, congressional authorizers became concerned that the Navy would not be able to produce a replacement Naval Surface Fire Support capability comparable to the battleships until well into the twenty-first century and directed the Secretary of the Navy to restore at least two Iowa class battleships to the naval vessel registry until the Secretary of the Navy certified that a capability had been developed equal to or greater than that provided by the battleships.' Two Iowa class battleships--the U.S.S. Wisconsin and the U.S.S. Iowa-- remain on the naval vessel registry in inactive status. Both ships are considered in reserve, meaning they are being retained for reactivation in case of full mobilization or future need. Since 1995 we have reported several times on the status of battleships and their role in meeting future Naval Surface Fire Support requirements.2 In November 2004, we reported that the Navy and Marine Corps had only recently begun the process to establish validated Naval Surface Fire Support requirements that address the overall capabilities needed, that the cost and schedule for reactivating and modernizing two 'National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-106, Sec. 1011, H.R. Conf. Rep. No. 104-450, at 835 (1996). 2 U.S. General Accounting Office, DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: Evaluation of the Navy's 1999 Naval Surface Fire Support Assessment, GAO/NSIAD-99-225 (Washington, D.C.: Sept. 14, 1999); FORCE STRUCTURE: Navy Is Complying with Battleship Readiness Requirements, GAO/NSIAD-99-62 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 12, 1999); DEFENSE ACQUISITIONS: Naval Surface Fire Support Program Plans and Costs, GAO/NSIAD-99-91 (Washington, D.C.: June 11, 1999); PROGRAM STATUS: Naval Surface Fire Support, GAO/NSIAD-97-179R (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 6,1997). GAO-06-279R

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