Military Doesn't Have Submarines But Chinese Will Quake At Our Pronoun Policy

As of 2023, 18 of the US Navy’s 49 attack submarines — 37% — were out of commission, according to previously undisclosed Navy data published by the Congressional Research Service. That leaves the US at a critical disadvantage against China’s numerically superior fleet.

The maintenance backlog has “substantially reduced” the number of nuclear submarines operational at any given moment, cutting the “force’s capacity for meeting day-to-day mission demands and potentially putting increased operational pressure” on submarines that are in service, CRS naval analyst Ronald O’Rourke said in a July 6 report.

Worst of all, the trendline is bad and getting worse, as the 37% out-of-commission rate is “up from 28% overall in 2017 and 33% in 2022, and below the industry best practice of 20%.” “The best year for attack sub availability was fiscal 2015 when 19% — or 10 of the then 53 subs — were in overhaul, according to figures contained in a June 13 Navy information paper.”