§8697 Battle force ship employment, maintenance, and manning baseline plans

Summary

The Navy must send the defense committees in Congress a report no later than 45 days after the first ship of a new battle force class is delivered. The report must explain how the class will be used, cared for, and staffed for its life. It must cover maintenance and sustainment plans (who does what and the timing for depot and drydock work), which contractor logistics items (like technical manuals) were delivered at delivery and which will come later with dates, the status and completion plans for the ship’s maintenance system, what allowance-list items were aboard or will arrive and when, the ship manpower document and the numbers of officers (by grade and designator) and enlisted (by rate and rating), the authorized billets and the planned funding for manning and end strength for the delivery year and each of the next four fiscal years, the people actually aboard at delivery, government and contractor training for each critical system and plans to change that training, and a month-by-month planned schedule for the delivery year and the next four years showing time in basic, integrated/advanced, deployment, maintenance, and sustainment phases. At least 30 days before making any major change to these baseline plans, the Navy must notify the defense committees in writing. That notice must explain the change, its goal and reasons, its length, and its effects on operations, budget, personnel, and sustainment for the year of the change, the next five years, and the expected life of the ship class. The law treats CVN–79 U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, DDG–1001 U.S.S. Michael Monsoor, and DDG–125 U.S.S. Jack H. Lucas as first ships in new classes and says the Senior Technical Authority will name each class’s critical systems. The terms “battle force ship,” “delivery,” and “Senior Technical Authority” are defined in other sections.