Maintenance Challenges
By AMY L. WITTMAN, Editor in Chief
When it comes to maintenance,
the Navy has applied
lessons learned on
submarines and carriers to become more
efficient, save money
and improve readiness of its surface
fleet.
The Department of
the Navy established
the Submarine Maintenance Engineering Planning and Procurement
Activity and the Carrier Planning
Activity. Both are aligned under
Naval Sea Systems Command
(NAVSEA) and have evolved over the
years to provide centralized life-cycle
support for their respective platforms. They also served as models for
the creation of a similar operation for
the modernization and maintenance
of surface ships — the Surface
Maintenance Engineering Planning
Program (SURFMEPP) Activity.
Special Correspondent Edward
Lundquist kicks off the special report
on Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul
with a closer look at SURFMEPP in
his report “New Beginning for ‘
End-to-End’” (page 10).
With surface ship maintenance
historically done ad hoc, and critical
maintenance at times deferred because of surge or deployment requirements, SURFMEPP aims to
“ensure surface ships are maintained to the same rigorous standards as the subs and carriers, which
is something the Navy has not done
as well in the past,” says NAVSEA
spokesman Chris Johnson.
The overarching goal of the pro-
gram, say SURFMEPP officials, is
to maintain a steady state of mod-
ernization, repairs
and maintenance of
every ship so they
are available now
and in the future.
SEAPOWER
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE
NAVY LEAGUE OF THE UNITED STATES
Volume 54, Number 3, March 2011
PUBLISHER
Daniel B. Branch Jr.
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
Dale A. Lumme
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Amy L. Wittman
awittman@navyleague.org
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Peter E. Atkinson
patkinson@navyleague.org
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SEAPOWER / MARCH 2011
