Bartlett: Don’t just build more subs, improve sub maintenance

CLEVELAND – The Navy lacks the number of submarines it needs at sea, but simply building more submarines at a faster pace will not solve the problem. That was the warning Bartlett Maritime Founder and CEO Edward L. Bartlett, Jr. sounded when he spoke to the Cleveland Engineering Society, Dec. 6, about the urgent need to improve submarine maintenance.

Bartlett, who served aboard nuclear submarines during the Cold War prior to his decades of experience in the nuclear submarine industry, said these are uncharted waters for the submarine industrial base.

“We are in the midst of an unprecedented, full-blown submarine maintenance crisis,” Bartlett told the group of engineering and technical professionals.

“In the 75 years history of the nuclear submarine program, we’ve had new construction logjams before. In fact, years ago I was stuck in one of them as a crewmember of a brand new ship under construction,” Bartlett said. “But we’ve never had commissioned ships stacked up like so much cordwood decertified from operations and stuck at the pier.”

While the Navy has struggled to reach its goal of commissioning two new attack submarines each year, Bartlett pointed to the group of eight submarines currently unavailable because of maintenance delays.

“There are $27B of submarines missing from service today,” Bartlett said. “It is a national security problem. And it’s past time to get this fixed.”

The proposal to help solve the current maintenance backlog that Bartlett Maritime has put forth to the Navy includes construction of submarine component repair facilities in northeast Ohio, a rotational workforce that takes advantage of the available skilled trades workers in the Great Lakes region, and an option to construct a new public naval shipyard for maintenance in Charleston, N.C.

Bartlett said the key to the company’s approach is the innovative plan to fund construction of facilities through a public-private partnership using financing from capital markets.

“The reality is the Navy doesn’t have the money to do what we need to do available in the budget.” Bartlett said. “Our approach enables them to get it done now.”

Bartlett acknowledged that the Navy’s work to modernize the four existing public shipyards, each more than 100 years old, has been helpful but is long overdue. While those long-term upgrades are necessary, Bartlett says they will not be sufficient to solve the current crisis in submarine maintenance.

Bartlett told the group that his team is ready to get to work now to help the Navy reduce the submarine maintenance backlog.

“Our focus is going to be getting the ones that are parked at the pier or stuck in an overhaul, get them back to sea where they belong, where the Sailors want them to be.”

Click here to listen to audio of Bartlett’s remarks and here to view presentation materials.