Norfolk, Virginia naval base

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Navy is gearing up to peel back the onion on years of delays and tens of thousands of operational days lost with ships languishing in shipyards.

The defense appropriations bill, newly approved by Congress and sent to the White House, orders the secretary of the Navy to “conduct a comprehensive and systematic analysis to identify the underlying causes of aircraft carrier, surface ship, and submarine maintenance delays,” and submit a report to Congress within 180 days.

Budget documents released by Congress say the Navy is working on ways to improve maintenance, but the efforts lack any understanding of the fundamental issues.

“Since fiscal year 2014, Navy ships have spent over 27,000 more days in maintenance than expected, with 70 percent of maintenance periods on average experiencing delays,” the documents read. “There is some preliminary evidence […]