Army Logistic Support Vessel 2 – U.S. Army Vessel CW3 Harold A. Clinger, manned by a 163rd Transportation Detachment crew, got underway from its homeport at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on July 2 to conduct the first of eight surface lifts between Kaneohe Bay and Kawaihae Harbor in support of 3rd Marines as part of the biennial Rim of the Pacific 2014 exercise. (U.S. Army photo by Gaelen Lowers,)

The US Army continues to ask for more money claiming it’s the lynchpin in a future Pacific War, but this week the Government Accountability Office released a report on the state of the Army’s watercraft fleet that shines a light on the staggering incompetence of Army leadership when it comes to managing one of their most critical logistical assets. This damning document reveals that while the Army’s watercraft are supposed to play a pivotal role in supporting joint force logistics, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, the entire operation is in a state of near-collapse.

Here’s a summary of just how bad things are: The Army’s watercraft fleet, designed to move and distribute supplies, personnel, and equipment throughout the Indo-Pacific theatre, has seen its fully mission-capable rate plummet from an already lackluster 75% in 2020 to a pitiful 40% in 2024. That’s right—less than half of the Army’s 70 watercraft vessels are available at any given time. And we’re not talking about a temporary dip. This has been a steady decline – accompanied by large and purposeful divestitures – signaling not just a failure to maintain readiness but a complete inability to keep essential assets afloat—literally.

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