A manpower comparison of three U.S. Navies the current fleet, a projected 313 ship fleet, and a more distributed bimodal alternative

Abstract

A study conducted by the faculty at Naval Postgraduate School entitled "The New Navy Fighting Machine" (NNFM) proposes a new fleet design with 677 ships. The study speculates that the manning would not be greatly different from the present Navy of 280 ships or the planned fleet of 313 ships. The purpose of this thesis is to determine whether the study's conjecture is true, by comparing the manpower requirements of the three fleets as rigorously as data and statistical methods will permit. Manpower estimates of existing ships, ships being designed and procured for the planned future Navy, and non-existent ships proposed for the NNFM were developed through various methodologies. A manpower baseline of 134,708 was calculated for the current ship inventory. Although the 313 Ship Navy has more ships, the manpower afloat decreased to 130,810. The NNFM design required an even lower manpower number of 121,318 for even more ships. Manpower is also more widely distributed. Fifty-six percent of its total afloat manpower is designated to blue water missions, 21 percent are allocated to green water vessels, and 7 percent to the submarine force. This long-term manpower information can provide valuable insight for future U.S. Navy fleet composition, size, requirements, and limitations.