(Military.com) Longer deployments and the high pace of operations have taken their toll on the U.S. aircraft carrier fleet, reducing the number currently at sea to five and leaving the Mideast without a carrier on station for the first time since 2007, Navy officials said Tuesday.
"The Navy is operating at a deficit" when it comes to carriers, Sean J. Stackley, assistant Navy secretary for research, development, and acquisition, said at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee's Seapower Subcommittee.
The official requirement is for the Navy to have an 11-carrier fleet, but the reality is that the service has been operating with 10 since the retirement of the Enterprise in 2013.
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