IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN IT SOUNDS:

It’s because they can’t man the ships because recruiting is going so badly. Some of this is just high workload, poor schedules and the aftereffects of dumb Covid policy. But I think there’s also the overlying effect of a bad leadership attitude in the military in general.

If our leadership class wanted us too weak to resist China, what would they do differently?

Plus: “A Navy official, when contacted by USNI News, acknowledged the service was working on a plan to retask civilian mariners but did not provide details. The new effort, known informally as ‘the great reset’ has yet to be adopted by the Navy and is awaiting approval from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, USNI News understands.” Um.