Official backpedals Navy chief’s goal to hold officers ‘accountable’ for improving branch issues

A Navy official appeared to downplay Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti’s ambitions to hold officers “accountable” for pursuing specific goals to improve the branch, Military.com reported Thursday.

Franchetti wants to strengthen the Navy by 2027 by focusing on key areas where the branch is struggling by assigning several goals to “accountable” officials, such as restoring critical infrastructure, addressing maintenance backlogs and bolstering recruiting efforts, as outlined in a document released Wednesday. However, a spokesperson for Franchetti told Military.com on Thursday that these are “stretch goals” that don’t come with any punitive consequences if they aren’t achieved.

Franchetti reaffirmed her ideas during an interview with the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday, telling the host that they were “realistic” and “100% agreed to by our four stars, by the type-commanders and, most importantly, by the single accountable individual who is going to be responsible to me.”

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“I have no doubt in my mind that we are going to get there. Where we’re getting off track, I’m going to know about it.” Franchetti said Thursday.

A spokesperson for Franchetti appeared to backpedal Franchetti’s hardline imposition on officials to achieve the targets, according to Military.com.

The targets are “stretch goals — intended to be aspirational, not punitive,” the spokesperson told Military.com, noting that “the single accountable officials will provide periodic updates to [Franchetti] on their progress.”

Franchetti’s plans underscore areas of issue the Navy has struggled with in recent years. Though the Navy is set to hit its recruiting goals in 2024, it missed the targets in the two years prior, a problem shared among several branches of the military.

The Navy has also been beleaguered with maintenance problems; all of the branch’s surface ships undergoing maintenance are roughly 2,700 days behind schedule, according to USNI News. However, it’s still an improvement from a year ago, when surface ship maintenance schedules were 3,000 days delayed and 7,700 days in 2020.

Several key Naval assets have experienced mechanical problems and engineering faults resulting in breakdowns in recent years, forcing assets to return to port for repairs and hampering U.S. naval presence abroad and wartime readiness.

The Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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