The U.S. Navy has bought four robot submarines from Boeing

Re:The U.S. Navy has bought four robot submarines from Boeing by itissid on Friday February 15, 2019 @09:56PM (#19176737)

There was a nice investigative report on Propublica on how short staffed US surface fleet caused the USS McCain and USS Fitzgerald crash into shipping containers. Basically the navy is focusing on buying newer ships and deploying too often and not so much on personnel training(?)[1]. Can't train enough people quickly enough, crews were repurposed for Iraq war etc.

If the Submarine fleet is having these issues, this might be a step in the right direction.

[1]https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgeral...

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Re:The U.S. Navy has bought four robot submarines from Boeing by metaphor on Saturday February 16, 2019 @01:15AM (#19177363)

The situation is far more complicated than that fancy Propublica piece, color of money being just one:

1. These ships were purchased with RDT&E funds dating back to at least 2017[1 ref. N00024-17-C-6307].

2. The color of training money is O&M.

3. Congress is responsible for appropriating funds.

4. Even if Navy leadership needed to, they couldn't use RDT&E appropriations to fund O&M training; that would be a violation of the Misappropriation Act[2] as codified in 31 USC § 1301.

[1] https://dod.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract-View/Article...

[2] https://www.dau.mil/acquipedia/pages/articledetails.aspx#!29...

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