Last week, US Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday spoke at the Brookings Institution and addressed the service’s enlisted force’s ongoing 10 percent manning shortage.  Entering the fiscal year, the Coast Guard was about 3,000 members short of end strength numbers. “That’s the backbone of the Coast Guard,” Lunday said.

Due to the shortfall, the Coast Guard “can’t crew all our ships” and has had to “temporarily shutter some of our smaller stations,” the vice commandant said.

“We had to lay up three of our major cutters because we don’t have enough enlisted personnel to crew them.” Since the action, the service has shifted funds from other parts of the budget to bolster recruiting and retention.

He described the “controlled parts exchanged,” borrowing from another vessel to get a cutter underway, as “the fancy term for cannibalization.” If it continues over time, “you’re eating your readiness.”

USNI News reports that Lunday later added that USCGC Healy (WAGB-20) had an engine room fire that caused it to return to port for repair this year. The medium icebreaker “had just begun her summer patrol” in the Arctic. Repair will prove difficult because “much of the machinery aboard is antiquated” and parts may no longer be available.

“If Healy can’t continue that patrol, the U.S. will have no icebreakers in the Arctic this summer,” he said. This happened as the United States laid claim to an extended continental shelf, requiring more presence to assert sovereignty in that part of the Arctic.

When asked about how many icebreakers the United States needs now, he said that number would be either eight or nine, and three of those would need to be heavy icebreakers.

The United States has two – one heavy and one medium. The Coast Guard is in the process of buying a used, American-built icebreaker, Lunday added, as “a bridging strategy” until the new vessels are built and commissioned.

Lunday said the recruiting shortfalls over the past four years have led the Coast Guard to examine new ways to bring young people into the service. To help them meet physical fitness standards before enlisting, “we’ll help them work out.” While they are in boot camp at Cape May, N.J., “we want to make sure they are ready” mentally and physically to meet the Coast Guard’s standards.