RADM Brendan McLane, Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic
The July General Membership Luncheon meeting was held at the Portsmouth Renaissance hotel on Tuesday, July 20th, 2021. The guest speaker was Rear Admiral (RADM) Brendan McLane, who is Commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic.
RADM McLane began his presentation by laying out 3 major priorities, including support for currently deployed ships, supporting ships for deployment, and getting ship availabilities ready in time for deployment.
McClane spoke about the gravity of a strong bond between the Navy and the Ship Repair industry, which helps transform engineering readiness into operational excellence. He then explained how he educates commanding officers on best practices and lessons learned for achieving this Navy-Industry bond.
Recalling that 90-day availabilities were the norm during his heyday, McLane acknowledged contemporary availabilities have grown lengthier, but for a whole host of reasons. One of these reasons, he pointed out, was because of increased complexity relating to technological increases. Another reason is because the typical ship’s age is 20 years, and that an aging ship tends to require more maintenance.
RADM McClane then discussed his team’s current activities, which include setting up a surface maintenance operation center back in June. This also includes meeting regularly with stakeholders, which began with the Kearsarge Readiness Group. He noted that they’ve achieved 35% burn down, but that there’s still a lot more to do.
Next, he discussed important training that they’ve worked into their maintenance strategy. This includes programs that provide the opportunity for soldiers to earn credentials. He stated that this is part of an approach aimed at getting dedicated ships that are ready to go all the time in order to match increased Russian submarine activity. Another aim is to reduce post-deployment maintenance to about 100 days.
With training in mind, he talked about shipboard fire safety, and how, due to proper routine fire drill trainings, a recent response to a shipboard fire went smoothly. He caveated, however, that if we don’t practice this, it’s not going to work, and noted that a well-drilled, coordinated response can put out most fires if they’re on top of it within 15 minutes.
After taking several questions, RADM closed by thanking VSRA and all those in attendance for their dedication towards supporting the Navy fleet.
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