laststandonzombieisland

The U.S. Navy has 75 active Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, 10 under construction, and 13 more on order, for a planned total of 99. Without a doubt, they are the backbone of the Fleet, which only has about 115 active surface combatants of all types (DDG, LCS, CG).

However, on the current 36-month OFRP block, each of these active ships needs to undergo a 6-8 month Selected Restricted Availability (SRA/DSRA), including a dry-docking every five years or so, and shorter 2-4 weeks-long Continuous Maintenance Availabilities (CMAV).

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 36-Month OFRP Cycle Rotation │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
├── 1. Maintenance Phase (Approx. 6–7 Months)
│ • Selected Restricted Availability (SRA)
│ • Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA)
│
├── 2. Basic Training Phase (Approx. 4–5 Months)
│ • Systems integration, unit-level certifications
│
├── 3. Integrated Phase (Approx. 2–3 Months)
│ • Strike Group integration exercises (COMPTUEX)
│
├── 4. Deployment Phase (7–8 Months standard)
│ • Overseas combatant command deployment
│
└── 5. Sustainment Phase (Remaining months)
• High-readiness surge state; routine pierside repairs (CMAVs)

Then, with old ships at mid-life, an 18-24 month DDG MOD 2.0 Modernization is on the table, followed by at least a final SLEP at the 30-year mark. Keep in mind that Burke herself is 35 years old and still going strong. 

It looks something like this when you put it together:

Timeline / Ship Age	Maintenance Milestone	Primary Focus & Scope
Years 5–10	First Major DSRA	Structural hull inspection, tank preservation, shaft pulling, sonar dome maintenance, and Baseline Aegis software/hardware upgrades.
Years 15–20	Mid-Life Mid-Period Availability (MPA)	Major machinery overhaul, generator refurbishments, habitability upgrades, and combat system patch updates.
Years 20–25	DDG MOD 2.0 / Modernization Overhaul	Comprehensive mid-life modernization lasting 18 to 24 months. Includes structural retrofits, installing modern combat systems (e.g., Aegis Baseline 9/10), SEWIP Block III electronic warfare suites, upgraded SPY radar arrays, and major hull/mechanical refreshes.
Years 30–35+	Service Life Extension Program (SLEP)	Deep structural hull/piping repairs, main reduction gear re-alignments, and system overhauls to extend operational readiness beyond the original 35-year design life out to 40+ years.

Now multiply that by 75 hulls (soon to be 99), and you get the idea of why the Navy has maintenance backlogs.

While only two shipyards make Burkes (Ingalls at Pascagoula and Bath in Maine), just three East Coast yards (BAE Systems Norfolk, General Dynamics NNS, and BAE Systems Jacksonville), and four West Coast yards (General Dynamics NASSCO, BAE Systems San Diego, Continental Maritime of San Diego, and Vigor in Seattle) do almost all the maintenance work.

The Navy’s four public yards prioritize nuclear ships (CVNs, SSBNs, SSGNs, and SSNs) and have no bandwidth for DDGs.

Forward-deployed tin cans get a shorter refresh at Navantia (five Rota-based FDNF Europe destroyers in 6th Fleet) and via SRF-JRMC (10 7th Fleet DDGs of DESRON 15 at Japanese yards such as Sumitomo and Mitsubishi). Don’t be surprised to see 7th Fleet tin cans in South Korean yards at some point in the near future as well.

With that being said, there are changes afoot to help alleviate the maintenance burden on CONUS yards.

Navantia recently started including drydocking in its maintenance schedule, the first since the 2014 arrival of FDNF-E destroyers.

Likewise, the Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center (FDRMC) recently completed a week-long pier-side voyage repair period in Mombasa, Kenya, aboard the destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71), marking the first U.S. Navy ship maintenance availability in Mombasa in recent years. Ross is part of the George H.W. Bush Carrier Strike Group and had been deployed for six months when it swung by Mombasa.

With 350 military and civilian personnel based out of Naples, FDRMC is a globe-trotting group able to roam around 5th and 6th Fleet areas and use friendly ports for short repairs. Such groups will be invaluable in any Pacific war (or continued Middle East war with Bahrain vorboten), and more should be stood up. Pronto.

Speaking of which, Austal USA launched AFDM 15 this summer, the U.S. Navy’s first Auxiliary Floating Dry Dock Medium built in more than 40 years. The dock can service DDGs, CGs, LCSs, & LSDs, etc.

The Navy had 14 such AFDMs during the Cold War, but now AFDM-15 is the only one, with no more on order.

As Salamander says, that is a crime, and at least four should be bought, as a minimum.