US Navy destroyers tested in Middle East as demands mount

Navy destroyers are concentrated in the Middle East as U.S. forces conduct operations against Iran, according to U.S. Central Command — a move that puts renewed operational demands on a fleet that has experienced prolonged maintenance periods.

As of Sept. 14, two Navy guided-missile destroyers were operating in the Red Sea and another 13 were in the Arabian Sea, according to the U.S. Naval Institute’s fleet tracker , which uses both Navy and public data.

The demand facing the class has been significant, even before the start of the Iran war.

The USS Carney spent 235 days deployed from September 2023 to May 2024 and conducted 51 engagements against Houthi-launched weapons, according to the Navy . The campaign demonstrated what operations around one of those chokepoints can demand from destroyers.

When USS Carney returned in May 2024, then-Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti told the crew that the last time the Navy had directly engaged an enemy to that degree was during World War II .

The renewed demand for destroyers in the Middle East comes as the Navy’s maintenance system has struggled to keep the fleet on schedule.

U.S. Fleet Forces Command declined to discuss its current destroyer readiness posture, current operations or potential effects on future deployment schedules, citing operational-security and classification guidelines. The command also declined to provide historical aggregate data on destroyer operational tempo.

According to a December 2025 Congressional Budget Office analysis of Navy maintenance data, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer overhauls that began between 2011 and 2024 took an average of 26% longer than the Navy’s final schedules estimated.

The 225 DDG-51 overhauls CBO analyzed also required 8% more labor than scheduled.

CBO projected that DDG-51 destroyers will spend an average of more than nine years, or about 27% of their planned service lives, in maintenance. That is more than twice the roughly four years envisioned in the Navy’s 2012 class maintenance plans.

The federal budget agency identified several factors contributing to longer maintenance periods, including the aging fleet, postponed maintenance, late inspections and contract awards, unexpected additional work, delays in parts and materials and modernization work.

The average age of the DDG-51 fleet rose from 10 years in 2011 to 20 years in 2024.

The Government Accountability Office has found broader problems across the Navy’s conventional surface fleet.

In a January 2025 review , GAO found that the Navy requested nearly $24.9 billion for combat-surface-ship maintenance from fiscal 2020 through 2023 and reported that nearly $25.9 billion was appropriated. The Navy reported obligating 99.7% of that funding by the end of fiscal 2023. Yet, GAO found that the service continued to face shortages of spare parts, insufficient qualified maintenance personnel and a continuing need to defer maintenance.

CBO’s analysis covers maintenance events beginning in 2011 and points to longstanding factors, including the age of the destroyer fleet and postponed work.

Natalie Oliverio is an independent journalist and Navy veteran who covers military and veterans’ issues. Drawing on her experience as a talent executive and mentor, she writes about the policies, people and programs shaping the military community.

据美国中央司令部称，由于美军对伊朗开展军事行动，海军驱逐舰集中在中东地区——这一举动给经历了长期维护的舰队带来了新的作战需求。

据美国海军学会的舰队追踪器显示，截至9月14日，有两艘海军导弹驱逐舰在红海执行任务，另有13艘在阿拉伯海执行任务。该追踪器使用了海军和公共数据。

即使在伊朗战争爆发之前，这个阶层所面临的需求也相当巨大。

据美国海军称，“卡尼”号驱逐舰于2023年9月至2024年5月期间部署235天，并与胡塞武装交战51次，打击了胡塞武装发射的武器。此次行动展现了在这些咽喉要道附近作战对驱逐舰的要求。

2024 年 5 月，卡尼号驱逐舰返回时，时任海军作战部长丽莎·弗兰切蒂海军上将告诉船员，海军上一次与敌人进行如此程度的直接交战还是在第二次世界大战期间。

中东地区对驱逐舰的需求再次出现，而与此同时，海军的维护系统却难以保证舰队按计划完成任务。

美国舰队司令部以作战安全和保密准则为由，拒绝讨论其驱逐舰当前的战备状态、当前作战行动或对未来部署计划的潜在影响。该司令部也拒绝提供有关驱逐舰作战节奏的历史汇总数据。

根据国会预算办公室 2025 年 12 月对海军维护数据的分析，2011 年至 2024 年间开始的阿利·伯克级驱逐舰大修平均比海军最终计划估计的时间长 26%。

CBO 分析的 225 艘 DDG-51 型驱逐舰大修所需的劳动力也比计划多 8%。

美国国会预算办公室（CBO）预测，DDG-51型驱逐舰平均需要超过九年的时间进行维护，约占其计划服役寿命的27%。这比海军2012年制定的同级舰艇维护计划中设想的约四年时间长了一倍多。

联邦预算机构指出，导致维护周期延长的几个因素包括机队老化、维护推迟、检查和合同授予延迟、意外的额外工作、零部件和材料的延误以及现代化工作。

DDG-51舰队的平均舰龄从2011年的10年增加到2024年的20年。

美国政府问责局发现海军常规水面舰队存在更广泛的问题。

美国政府问责局 (GAO) 在 2025 年 1 月的一份审查报告中发现，海军在 2020 至 2023 财年期间申请了近 249 亿美元的作战水面舰艇维护经费，并报告称已获得近 259 亿美元的拨款。海军报告称，截至 2023 财年末，已拨付了其中 99.7% 的资金。然而，GAO 发现，海军仍然面临备件短缺、合格维护人员不足以及持续需要推迟维护等问题。

CBO 的分析涵盖了从 2011 年开始的维护事件，并指出了一些长期存在的因素，包括驱逐舰舰队的老化和延期工作。

娜塔莉·奥利维里奥是一位独立记者，也是一位海军退伍军人，她主要报道军事和退伍军人相关议题。凭借其作为人才主管和导师的经验，她撰写有关塑造军事社区的政策、人物和项目的文章。