Comment Naval organization is the problem (Score 4, Informative) 133
I work for a defense contractor that supplies equipment and systems to various navies across the world. In our case, weâ(TM)re happy to train the Navy in maintaining their own systems.
The problem is that with the way that most navies operate, itâ(TM)s very difficult to build up their expertise and competency in doing the actual repair work. Sailors typically post to a ship for a year, or two at most, and are responsible forfor dozens of systems. If your system is generally pretty reliable, that means youâ(TM)re going to drop to the bottom of their brains, and when it does eventually break theyâ(TM)re going to be in trouble.
The only Navy Iâ(TM)ve seen where this is less of an issue is one European Navy. Every ship has both a Chief Warrant Officer and an apprentice who is with that ship for their entire career. They are the senior technical expert on that ship, and are very well compensated. Most of them will spend 20+ years on a given ship, and will know every system intimately.