Lawmakers, Pentagon look at admiral numbers

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Lawmakers, Pentagon look at admiral numbers
By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Aug 10, 2010 11:33:39 EDT

At the close of World War II, the Navy had about 130 ships for every admiral in the flag ranks.

Today, that ratio is closer to one ship for every admiral.

What happened?

Repeated drawdowns targeting mostly enlisted billets have left the Navy’s top leaders virtually untouched. And that’s created a bureaucratic leviathan, with many flag officers spending most of their time presiding over sprawling staffs churning out paperwork and PowerPoint slides.

For example, an internal Pentagon study found about 30 layers of bureaucracy between the Navy secretary and an action officer in the operational fleet.