admiral greenert as he makes his first appearance before the committee as chief of naval operations and we want to wish general amos good health as he recovers from a visit to the flight surgeon. you look terrific, general. and you really do. and we all -- we all know about what you've come through with flying colors and we greet you. we're just delighted you're here and looking so fit. we're grateful to each of you for your service to our nation, and for the valorous and truly professional nature for which you serve and we're grateful to their families knowing the vital role that families play in the success of careers and missions of our armed forces. two recent changes make the defense budget situation challenging for the services in particular. first is the budget control act which places limitations on funding for national security. and secondly is adapting to its changing role in the new strategic guidance announced by the president last january. each of our services has that challenge. the defense department's most recent defense strategic guidance in january refocuses the u.s. m

admiral greenert, your budget includes and secretary mabus includes a proposed delay of the ssb and x by two years. last year the navy testified that they needed the original schedule to maintain strategic deterrence patrol requirements which begs the question if this postponement is in effect, can you maintain the level of strategic systems patrolling during the transition from "y" class to the new class? >> today, senator, we have 14 ohio class submarines. two are in overhaul so that leaves with us 12 operational. with that there are ten or nine available at any given time for strategic command. we feel due to this delay we will ride a period where we'll have ten operational. sometimes nine. so we'll have a similar risk there. we have to watch it very closely because at that time frame, in that future. i'm talking about the late '20s and '30s we'll have older ohio. so we have to watch it carefully. but right now we think that we can mitigate that risk. >> and in -- in thinking forward, what assumptions are you making because, you know, frankly you pointed out with the age of the fle

greenert testified to a little bit earlier, that it's. where the capacity and the meeting of these incredible warships are needed, and i also want to thank the state of connecticut is needed. they've addressed about 40 million dollar into the sub base there. so that we can maintain that base at the high operate of operational readiness after it been washed and. . . it become such an important mission, and would you agree also that with the increasing trend toward unmanned, under water vehicles and counter mine warfa warfare, that base is only increasing? >> i will agree with that, v. >> thank you. my time is up, but again, i want to think all of you. ve very. i just have tots, listening to senator bagovitch's nart senator stevens when i was secretary of the navy jab or. . of course, at we had --. it straut back a strong nerm to me when i was sick lagt in the nef i. remember, he were visiting the u.s.s. stanley in the persian gulf back in 1987. the first thing i would do when i would avoid ship, it came from my youngster cruise at the nava

secretary, we will now call upon -- see what the order is here, admiral greenert. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman levin, ranking member mccain, distinguished members of the committee, i'm honored to [w appear before[w you for the firw time to talk about the navy's [ budget submission.[wçw[w because of the active and [[w[w reserve sailors and civilians and their families, the navy and our primary joint partner the marine corps remain a vital part of our nation security. i'm honored to lead the navy in these challenging times. this morning, i would like to address three points, the navy's importance to the national security, our enduring tenants and decisions and how the 10 nlts and how the decisions shaped the bub budget submission. we're the preeminent force, we operate forward from u.s. bases and partner nation places around the world to deteraggression, response to crises, and to win our nation's wars. if you refer to the chart i have provided in front of you, you can see on any given day, we have about 50,000 sailors and 145 ships under way with about 100 of those ships de

admiral greenert, admiral lockleer has described the virginia class submarine as the backbone of our attack submarine force. based on the line of questioning you just had with senator reed, you said that the slipping of the virginia class production will exacerbate the shortfall that we're going to see going forward. i have a couple of questions for you. first of all, let me say that i'm very proud of the maintenance done of the portsmouth naval shipyard, the excellent work done there on the virginia class submarine and the importance of that work when we think of the virginia class submarine as the backbone of our attack submarine force. but it's my understanding -- this is obviously a very important issue for us -- that the navy was only able to support 61% of the combatant commander's requirements for attack submarines in the year 2011; isn't that right? >> that's right. >> so we're only currently in 2011 when the combatant commanders asked for support attacks, asking essentially 6 out of 10 requests. >> that's right, ma'am. they provide requests. they're adjudicated within the jo

admiral greenert, in your prepared testimony you have a part that says you refer to the history whichws us that conflict is unlikely to occur in the form of the scenarios for which we traditionally plan and you make reference to the contemporary cases of iran and north korea and then you say in the fy-2012-2013 budget submission, we shifted readiness funds towards sensors and tactical training that can be rapidly fielded to the fleet, including demonstrators on prototype. since we're so focused on iran and the threats presented by iran particularly in the maritime context, i wonder if you can tell us in a bit more detail what the navy is asking this committee to authorize for fiscal year '13 that will specifically increase our capability to defend against any iranian action. >> sure, senator. after i took the watch, one week into the job i went to japan, korea and then to bahrain to see my counterparts and sit down and talk to admiral fox and then i subsequently talked to general mattus. i assessed things myself. i went through the straight of hormuz on the "uss stennis" and it was a