CNO Endorses CDR Salamander!

Well, kind of – not really – but close; on shipbuilding at least. (though I do know that people in his office read CDR Salamander).

"I personally have engaged the company at senior levels," Mullen told defense reporters, "and have been assured that they know they didn't do that well" and that they should not repeat the poor performance. "That assurance is important to me."

I know that sounds thin, but read the whole thing and you see that for his position - he did put them on report at least. I like this CNO more and more (whole uniform thingy aside). He even agrees with me on the USS San Antonio fiasco.

"We have struggled at times with the contractor in terms of delivering ships on time and some of the quality of the work," Mullen said.

Congress initially approved $953 million for the USS San Antonio and $762 million for the second ship in the class, LPD-18, for a total of $1.7 billion for both ships.

But costs have surged, and the price tag for both ships now is expected to come to $2.7 billion, an estimated $1 billion over budget.

The GAO is warning that costs could creep up another $300 million by the time both ships are ready for deployment.

Sir, still no one fired.