The USS Boxer — an amphibious assault ship that was beset by maintenance issues — is still waiting to deploy despite months of assurances that preparations were being made to ready the ship.
Throughout last year, Navy officials refused to acknowledge the possibility of deeper problems on the ship, often citing the need for operational security, or they argued that, while some maintenance issues existed, the crew was ready and excited to deploy.
Now, a pair of command investigations into engineering issues on the Boxer reveal that the Navy not only struggled to correctly repair the aging ship, but her engineering department was poorly led and suffering from issues that ranged from inexperience to outright allegations of assault that directly impacted the ship's ability to get out to sea and, in turn, her deployment schedule.
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As a result, the Boxer — the flagship of an amphibious ready group that one defense official told Military.com was supposed to deploy late last year — appears to be far from joining one of the ships from the group that has already made it to the Pacific.
The revelations come amid reports that the Boxer's sister ship, the USS Wasp, is also suffering from maintenance and engineering problems on the East Coast while Navy officials again refuse to elaborate or offer details.
The Boxer's long journey to her…
