Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Lisa Franchetti participates in a Q&A session moderated by Vice Adm. (Ret.) Richard Hunt, after she delivered the keynote address at the 37th Surface Navy Association National Symposium in Arlington, Virginia, January 14, 2025. (US Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Elliott Fabrizio)
SURFACE NAVY 2025 — Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti said maintaining the service’s bases and critical infrastructure will be one of the hardest targets to achieve as she sets the Navy’s priorities moving forward.
The “longest pole in the tent is our critical infrastructure because we have more debt in that area,” she told attendees at the Surface Navy Association’s annual symposium this week. “Identifying that critical infrastructure and making those right investments [and] that they’re committing to stay steady on those investments, it’s going to make a difference over time.”
Prioritizing investments in the Navy’s bases and facilities is part of the CNO’s recently published “Navigation Plan” and associated “Project 33,” a targeted effort at preparing the service for a conflict with China over Taiwan in 2027.
Franchetti’s renewed focus on base investment mirrors a similar effort by Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Eric Smith who acknowledged to lawmakers this past year that his service had not invested in its bases for the past two decades. Smith added that he “will not apologize” for that fact because those dollars ultimately went towards keeping Marines in Afghanistan well equipped.
Asked whether the Navy was at risk of going down the same hole — increased operational tempos overtaking investments in critical infrastructure — Franchetti told reporters that base modernization was directly connected to the force’s readiness.
“If you think about [Naval Air Station] Sigonella [in Italy], which is an airfield… [it’s] a joint airfield for NATO, for Italy, we fly out of there. And, in a big rainstorm one day, the entire airfield flooded out, and it shut down air operations for two days.”
“That was an aha moment for me that I need to treat that base and the infrastructure just like I would treat an aircraft carrier to get it underway,” she added.
Franchetti said she has tasked one of the key senior officers overseeing the Navy’s logistics, who the service internally refers to as the N4, with prioritizing particular bases and facilities for investment.
“We have to commit to making some investment every year to be able to buy down this debt that we have accumulated in our infrastructure,” she said. “Everything that we need to do [our job] is on our bases and places, and we need to have world class facilities that people can work from and really generate our warfighting advantage from every day.”
