Quote:
Originally Posted by FASTBOAT TOUGH
An article on the ACV from earlier today that I just read a short time ago has led me to found out what became of the AAV.
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AAV's are getting pretty long in the tooth (they were introduced in 1972) and most took a beating in Iraq/Afghanistan. They really haven't been used amphibiously (other then the occasional training) since they were introduced and since around 2003 till recently not even much amphibious training so crews/unit maintenance have gotten out of practice properly maintaining them for amphibious operations. And I imagine spare parts (particularly rubber hatch gaskets) are probably in very short supply due to the fact that they've been "about to be replaced" several times in the last 20 or so years I don't imagine acquiring/maintaining adequate stocks of replacement parts has been high on the bean counters priority list.
None of this is meant to excuse what's happened merely explain why it may have.
As our resident bubblehead can surely attest, anything going into and particularly under (as AAVs do when they drive off the ship and any time they're hit by any but the most mild wave) the water needs a lot of skilled maintenance on a consistent basis.