Secretary Stackley, one recurring theme obviously is sequestration.

That was one of his opening questions, and I did not get to it in my response.

the long-term goal for fleet size is 313 ships.

Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.

That is an interesting comment. Thank you very much.

we shouldn't be making changes in the middle of a shipbuilding acquisition contract.

This has been a very thoughtful and constructive hearing.

Admiral Myers, is the LCS built to military standards?

The current plan calls for the purchase of 52 LCS, which will eventually comprise one-third of the Navy's surface combatant fleet.

Secretary Stackley, how confident are you that the final cost for CVN-78 will not exceed the proposed statutory cap?

Admiral Myers, how exactly does increased forward basing of ships equate to a rationale to decrease the total size of the fleet?

The President's budget request for 2014 includes a legislative proposal to raise the cost cap for the first Ford-class aircraft carrier (CVN-78) from $11.8 billion to $12.9 billion.

What concerns do you have that CVN-78 will be delivered by early 2016?

Secretary Stackley, does the Navy intend to down select to a single LCS design in fiscal year 2016? If not, why not?

the launch for CVN-78 has been delayed from July 2013 to November 2013 and even then will only be 70 percent construction complete.

How will maintaining these ships in the fleet beyond 2014 affect the Navy's shipbuilding plan?

a recently leaked draft GAO report notes that the Navy's own analysts have only about 10 percent confidence in the current estimate that it will cost $50.4 billion to operate and support a total of 52 LCSs over their 25-year service lives.

Secretary Stackley, given uncertain future shipbuilding budgets, why is the Navy taking this risk?