"jamesdevice
Where did that comment come from? From ORAC's link:
The Navy makes a point of trying to gives its shipboard crews a chance to spend Christmas with their families, and for a few days the percentage of ships underway drops to the lowest point it will be all year. But many of these ships will be gone in two weeks as the pace of operations picks up again."
Come on, Webfoot.
Seriously, no country is going to take that number of ships off active duty unless theres a BIG reason, and christmas isn't a big enough reason. In the USA, Thanksgiving might just be enough in a quiet year......but not Christmas, at least not for the Yanks
Those ships are in harbour for year end budgetary reasons. Theres no money left in the kitty to keep them at sea. In two weeks, new year, new budget.....until the fiscal precipice cutoff.
But as to how many go back to sea, I'm reminded of the American politicians way of counting budgets "one, two, many, too many"
I'd guess that you'd be lucky if more than 25% of those ships return to active duty in 2013 (as opposed to reserve status, laid up mothballed)