Sen. McCain calls for pause in funding of U.S. Navy's ships

U.S. Senator John McCain, who has railed for years against wasteful Pentagon arms programs, on Tuesday took aim at the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship program, urging better oversight and a pause in funding until certain concerns are lifted.

Speaking on the Senate floor, the Arizona Republican said he worried that the Navy would have bought half of a planned total of 52 of the new warships before they and their interchangeable mission packages had been fully tested and proved effective - a milestone they are not expected to reach until 2019.

McCain's comments came a week after a critical report by congressional Government Accountability Office, and the release of an older, equally critical internal Navy study on the new ships, which are designed to patrol coastal waters while addressing threats including mines and enemy submarines.

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