Case Study

Rebuilding Readiness Through Connectivity: A Digital Transformation at Sea

A U.S. Defense Command operating over 100 civilian-crewed vessels was struggling to meet its 80% fleet readiness target due to a manpower crisis driven by poor onboard quality of life. Without reliable internet access during multi-month deployments, civilian mariners were increasingly reluctant to serve, pushing the average mariner age to 47 and leaving critical ships chronically understaffed. Swish and HPE Networking partnered to deploy a secure, ship-wide connectivity solution across more than 40 vessels, resulting in a surge in recruitment, a younger workforce, a tenfold increase in assignment requests to modernized ships, and a clear path back to mission readiness.