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Sorry, wrong word. I meant unavailable. Not up to date on how many, but a big deck carrier used to have 5,000 sailors and Marines. Be interesting to know how many of the crew are still still readily available. Doubt it's public knowledge, so please don't post it if you know.

Most of the crew are essential for battle-ready underway operations. Some are not - depends on their department and rating.

Getting underway with a "skeleton crew" was Navy SOP in my day. That was the purpose of "duty days". Still, that doesn't mean the ship is battle ready with such a small percentage of the crew. It's purpose was to get the ship out of an enclosed harbor (kill zone) into open sea to fight another day. A lesson learned with our carriers at sea during Pearl.

Am I wrong regarding today's Navy?