SAN DIEGO, May 10 (UPI) -- The cash-strapped U.S. Navy is threatening to leave sailors ashore and without bonuses intended to keep them in the service, officials said.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Sunday that the Navy is being forced to cut costs until next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, amid a projected $417 million shortage in ship maintenance funds this year.


The newspaper reported that the shortfall occurred because maintenance money for Navy surface ships hasn't kept pace with the 19 percent increase in ships' maintenance needs.

Congress is considering an $83 billion spending bill to get the Pentagon through the rest of the current fiscal year and ease cuts.

Last year, Washington had to funnel nearly $1 billion into the operations and maintenance accounts of the four military in a midyear supplement to the regular Pentagon budget.

"The Navy's reliance on emergency defense supplemental appropriations to fund routine ship maintenance in recent years begs for re-examination," Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., wrote on his Web site. "Such funding should be included in the core budget, and it should be protected."