The federal government is behind schedule in delivering new ships for the Navy and Coast Guard, resulting in serious cost overrun and increased potential risks of vessel shortage. An report put forth by Auditor General Karen Hogan in February revealed that the National Shipbuilding Strategy has “significantly delayed” the delivery of many federal ships, increasing the risks of old combat and non-combat vessels being retired before new ones are replenished. Bill Matthews, deputy minister of the Public Services and Procurement Department and chair to the interdepartmental committee in charge of overseeing the strategy, blamed the delays on “overly optimistic forecasts” of delivery schedules during the House of Commons Public Accounts committee on Tuesday. “The initial schedules way back [then] were indeed not realistic,” Matthews said. “As time marched on, people realize that those initial schedules just weren’t going to hold, and there were adjustments made.” Matthews noted that the outbreak …