Washington: President Donald Trump on April 9 signed an executive order aimed at revitalising an American shipbuilding industry that has fallen well behind production levels of its rivals from the People’s Republic of China.
Language in the executive order, which cites the need to strengthen a “commercial shipbuilding capacity and maritime workforce,” mirrors many concerns expressed among the industry’s defence counterparts.
In an April 8 hearing of Navy leadership before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, service officials voiced concerns regarding stagnant shipbuilding and what that could mean for success in great power conflicts.
Navy officials in March 2024 stated the service’s goal of growing its fleet of battle force ships to 381 over the next 30 years, a plan that would require investing at least $40 billion each year over the duration of the effort, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
There are currently fewer than 300 battle force ships in the fleet — and that number is expected to drop. Current projections indicate the Navy will retire close to a dozen more ships through 2027 than it expects to commission.
In a policy statement in February, officials from the non-profit Navy League echoed the need to expand the service’s fleet while calling on Congress to increase funding for public shipyards and Coast Guard ice breakers.
An estimated 250,000 skilled or well-compensated workers must be hired over the next decade to accomplish shipbuilding and vessel maintenance goals, according to Matthew Sermon, the direct reporting program manager for the Navy’s maritime industrial base program.
Sermon, who spoke at the April 9 hearing, added the Navy is looking to expand supply chain capacity, partner with government and private organisations and address workforce challenges in what he described as an “all-hands-on-deck effort that will attract, train and retain American manufacturing and engineering workers.”
“Simply put, we need more ships delivered on time and on budget, and we are challenged in both of these arenas,” Dr Brett Seidle, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month. “Costs are rising faster than inflation and schedules on multiple programs are delayed one to three years.”
The same day as Seidle’s testimony, the Government Accountability Office released a report calling for sweeping changes to US shipbuilding if the 381-ship goal is ever to be realised.
