Let's Kick-start US Naval and Commercial Shipbuilding

The Pentagon is seeking short-term "fixes" for an old problem that has reached the point of crisis: the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard's warship and support vessel shortage -- their "hull deficit" in military jargon.

In a moment, I'll list four "semi-quick fix" proposals. The interim options buy time. They don't answer the interconnected international security problems (plural) created by America's military and commercial-civilian ship shortage.

America needs warships for security, for deterrence, for war when it erupts. In peace and war, in order to sustain and expand economic growth, America needs a modern merchant marine.

Fact: Around $35 trillion in freight moves by sea each year.

America's virtually nonexistent domestic civilian seagoing shipbuilding industry and the shrinking U.S.-operated merchant marine fleet have economic security consequences. This February in Forbes magazine, Loren Thompson noted, "At the beginning of 2023, China had 1,749 large oceangoing commercial vessels under construction in its domestic shipyards. America had five." More: "At the beginning of 2023, only 177 oceangoing commercial vessels flew the American flag." The number flying Chinese flags: "... over 5,000."

A military consequence of America's commercial maritime deficiencies: In a big war, the U.S. will have to rely on another nation for immediate commercial shipping needs and definitely for replacement of vessels sunk or damaged.

Iran's Houthi Yemeni proxies are a military force with sea pirate characteristics. When violent actors like the Houthis disrupt sea commerce, until powerful naval forces arrest or destroy them, shipping costs spike and every nation takes an economic hit.

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Hence the name for the U.S. Navy's Red Sea, counter-Houthi operation: Prosperity Guardian.

"Powerful naval forces" introduces the Navy's hull deficit. The ship-short, stretched-thin U.S. Navy face multiple contingencies, like Communist China's threats to Taiwan and the Philippines, and China's implicit threats to U.S. allies Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

The Coast Guard's unfortunate condition: underfunded, under-resourced, overtasked. Policing America's 95,509-mile coastline includes policing Alaska's 33,904-mile coastline. (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's coastline measure includes estuaries, the Great Lakes and U.S. territories -- all Coast Guard responsibilities.)

Congress wants to revive U.S. shipbuilding. In 2017, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) tried to kick-start naval and commercial shipbuilding. He authored legislation to expand American maritime industrial capacity. Wicker tried again in 2023. In December 2023, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told Congress America must once again become a "global leader in shipbuilding" if it wants to remain a naval power.

The hull deficit, however, will take years to fix. Building large warships takes a long time.

So, four shorter-term options:

1. Several defense publications have suggested the U.S. operate common repair facilities with allies like Japan and South Korea. "Collaborative" ventures save money. Presumably, Japanese and Korean workers would perform the work in their home shipyards. "Forward repair" would keep more hulls in forward areas but also expose ships to quick attacks from China.

2. Buy warships from allies. By law, Navy ships must be built in America. Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri builds the Navy's Constellation-class frigate in its U.S. shipyard. Until U.S. domestic capacity expands, some Constellations could be built in Europe.

3. In 2023, the Center for Strategic and International Studies recommended a "... shift to smaller, more survivable ships."

I've advocated that for years. To counter China, deploy small, fast, hard-to-target warships armed with missiles. Have them control drones. Modern weapons give small warships the firepower of a World War II cruiser. In 2022, I wrote a column about a boat Forbes mentioned in 2020: the H96, designed by Texas-based technologist George Hamilton. H96-type longer-range vessels can be built quickly in small shipyards.

4. This is a longer-term fix: collaborative ship-building projects like the Australia-United Kingdom-US (AUKUS) nuclear attack submarine consortium. Add Canada. Canada wants 12 new submarines -- but the public talk is no nuclear power. Given the Arctic Ocean's ice, Canada should have procured nuclear subs during the Cold War.

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To find out more about Austin Bay and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

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