The US Navy is grappling with a critical shipbuilding crisis, its production rate hitting a 25-year low, leaving it significantly behind its rival, China. The crisis has been attributed to a confluence of factors, including last-minute design alterations, escalating costs, and an acute shortage of skilled workers. This has resulted in substantial delays and cost increases, hampering the Navy’s capacity to meet its operational requirements and effectively counter burgeoning global maritime threats.
Eric Labs, a seasoned naval analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, expressed concerns about the dire state of the Navy’s shipbuilding, emphasizing the lack of a quick or easy solution to the problem. “I don’t see a fast, easy way to get out of this problem. It’s taken us a long time to get into it,” Labs told ABC News.
The report highlights the Marinette Marine contract as a prime example of the Navy’s struggle to meet production targets. Marinette Marine, contracted to build six guided-missile frigates with an option for four more, can only produce one ship annually with its current workforce. Similar issues have plagued shipyards across the nation, prompting them to adopt creative solutions like establishing training academies or collaborating with technical colleges to equip workers with the necessary skills for building the Navy’s advanced vessels.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has championed such programs, even addressing graduates at a community college that partnered with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to teach students how to repair nuclear submarines. “It is incumbent upon all of us to consider how we can best lend our talents and, in the case of the graduates, their newly developed skills, to build up our great nation for all Americans, and defend against the threats and challenges of today,” Del Toro said at the commencement ceremony.
A significant portion of the $100 million in Navy funding allocated to Marinette Marine is being used for retention bonuses, underscoring the critical need to retain a skilled shipbuilding workforce. However, the report also points a finger at the Navy itself, which frequently alters ship design requirements after construction has commenced. Despite promises to learn from past mistakes, the Navy redesigned 85% of the ships being built by Marinette Marine, resulting in increased costs and delays.
These revelations come on the heels of a leaked slide from the US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) last year, revealing that the rapidly expanding Chinese Navy has the capability to produce ships at a rate 200 times greater than the United States. Brent Sadler, a senior research fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital, “The Chinese see this decade as a strategic opportunity. I don’t see any near-term bending of the curve where we actually start closing the gap with the Chinese.”
Despite the alarming situation, the Navy has assured the public that it is taking the matter seriously. A spokesperson for Secretary Del Toro told ABC News that the service is actively seeking more “creative solutions” to address the crisis. “The Navy’s role in defending our nation and promoting peace has never been more expansive or mattered more,” said Lt. Kyle Hanton. “We continue to work with our industry partners to identify creative solutions to solving our common challenges.”
However, the Navy did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
