Getting the Numbers We Want

We can't build the multi-capability ships the Navy would like to build and still retain the numbers of hulls that the Navy insists we need. I addressed this issue recently here:

If numbers really are important--and I think they are--we can get the numbers. Yes, because of geography we have to build larger ships capable of sailing long distances, so we can't just build small corvettes the way many nations do, who just need to sail out of their port to reach their patrol area. But we could have a real high-low mix with a low end based on basic ships with decent weapons systems that could be augmented with mission packages, which we are building for our littoral combat ships (LSC) class, if the balloon goes up for a bigger war against a more capable foe.

Pick a number, I wrote, and then build that number of hulls, adjusting ship capabilities to reach that number.
This is what Secretary Gates had to say recently:

I talked about shipbuilding a little bit with the Navy earlier this week. They didn't much like what I had to say. (Laughter.)

And I'm going to talk about this a little bit tomorrow at the Eisenhower Library. Their goal, and it has been their goal for some years, is to have a 313-ship Navy. We're at about 285, 286 thereabouts right now. We are not going to get there if we can't get the costs of shipbuilding under control.

We were originally going to buy the next generation of -- we were originally going to buy 32 of the next generation destroyer, the DDG, from -- (inaudible). The cost doubled. The buy would now be three.

The new ballistic missile nuclear submarine, the next generation, will probably cost $7 billion apiece. We can't afford $3 (billion dollars) to $6 billion destroyers. You're never going to get to the numbers you want unless we can figure out a way to bring these costs under control and deliver these ships for a reasonable cost.

And that means we have to think harder about whether we want to pile more and more technology on fewer and fewer platforms.

One of my worries is, if we build these platforms, whether they're ships or planes or whatever, and we put so much technology on them, that we can't buy nearly as many as we need.

Gates also spoke of Gold plating the ships by adding requirements after the price is set and the ship is being designed and built. That is certainly one problem, but the bigger problem, I think, is that we can't build just highly capable ships. We need numbers.