The lack of American shipbuilding capacity worries me a lot.
China could rapidly build modern warships because they have a large shipbuilding industry. America shows the other side of that coin:
That’s why it costs so much more and takes longer for American shipyards to build warships. Worse, the decline in American commercial shipbuilding means there is a chronic shortage of skilled shipyard workers and managers for military ship construction. The U.S. currently ranks 19th in terms of ship building and most of that is smaller, coastal shipping plus specialty items like oil rigs. The U.S. has far fewer facilities for repairing its many large warships and a growing backlog in warship maintenance because of that.
On the bright side, our aviation and vehicle production industries are robust.
Let's hope our crew and command quality remain superior. That is constant work as recent shortfalls have demonstrated.
But I worry that our senior officers have absorbed too much of woke culture to be effective in ensuring this traditional advantage.
And hopefully our allies can repair our warships and maybe build more for our Navy in a long war.
Still, will the foundation of China last long enough to pose a threat to us? Read both of those posts. And as I've said many times, if you read just one defense source, read Strategypage.
UPDATE: This seems prudent:
As the U.S. Navy grapples with outdated maintenance facilities and a fleet stretched by maintenance backlogs, a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers are proposing a $25 billion cash infusion for public and private shipyards timed for Congress’ debate on a massive infrastructure package.
So that's $25 billion out of the trillions of proposed spending above an already too-large budget that is justified by need.
