The dire state of America’s Navy relative to China’s should be more than enough for lawmakers to cross party lines and restore our maritime might.
The dire state of America’s Navy relative to China’s should be more than enough for lawmakers to cross party lines and restore our maritime might.
A merica has fallen way behind China when it comes to shipbuilding. The current declining trajectory of the U.S. Navy’s fleet size endangers our national security. We have allowed China to become the world leader in an industry which is critical to naval power and maritime security. America must reinvigorate its public and private shipbuilding capacity immediately. If we do not, China will no doubt make good on its threat to invade Taiwan, and the PLA Navy will control the South China Sea, dominate the waters in the first island chain, and challenge the U.S. and its allies worldwide.
As the former national-security adviser, I can state unequivocally that our diminished domestic shipbuilding capacity is a national-security crisis. Given the stakes, the Biden administration, the GOP House, and senators from both parties should pursue a bipartisan deal to make American shipbuilding competitive again and reverse the decline in the U.S. Navy’s fleet size. The future of a free and open Indo-Pacific is at stake.
China’s shipbuilding processes are faster and cheaper than ours. Over the years, Beijing has poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the Chinese shipbuilding and maritime industries, consolidating power at state-owned enterprises along the way. In 2019, China merged its two state-owned shipbuilders to create the largest shipbuilding company in the world. The merger consolidated shipyard infrastructure and streamlined construction processes to give the CCP control of a shipbuilding juggernaut. Some of China’s defense-industrial base has even been funded by Wall Street investors and fund managers using the retirement savings of hard-working Americans.
China has boosted its shipbuilding output by creating a domestic supply chain that produces sophisticated gas-turbine and diesel engines and electronic systems for its warships. In October, the annual Pentagon report on China’s military characterized these developments as making China’s industry “nearly self-sufficient for all shipbuilding needs.” China’s shipbuilders now have the capacity to produce 23.2 million tons annually, while the U.S. can produce fewer than 100,000 tons. On a tonnage basis, China’s shipbuilding capacity is 232 times greater than ours.
Unlike the modern Chinese shipyards, America’s facilities look decrepit. Moreover, our production costs are outlandishly expensive. Since the end of the Cold War, the Navy has reduced the number of public shipyards from eight to four, leaving limited space and infrastructure for drydocks and equipment, and our private shipyards have failed to expand to take up the slack. This irresponsible downsizing under Democratic and Republican administrations created a critical backlog for new ship construction as well as long maintenance delays for our current fleet, and particularly our submarines. Private shipyards are now forced to use space for essential ship-maintenance orders, thus delaying the construction of much-needed new warships.
Shipbuilders are also facing a slew of challenges, such as the rising cost of materials, an aging workforce, and inconsistent Navy budgets. For the Navy’s part, a constrained budget means purchasing fewer hulls, speeding the decline in fleet size and, in turn, further shrinking the maritime-industrial base.
Years of American complacency allowed China to build the largest navy in the world. By the year’s end, China’s navy will have 370 ships, and it is on track to reach 435 battle-force ships by 2030. By comparison, the U.S. Navy is nowhere near achieving its goal of 381 ships. The most generous count has the American fleet below 300 warships, and that number will continue to decline significantly unless we change course.
The good news is that, for now, American ships are more technologically advanced and mission-capable than their Chinese counterparts, but we cannot take this current advantage for granted. China’s soaring quantitative edge could very well negate American technological superiority and seafaring skills in a war, especially when factoring in the PLA Navy’s ability to repair ships and return them to sea faster than we can. China can also rely on its vast number of commercial ships and its massive blue-water militia of large, armed fishing trawlers to support its fleet in wartime.
Fortunately, there are feasible policy proposals to increase U.S. shipbuilding capacity, which if enacted quickly could start balancing the scales. Senator Roger Wicker’s (R., Miss.) bipartisan Shipyards Act, for example, would fully fund the U.S. Navy’s $21 billion public-shipyard-recapitalization plan and provide additional investments to upgrade private shipyards. Congress could go even further by again funding the Construction Differential Subsidy. This program has not been funded since 1982, but would go a long way to getting costs under control by offsetting higher shipbuilding costs in the U.S., making American shipyards competitive again.
Additionally, Congress could advance more specialized vocational training for the skilled workers who are critical to shipbuilding. In addition to expanded plant facilities, our shipbuilding industry requires a new generation of plumbers, welders, steel cutters, pipefitters, HVAC technicians, and electricians. A well-trained, high-earning, skilled workforce will allow our expanded public and private shipyards to consistently operate at peak American performance.
America has the resources and pending legislation to address our shipbuilding and fleet-size crises, but we must act now. Democrats and Republicans alike must not forget that they are in Washington to do the people’s business, and providing for a navy to protect our nation should be at the top of their agenda. This urgent matter is not partisan and goes to the heart of our national security.
I am keenly aware that 2024 is a presidential-election year. It may well be politically difficult for both the Biden administration and GOP members of Congress to reach an accord on shipbuilding. But this national-security necessity cannot wait for the outcome of one more election cycle or get caught up in partisan politics. As I made clear regularly as national-security adviser, the Chinese Communist Party is an existential threat to our liberty and way of life. A strong U.S. Navy is one of the keys to maintaining our freedom and that of our allies as we face this highly capable adversary.