U.S. Defense Strategy: Naval Power Must Be Emphasized

Earlier this month Congress passed, and the president signed, the Chips Act, which allocated funds to incentivize the global computer-chip manufacturing base to locate more of its production facilities in the United States. The reasons for this act were obvious. The nation had become far too dependent on computer chips being made overseas, including in China, and for national-security reasons we needed to “onshore” more of this capacity, regardless of the costs of doing so. Chips made in America will most likely cost more than chips made overseas, owing to the nature of our regulatory state and to higher labor and construction costs, but they will be available if a war were to break out, so this made strategic sense. The Chips Act passed with strong bipartisan support. For these same reasons, Congress should pass, and the president should sign, a “Ships Act.”

The United States once was the strongest shipbuilding nation in the world. We were both a major sea power, sitting as we do in the midst of commercial trade routes for both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and a major industrial manufacturing power and net exporter of finished goods. As we once made steel, we also built ships. That began to change during the 1970s and accelerated in the 1980s. Younger economies with more-modern industrial plants overtook the United States in manufacturing as we transitioned to a computer and service-based economy.

About the Author

Jerry Hendrix

Jerry Hendrix is a retired Navy captain and a senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute.

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Earlier this month Congress passed, and the president signed, the Chips Act, which allocated funds to incentivize the global computer-chip manufacturing base to locate more of its production facilities in the United States. The reasons for this act were obvious. The nation had become far too dependent on computer chips being made overseas, including in China, and for national-security reasons we needed to “onshore” more of this capacity, regardless of the costs of doing so. Chips made in America will most likely cost more than chips made overseas, owing to the nature of our regulatory state and to higher labor and construction costs, but they will be available if a war were to break out, so this made strategic sense. The Chips Act passed with strong bipartisan support. For these same reasons, Congress should pass, and the president should sign, a “Ships Act.”

The United States once was the strongest shipbuilding nation in the world. We were both a major sea power, sitting as we do in the midst of commercial trade routes for both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, and a major industrial manufacturing power and net exporter of finished goods. As we once made steel, we also built ships. That began to change during the 1970s and accelerated in the 1980s. Younger economies with more-modern industrial plants overtook the United States in manufacturing as we transitioned to a computer and service-based economy.