U.S. Navy Needs More Public Shipyards

On January 27, a Friday, when most government agencies release bad news in the hope that everyone forgets about it by Monday, the Navy announced that four of its West Coast dry docks have been taken out of service owing to potential risks from earthquake damage. One of these dry docks is the only one on the West Coast that can service the Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which means that any carrier damaged on the West Coast now must go through the Strait of Magellan off the tip of South America to get to Norfolk and a dry dock. However, it is the other three dry docks that are most troubling, as they are the ones the Navy depends on to do depot-level maintenance on its nuclear fast-attack submarines. The strategic implication of this decision reveals that the nation’s national-security warning lights have gone from flashing yellow to a steady, bright red.

Every battle plan regarding the defense of Taiwan against a Chinese communist invasion or of Europe against further Russian territorial aggrandizement depends on the superiority of American nuclear fast-attack submarines. These “boats,” as they are popularly known within the U.S. Navy, are the silent hunter-killers of the fleet. Their nuclear reactors give them the ability to surge out quickly across the oceans to trouble spots and to lay silently in contested waters to sink enemy ships. Just as submarines were crucial to America’s victory in World War II, they are central to our plans for the next war, wherever it occurs. But our submarine force is in trouble, in terms both of the production of new boats and of the maintenance of the ones we already have.

About the Author

Jerry Hendrix

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

Featured Tags

Manage following

Navy

On January 27, a Friday, when most government agencies release bad news in the hope that everyone forgets about it by Monday, the Navy announced that four of its West Coast dry docks have been taken out of service owing to potential risks from earthquake damage. One of these dry docks is the only one on the West Coast that can service the Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, which means that any carrier damaged on the West Coast now must go through the Strait of Magellan off the tip of South America to get to Norfolk and a dry dock. However, it is the other three dry docks that are most troubling, as they are the ones the Navy depends on to do depot-level maintenance on its nuclear fast-attack submarines. The strategic implication of this decision reveals that the nation’s national-security warning lights have gone from flashing yellow to a steady, bright red.

Every battle plan regarding the defense of Taiwan against a Chinese communist invasion or of Europe against further Russian territorial aggrandizement depends on the superiority of American nuclear fast-attack submarines. These “boats,” as they are popularly known within the U.S. Navy, are the silent hunter-killers of the fleet. Their nuclear reactors give them the ability to surge out quickly across the oceans to trouble spots and to lay silently in contested waters to sink enemy ships. Just as submarines were crucial to America’s victory in World War II, they are central to our plans for the next war, wherever it occurs. But our submarine force is in trouble, in terms both of the production of new boats and of the maintenance of the ones we already have.