Ron Johnson Talks Ship in Marinette

An hour north of Green Bay, Wis., the sister cities of Marinette and Menominee straddle the Wisconsin–Upper Peninsula border. It’s a working pair of towns, sharing a population of 20,000, home to shipyards that have turned out many littoral combat ships and will now turn to make the next generation of frigates — the Constellation class, named after one of the very first ships ever produced by the U.S. and a star of Ian Toll’s stellar book, Six Frigates.

I wanted to attend this event in particular because of Marinette’s status as the current and future birthplace of many of our smaller warships. Having interviewed Johnson about the LCS class and shipping more generally in the past, I wanted to hear what he would have to say about the matter while standing in the middle of a town that owes its continued prosperity to protectionist shipbuilding. As a free-market guy, he’d be right to say they’re much less expensive to build elsewhere, but also have merit suggesting that national-security protectionist arguments are arguably at their strongest when talking about why paying a premium for the domestic development of such machines as well as keeping their capabilities from prying eyes is worthwhile. Instead of trying to read the man’s mind, I drove north.

About the Author

Luther Ray Abel

Luther Ray Abel is an Associate Editor for National Review. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Luther is a proud native of Sheboygan, Wis.

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An hour north of Green Bay, Wis., the sister cities of Marinette and Menominee straddle the Wisconsin–Upper Peninsula border. It’s a working pair of towns, sharing a population of 20,000, home to shipyards that have turned out many littoral combat ships and will now turn to make the next generation of frigates — the Constellation class, named after one of the very first ships ever produced by the U.S. and a star of Ian Toll’s stellar book, Six Frigates.

I wanted to attend this event in particular because of Marinette’s status as the current and future birthplace of many of our smaller warships. Having interviewed Johnson about the LCS class and shipping more generally in the past, I wanted to hear what he would have to say about the matter while standing in the middle of a town that owes its continued prosperity to protectionist shipbuilding. As a free-market guy, he’d be right to say they’re much less expensive to build elsewhere, but also have merit suggesting that national-security protectionist arguments are arguably at their strongest when talking about why paying a premium for the domestic development of such machines as well as keeping their capabilities from prying eyes is worthwhile. Instead of trying to read the man’s mind, I drove north.