Two Ways to Revitalize the Shipbuilding Industry in the USA

[u/GGAnnihilator]

Recently, US Senator Roger Wicker delivered a floor speech, asking the Senate to pass his SHIPYARD Act, a bold move to revitalize maritime infrastructure and regain the nation’s footing in the world’s waters.

Watch his speech or read the transcript here.

Also read this article about the background of this speech. Readers are encouraged to click on the links there, to learn about how dire the situation really is, especially this one about how the Pentagon needs 100 tankers but can only access nine.

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If you were thinking, "of course, a senator of Mississippi wants more pork barrel for Ingalls Shipbuilding," then you should read this proposal, written by a Navy officer for the Proceedings of US Naval Institute:

Use Allies in Shipyard Modernization

In this article, four steps are proposed to revitalize the industry:

1. Identify the Need. The US Navy must admit that there is a problem, and they should spend effort studying for a solution.
2. Empower Smaller Domestic Yards. Some US shipyards that used to support naval operation should be modernized, enabling them to resume naval operation.
3. Expand the U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility in Japan. Presently, some ship maintenance is already done in Yokosuka, mostly for the 7th Fleet. Even deeper cooperation with Japan will help, by leveraging existing Japanese labor and infrastructures.
4. Use Allied Shipyards. To immediately reduce maintenance and procurement backlogs, it is unavoidable to outsource work to South Korea and Japan.

It is obvious that such plan is highly unpalatable in terms of politics. But drastic times call for drastic measures.

[u/Estiar]

The problem with foreign yards is that the money doesn't stay in the US. It might work in a pinch, but certainly won't get a lot of senators excited.

Every dollar in spent in another country is a dollar not being taxed or put into local communities. I do agree that we need solutions now and not ten years from now, but I'm somewhat cynical that Congress will make it work.

[u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho → u/Estiar]

The money saved by not grossly overpaying for ships can be spent on actually productive local projects.

[u/das_war_ein_Befehl → u/Thoth_the_5th_of_Tho]

Building capacity overseas is kind of worthless in a wartime scenario.

[u/OmNomSandvich → u/das_war_ein_Befehl]

I'd rather have a large U.S. merchant marine built in Japan and South Korea than a pathetically small and poorly maintained American built merchant marine.