XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.misc
Navy shipbuilding has had its worst production in 25 years, putting the US behind rival China in production pace.
“I don’t see a fast, easy way to get out of this problem. It’s taken us a
long time to get into it,” Eric Labs, a longtime naval analyst at the Congressional Budget Office, told ABC News, adding that the Navy’s
shipbuilding was now in “a terrible state.”
The comments come as last-minute design changes, cost overruns, and an inability to recruit and retain employees to build ships has slowed
production at the same time the US faces expanding global threats at sea.
The ABC News report cites a Marinette Marine contract as just one of the
many examples of the struggles of the Navy to meet production.
According to the report, the shipmaker is under contract to build six guided-missile frigates with an option to build four more, but with its
current workforce can only produce one ship per year.
Issues such as the one faced by Marinette Marine have been widespread throughout the country, with shipyards turning to creative solutions such
as offering training academies or partnering with technical colleges to
get more workers the skills they need to build the Navy’s high-tech
vessels.
Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro has touted such programs, the report notes,
even speaking during the commencement for recent graduates at a community college that partnered with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to teach students to repair nuclear submarines.
“It is incumbent upon all of us to consider how we can best lend our
talents and, in the case of the graduates, their newly developed skills,
to build up our great nation for all Americans, and defend against the
threats and challenges of today,” he said at the ceremony.
Part of the $100 million in Navy funding provided to Marinette Marine is
being used for retention bonuses, underscoring the importance of retaining
a shipbuilding workforce.
The report also notes that much of the blame is with the Navy itself,
which frequently changes the design requirements of ships after companies
have begun construction.
Yet despite vows to learn from those mistakes, the Navy redesigned 85% of
the ships being built by Marinette Marine, resulting in cost increases and delays.
The report comes after a US Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) slide
leaked online showed last year that the rapidly expanding Chinese Navy has
the capacity to produce ships at 200 times the rate of the United States.
“The Chinese see this decade as a strategic opportunity,” Brent Sadler,
senior research fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology in the
Center for National Defense at the Heritage Foundation, told Fox News
Digital at the time. “I don’t see any near-term bending of the curve where
we actually start closing the gap with the Chinese.”
But the Navy said it is taking the problem seriously, with a spokesperson
for Del Toro telling ABC News that the service is looking for more
“creative solutions” to the problem.
“The Navy’s role in defending our nation and promoting peace has never
been more expansive or mattered more,” said Lt. Kyle Hanton. “We continue
to work with our industry partners to identify creative solutions to
solving our common challenges.”
The Navy did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for
comment.
Conversation
Kevin Parlato
23 hours ago
I think that our shipbuilding capacity has gone down due to not having a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace, and management teams in
place. Clearly the Chinese are decades ahead of us in their DEI hiring practices.
Terry Nongiven
23 hours ago
You're not far off. Newport News Shipbuilding has shifted to a huge
emphasis on DEI and that may very matter more than "Are you a good welder"
when it is replaced with "Are you MINORITY that would like a job welding"
that is an unnecessary burden placed upon our companies - but POLITICS
wins shipbuilding contracts!
Michael Vaughn
22 hours ago
China will fear our Lipstick Brigade...
Terry Nongiven
23 hours ago
I proudly served in Ronald Reagan's 600 ship navy!
Vietnam had a detrimental effect on the Nation's look upon the military
and I come from a line of Navy veterans. While I was in High school -
President Carter was President, and he had no head for meeting the Soviet challenge head on, so he did NOTHING to rebuild our our forces.
President Reagan was determined to meet the Soviet challenge head on and promised to build a 600 ship Navy (He did it too) and as he predicted,
with America willing to stand up - the Soviet Union ended up on "The ash
heap of history".
President Reagan - Greatest President of the 20th Century!
https://nypost.com/2024/08/11/us-news/us-navy-warship-production-hits-25- year-low-falls-behind-china-a-terrible-state/
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)