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Legislators with shipyard constituencies join the campaign for additional ships and bigger budgets. The Navy Pushes for More HEN Ronald Reagan was Now, pro–Navy lawmakers on de- legitimate to describe this as a crisis President, his military fense committees insist the service now,” warned Robb. expansion built the Navy must buy more carriers, submarines, That is a controversial claim, to to some 600 ships. Today, cruisers, destroyers, and other ships say the least. Not all or even most Was the aircraft carrier USS Ronald over the next decade if the nation is defense experts think the Navy is in Reagan takes shape in a Virginia to meet its national security needs. such dire straits. Given the demise shipyard, the fleet comprises 315 They are joined by many Navy offi- of the Soviet Union—and with it, ships and is likely to be smaller by cials, who have begun openly calling the once huge and modern Soviet the time Reagan enters service in into question the official ship levels Navy—some question the necessity 2003. It is the smallest US Navy since that were set for their service only of, for example, large numbers of 1933, a fact noted frequently by the three years ago. Some warn that the hunter–killer submarines designed Navy and its backers in Congress. Navy already is short of submarines primarily for war at sea with the Since the end of the Cold War, as for intelligence missions and cargo Soviet fleet. defense spending declined, the Navy ships to transport troops and equip- Ivan Eland, director of defense has been retiring older ships faster ment overseas. policy studies at the Cato Institute than it has built new ones such as has claimed, “The nuclear attack Reagan, a 90,000-ton Nimitz–class “A Crisis Now” submarine force remains too large. carrier under construction at Newport The state of mind of the Navy’s ... The number of submarines could News Shipbuilding. Under Rea gan, political backers on Capitol Hill was be cut to 25 modern boats, while still the Navy ordered an average of 19 captured in a recent comment by Sen. fielding the best force in the world.” new ships per year. Since President Chuck Robb (D–Va.), whose state Critics argue that the pressure to Clinton took office, orders have aver- is home to the sprawling Newport build more ships comes from the aged six ships per year. News Shipbuilding complex. “It’s Navy’s desire to get its share of future 54 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2000 US Navy photo by PH2 Matthew Magee J. Carrier USS Nimitz, cruiser USS Port Royal, and submarine USS Annapolis steam By Chuck McCutcheon in formation in the northern Persian Gulf. Navy’s latest budget plan contained $10.7 billion for eight warships. defense budgets and, with it, more by demanding more from our people candidates for increased force-level force structure. They maintain that and equipment. But this cannot go goals—attack submarines, surface the Navy is simply positioning itself on indefinitely. combatants, and amphibious ships. to compete more effectively with “As we approach the next Qua- So far, debate among lawmakers the other armed services, especially drennial Defense Review, the Navy has centered on whether to build in light of the Pentagon’s ongoing and Marine Corps will make the more warships rather than on the Quadrennial Defense Review. Results point that our force levels need question of whether the US Navy has of QDR 2001 will be announced to remain balanced with usage a sound strategy for deploying them early next year, and there will be a expected in the future security around the world. As the critics see change of administrations at about environment. ... Already, there is it, Congress should take a hard look the same time. growing evidence that our forces at the naval mission before agreeing In its most recent posture state- are stretched. ... The 1997 QDR to substantial increases in shipbuild- ment, the Navy Department’s lead- stated that a fleet of slightly more ing and naval aircraft procurement. ership telegraphed its intentions. than 300 ships was sufficient for Those who want a larger Navy It said: near-term requirements and was argue that modern warships allow “The Navy and Marine Corps con- within an acceptable level of risk. Washington to back up its diplomacy tinue to meet commitments primar ily Three years of high-tempo opera- and project power to remote waters, by drawing upon forward deployed tions, however, suggest that this as it has done in recent years in the ‘rotational’ forces rather than requir- amount should be reviewed in the Persian Gulf, Taiwan Strait, and ing additional deployments of units next QDR.” Adriatic. Critics who challenge that that have just returned from or are Within the last year, at least three view say it ignores the fact that the beginning to work up for deployment. categories of ships within the 300- open-ocean threat has essentially van- We have been able to do this mainly ship plan have emerged as specific ished. No longer does the Navy face AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2000 55 Given the demands on the federal budget and public complacency about the military’s size and shape, those who favor a larger Navy acknowledge that the odds are against success. “Is Congress institutionally, as a whole, ready to support the kind of shipbuilding program that I believe US Navy photo by PH2 Christian Eskelund we need to have?” Robb asked at a March 8 forum of shipbuilding and industry officials. “I would say no, regrettably.” The Administration’s Fiscal 2001 budget proposal to the Con- gress contained a request for $10.7 billion to build eight new ships. Sought in the package were three destroyers equipped with the Aegis air defense system for coordinating radar and missiles, The fleet is changing as modern Arleigh Burke–class Aegis destroyers (such as USS two amphibious ships, an aircraft McFaul, shown here) enter service. Some call for a significant increase in these and carrier, one attack submarine, and other surface combatants. one support ship. The Navy also said it would like the daunting task of protecting sea As such arguments ring across to have—but did not fund—a $1.2 lines of communications, conducting Washington, however, the Navy’s billion helicopter carrier to be built full-scale anti-submarine warfare, or fleet continues to be heavily utilized by Litton Industries in Pascagoula, taking the fight into the teeth of Soviet at sea. Because of such frequent utili- Miss., hometown of Senate Majority power on the rim of Eurasia. zation, and because naval technology Leader Trent Lott. It would be the is changing rapidly, Navy officials, eighth such ship Litton has built, if Expeditionary Competitors naval experts, and lawmakers say Congress provides the money to pay Moreover, note the skeptics, naval that it makes more sense to build for it. The ship is designed to carry forces have played a supportive role new ships than to keep old ones 1,800 Marines and their helicopters. in US military conflicts of the last around past their prime. Some law- Although critics say the carrier’s decade, from Desert Storm onward— makers—particularly those whose inclusion is intended merely to ap- with the exception of Desert Fox in districts have shipyards that depend pease a powerful Republican, Navy late 1998. Furthermore, they point on Navy contracts—are pushing the Secretary Richard Danzig has said out that the Navy and Marine Corps service to become more aggressive the ship was planned for the Fiscal no longer form the only expedition- about its needs. 2005 budget, and buying it sooner ary military force. The Air Force has One case in point: Rep. Duncan would be a reasonable decision if developed its own fast-deploying Hunter (R–Calif.), the chairman of the money is available. Aerospace Expeditionary Forces the House Armed Services Com- and reshaped its fleet of long-range mittee’s military procurement sub- Friends in High Places bombers to conduct conventional committee, represents a San Diego Lott, the son of a shipyard worker, operations, they observe. area district that is home to about has long been one of the indus- Some in the Navy frankly acknowl- a third of the 3,700 workers at Na- try’s most reliable allies. Although edge their concern about additional tional Steel and Shipbuilding Co., he has sought to ensure that Lit- service claims to the “presence” one of the “big six” US shipyards ton—Mississippi’s largest private mission. One of them is Navy Capt. that build all major Navy vessels. employer—receives enough orders Sam J. Tangredi, senior military The shipyards have survived in an to keep it afloat, he warns that he fellow of the QDR 2001 working era of reduced defense spending alone cannot build a broader base group at the National Defense Uni- through a blend of consolidation, of Congressional and public support versity. “Having disparaged the need creative cost-cutting such as sharing for the Navy. for naval forward presence, ... the projects, and the continued support “Is word [about the Navy’s de- Air Force now has discovered that of Congress. cline] getting out? Not sufficiently,” its Aerospace Expeditionary Forces At a Feb. 29 hearing on shipbuild- Lott said in a recent interview. provide forward presence,” Tangredi ing, Hunter bluntly told senior Navy “Armed Services Committee mem- wrote in the May issue of US Naval officials, “We’ve gotten almost bers know it. The people in the In stitute’s Proceedings. “[O]ur sister to the point where you gentlemen Navy and industry know it.

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