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 Rea­gan, 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 primar­ily 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 In­stitute’s Proceedings. “[O]ur sister to the point where you gentlemen Navy and industry know it. But the services are jumping on the forward need to be pounding the tables with general populace doesn’t know it, presence bandwagon, diluting the your leadership and with the Com- and they don’t care unless they’re argument for a strong naval forward mander in Chief, and I think we in told, ‘We don’t have the ships to presence structure with requests for Congress should be doing exactly go into harm’s way to protect our such forces of their own.” the same thing.” national interest.’ ”

56 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2000 Lott said the current debate should for training) and 12 helicopter car- late-stage draft version of the report not focus merely on ensuring that riers. It also called for reducing the called for building back to a steady American naval yards get enough planned number of surface warships state of 360 “or more” ships—a goal work to maintain an industrial base. from 128 to 116 and the number of that would require spending as much At stake, he argued, is the Navy’s attack submarines from 73 to 50 as $19 billion a year to build 11 ships future. “At some point you have to during the period 1997–2003. The annually. decide, are we going to have a suf- remainder of the fleet would comprise According to the Navy draft, this ficient Navy or not?” he said. “It’s not smaller combatants and support ships new 360-ship fleet would include: just about building more ships in my such as oilers. 15 big-deck carriers hometown, which I’m for, obviously. Things have changed, however. 14 helicopter carriers It’s that they [ships of today’s fleet] During the past year, some senior 68 nuclear-powered attack sub- are getting antiquated.” Navy officials have said that the marines Robb, a member of the Senate 300-ship fleet would not be adequate 134 surface combatants—cruis- Armed Services sea power subcom- to meet the service’s commitments. ers and destroyers mittee, said that shipbuilding should Instead, they say, the American Navy 40 combat logistics ships, such be near the top of the next President’s needs a force of about 360 ships. as fleet oilers, assault ships, and national security agenda, because of Current Navy plans call for build- sealift vessels the time it takes to design and build ing 39 new ships over the five-year 16 mine warfare ships new vessels. period 2001–05. With the average The report was due to be sent to Not even the Secretary of the Navy life span of a ship at around 30 to 35 Capitol Hill in February but was will sign up totally to that point of years, Danzig said that, to maintain held up for months. Robb said he view. Danzig actually has been play- a 300-ship fleet, Congress must au- suspected the Navy failed to deliver ing down talk about a major, immedi- thorize a “build rate” of 8.6 ships a it because it was embarrassed by the ate increase in shipbuilding. Although year. Industry officials and lawmakers discrepancy between the number of he would like to see increases, he contend the rate should be as high as ships it currently was seeking and contends that the Navy’s fleet has 12 ships a year. Otherwise, they say, the much-higher totals in its report. not yet reached critical age. Because the fleet risks dropping below 300 “They [senior Navy leaders] don’t the Reagan Administration’s defense after 2010, when the large numbers have good answers to any of the buildup pumped so much money into of ships built in the 1970s and 1980s questions that go beyond 2010,” the Navy, Danzig notes, many active begin to hit retirement age and are said Robb. ships still have more than a decade put into mothballs. of service left. “The 300-ship Navy is a threshold No “Dramatic Breakpoint” below which we cannot go if we Danzig, however, claimed that Time Is “Not Right Now” desire to retain superpower status,” coming up with a conclusive study Danzig told the House Armed Ser- remarked Senate Armed Services has proved to be difficult. The Navy vices Committee on March 22, “The Committee Chairman John W. War­ Secretary told the House Armed Ser- time for me to build and replace those ner, the Virginia Republican and a vices Committee March 22 that, as ships is not right now; it is ... further former Navy Secretary. much as he would like to see a larger out. And what I ought to be doing at Ronald O’Rourke, a Congressional Navy, he does not believe reaching the moment is taking advantage, in Research Service defense special- the 360-ship level is the answer to my view, of the youth of the Navy ist, claims that, if the current build the problems facing his service. to invest heavily in the research and rate is maintained over the next 35 “I wouldn’t ... say that there’s development that I’ve emphasized, ... years, the Navy will wind up with a some dramatic breakpoint, some so that I can build better ships more fleet of just 263 ships. He said that magic number that, when we get cheaply in the time ahead.” such drops can easily be avoided if a there, we have arrived at nirvana The final report of the 1997 decision to build more ships is made and, short of that, we’re in some kind Quadrennial Defense Review— sooner rather than later. “This is like of purgatory,” said the Secretary of DoD’s most recent determination of a crop duster that’s moving along the the Navy. military missions and needs—called field, and there’s a barn down there The budget problem that confronts for maintaining a fleet of slightly ... and you’re too low to get over it the Navy affects all military services. more than 300 ships. The review right,” O’Rourke said. “You can do Overseas missions have increased, recommended retaining most of the it two ways: You can sort of ease up types of missions have changed, existing armed forces, missions, and gradually so that you clear the barn and, although Congress has added strategies and for maintaining the without straining the airplane, or you money to Clinton’s defense budget power to fight and win two widely can wait until later and then pull back request each year since Republicans separated regional conflicts even if on the stick and hope that the plane took control in 1995, harsh fiscal they were to break out at more or climbs at a rate that’s sufficient to pressure prevents the majority party less the same time. get over the barn.” from adding more. The review said that, to maintain Now, Navy advocates are preparing Danzig has claimed that the Navy is an adequate presence in the western to make a case for a major increase taking on new missions. For example, Pacific, Arabian Sea, and Mediter- in shipbuilding. At Robb’s urging, noted Danzig, it is “remarkable” that ranean Sea, the Navy would have to Congress wrote into law last year a Tomahawk missiles were fired in 1998 maintain a battle force of 12 big-deck requirement for the Navy to report from naval vessels toward suspected aircraft carriers (one used primarily on its ship needs through 2030. A terrorist sites in Afghanistan and Su-

AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2000 57 Navy League of the United States to start a “Sea Power Ambassadors” program of 300 retired Navy and Ma- rine Corps officers to do grassroots lobbying about ship shortfalls. In February, the groups persuaded the House of Representatives in Iowa—a state more than 700 miles from the

US Navy photo by PH2 Alan Monyelle D. nearest ocean—to pass a resolution asking Congress to authorize at least 10 Navy ships a year. Shipbuilding industry officials say that such symbolic actions are far from enough. Unlike the aerospace industry, which is widely dispersed throughout the United States, the shipbuilding industry is concentrated mainly in the six major shipyards. And while other military-related industries can aug- USS Jefferson City, nuclear-powered submarine of the Los Angeles–class, enters ment their defense contracts with Apra Harbor, Guam. QDR said the Navy could make do with 50 attack boats. Others commercial work, the US ship- cite a need for much high number. building industry has lost much of its market share to Europe, Japan, dan. “Afghanistan is not your classic that the Navy actually would need China, and South Korea, where naval power,” Danzig told reporters to maintain a minimum fleet of 55 lower labor costs and generous Feb. 12. And the Navy is currently submarines in 2015 and 62 in 2025. government subsidies have enabled developing sophisticated, accurate Supporters of increased ship- shipbuilders there to produce the long-range wea­pons—missiles, aerial building have seized on those num- vast majority of the world’s cruise bombs, and guided munitions—to bers to say the situation warrants ships, tankers, and freighters. allow it to fight even farther inland building two new, SSN 774 Vir- Supporters of increased shipbuild- from the sea. But some critics say that ginia–class submarines every year. ing say they must persistently plead such weapons do not replace having At present, plans call for building their case with Congress and the troops on the ground or bombers and one per year. The Virginia–class public. “Now is the time to start,” fighters in the air. subs are designed to replace Los Robb told shipbuilders at the March In particular, the Navy’s attack Angeles–class boats that are ap- forum. “We have a period, and it submarines have been in demand for proaching retirement, but at a lower does not go on forever, where we can an expanding range of intelligence cost than the Seawolf class, of which start putting money in the bank, ... missions, such as eavesdropping and just three are being built. The Navy [but] it’s going to take a great deal reconnaissance, as well as support- plans to spend about $64 billion of education on the part of many of ing counterdrug operations in the over the next 18 years to acquire you here.” Caribbean. 30 boats of the Virginia class. Danzig, for his part, took a more O’Rourke said the post–Cold War measured view of the Navy’s pros- downturn in the number of subma- Pressure on Congress pects. “When you look at futures, ev- rines began sooner and was pro- Some claim that, because subma- erybody generates different visions. portionately deeper than for most rines take so long to build and can Even the fabled ‘600-ship Navy’ [of other types of Navy ships. He said only be constructed at two of the six the Reagan years] was nothing but a catching up with the backlog and major shipyards—Newport News vision. They never actually got to that maintaining adequate future levels Shipbuilding in Virginia and Electric number. Different people have very pose a particularly formidable chal- Boat in Connecticut—by a relatively different expectations about what lenge. And now, Navy officials are small pool of skilled workers, the the world might look like in terms of warning that the submarine fleet is situation warrants quick attention 2025 and 2030 and therefore about becoming overtaxed. Rear Adm. Al by Congress. how big a Navy they’d have. There Konetzni, commander of submarine Proponents of a big naval buildup are many people who would like to forces in the Pacific, said he lacks are scrambling to generate support see a 360–Navy. ... There are many enough submarines to take part in on Capitol Hill. The American Ship- people who think the Navy will stay essential engagement exercises with building Association, a Washington, at 305 ships or 300 ships. However, US allies in the region. D.C., group representing the six major I don’t think there are many people The number of attack submarines shipyards, has joined forces with the who think the Navy will fall below it.”■ has dropped from 93 in 1990 to 56 today. Although the 1997 QDR plan Chuck McCutcheon, a reporter based in Washington, D.C., covers national proposed a goal of 50 attack subma- defense and foreign affairs for Congressional Quarterly Weekly. This is his rines, a Joint Chiefs of Staff study first article for Air Force Magazine. released in February concluded

58 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2000