American Shipbuilding Association

CONTACT:
Cynthia L. Brown
202-544-8170

June 24th Forum on American Sea Power in the 21st Century

(Washington, DC, June 2, 1999) - Cynthia L. Brown, President of the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA), announced today that the last in a series of 1999 forums on American Sea Power in the 21st Century will be held in SC-5 of the U.S. Capitol Building on 24 June at 12:30 p.m. These forums have highlighted the growing risks to our national and global security as America's once mighty Sea Power fleet continues its dramatic decline.

America's Sea Power fleet has shrunk from almost 600 ships in 1987 to 324 ships today. By 2003, the fleet is expected to fall to 300. Regional Commanders-in-Chief have stated that the number of missions being placed on our Navy/Marine Corps Sea Power team has more than tripled since the end of the Cold War while our fleet has shrunk by almost half. U.S. military strategy depends on having an aircraft carrier battle group and an amphibious ready group in three strategic hubs around the world at all times. Yet, according to Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Resources and Warfighting Requirements, the Western Pacific is today without both and "we are being forced to play musical chairs with our fleet".

The Nation's Sea Power fleet today is the smallest since 1917, the year before World War I. And for the past seven years, the Navy has budgeted for an average of only six ships per year -- the lowest rate of naval ship production since the Great Depression of the 1930's.

Leaders in the U.S. Congress, the military, and in the defense industry have stressed that a steady state build rate of 10 ships per year is required just to maintain a minimum 300-ship Navy. Years of woefully inadequate shipbuilding

budgets have left the Nation with a 32 ship deficit that will grow to 41 ships by 2005 if the Department of Defense Future Years Defense Plan is followed. According to Brown, "this 41 ship deficit equates to roughly a $44 billion budget

shortfall. To put the magnitude of the crisis in perspective, one only needs to recognize that the entire acquisition budget for the Department of Defense was only $49 billion last year."

Equally sobering is the reality that ships cannot be launched overnight. It takes three to seven years to build our highly sophisticated naval ships and submarines. Unlike planes, tanks, or missiles, warships cannot be mass-produced in one year to make up for years of neglect.

Sea Power is the underpinning of American military power. "Yet despite these critical and alarming facts, there seems to be no urgency on the part of the Administration or the Congress to address this crisis confronting our national security," said Brown.

At the June 24th Forum, Navy Secretary Richard J. Danzig and Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, will share their vision on how and when this national crisis will be addressed.