American Shipbuilding Association

Iowa General Assembly Passes Joint Resolution Asking Congress to Rebuild the US Navy

In February, the Iowa General Assembly overwhelmingly passed with bipartisan support a resolution requesting the United States Congress to appropriate the necessary funding for rebuilding America’s naval fleet.  State Representative Glen Davis (R-Ottumwa), one of the main sponsors, said the goal of the resolution is, “to call attention to the fact that we are placing the safety and economic security of the world at risk if we continue to allow the corrosion of our naval fleet.”  State Representative John Connors (D-Des Moines), a major cosponsor of the resolution, stated “We are dangerously straining our ability to respond adequately to regional threats.  While we’re building fewer ships, we are deploying our Navy and Marines three times more often today than before the fall of the Soviet Union.”

The concurrent resolution states that the United States is building military ships at half the rate needed to maintain even a modest fleet.  Specifically highlighting the decline of active duty naval ships from nearly 600 in 1987 to less than 325 today, the lowest Navy procurement of new ships since 1932, and the fact that the current U.S fleet is the smallest since 1917.     Furthermore, the resolution calls upon the US Congress to authorize and appropriate sufficient funding to build at least 10 ships per year for the next decade, for the Presidential candidates to express their commitment to rebuilding the US Naval fleet as well as the US Merchant Marine Fleet, and directs that copies of the resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House, and all members of the Iowa Congressional delegation.

Senator Robb Calls For Rebuilding America’s Navy

Speaking at the “American Sea Power in the 21st Century” forum, Senator Charles Robb (D-VA) called for Congress to fund a construction rate of 10 plus Navy ships per year to rebuild to a bare bones minimal 300-ship naval fleet.  Addressing the naval fleet size Senator Robb said, “Today we have 316 [ships].  Worse yet, this force level is projected to dip sharply to the mid-200s if we don’t sustain a build rate of 10 plus ships per year.  That’s not eight, or nine – it’s ten plus.”  Senator Robb added, “That’s because we’ve fallen short of our steady state replacement rate for years, and our catch up rate has steadily climbed from 8, to 9, to10 plus.   It could end up being as high as 12 to 16 ships per year that we’ll have to start building.”

Seeking ways to address the shipbuilding shortfall within the Navy’s SCN budget, Senator Robb supported incremental funding for the CVN (X) aircraft carrier and spoke out against the current practice of funding the high cost of an aircraft carrier in one fiscal year, “Simply put, this acquisition approach disrupts the entire shipbuilding account, breaks ship production lines, and brings uncertainty, not stability to our Nation’s shipbuilding budget …  The goal here should be straightforward: to smooth out the SCN account.”   

Senator Robb also voiced support for Multi-year procurement for additional submarines and surface combatants, “ I am committed to increasing the rate of procurement for the New Attack Submarine to two boats per year beginning in FY-03 … [the] advantage to increasing the procurement rate for the New Attack Submarine is that our nation can buy these ships at the most economical price by applying a Multi-year procurement contract method. … I would add that we should continue our successful Multi-year procurement contract for the additional DDG-51 surface combatants.”

Senator Robb expressed that there was a broad feeling in the country that the nation’s defense is being taken for granted, and that the Armed Services committees in Congress are aware of the need or additional capabilities, but as a whole the will isn’t there in Congress to bring about change.  Senator Robb was confident that education is the solution to this problem and charged the gathering, “You must be the Paul Reveres … sounding the alarm on the Navy fleet-size problem.”

Navy Tells Congress It Needs A 350-ship Fleet

Before the House Armed Services Military Procurement Subcommittee’s hearing on the Navy’s SCN budget and shipbuilding plan, Vice Admiral Conrad Lautnbacher, Deputy CNO for Resources, Warfare Requirements and Assessments; Vice Admiral Charles Moore, 5th Fleet Commander; and Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, 3rd Fleet Commander; stated a 350-ship fleet is needed to meet the major regional war fighting commanders requirements.  To reach this size fleet, VADM Lautnbacher stated that the Navy would need to increase its shipbuilding and conversion (SCN) budget to $18 billion annually, and build new ships at a rate of 14 per year. The new 350-ship force number is larger than the 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review assessed 300-ship fleet – a fleet size the Navy isn’t even building to.

Both VADM Moore and McGinn stressed that the Navy’s force structure around the world is stretched thin and they are often not able to be as flexible or responsive to crisis situations. VADM McGinn stated, “The [current] force structure is barely adequate.”  Both Admirals called for a force level of 14 Amphibious Ready Groups (ARG) and 15 aircraft carrier battle groups to provide constant coverage of the world’s trouble spots.  Currently the Navy only has 12 of each.   

At this same hearing, Cynthia Brown, President of the American Shipbuilding Association (ASA), noted that neither past nor the present shipbuilding budget have provided for even a 300-ship fleet.  Ms. Brown stated that, “For the past seven years, an average of only six ships per year have been procured -- which is four ships below the required stable build rate of 10 ships per year.  This has left the Nation with a shortfall of 32 ships in maintaining a 300-ship fleet.”  Furthermore, Ms. Brown emphasized that the shortfall would grow to 43 ships with the Navy’s fiscal year 2001 budget request and projected five year shipbuilding plan -- “As a result, the Nation’s naval fleet will continue to shrink and fall below 300-ships.”

William Fricks, CEO of Newport News Shipbuilding; John Welch, Senior Vice President for General Dynamics Marine Systems; and Larry Cavaiola, Vice President for Strategic and Business Development with Litton Ship Systems; all stressed the importance of Multi-Year procurement type contracting for surface combatants and submarines, and Incremental Funding for CVN (X) aircraft carriers and large deck amphibious assault ships before the subcommittee.  Because naval ships take years to build and are bought in few numbers, they are different from any other defense system and require different acquisition approaches to provide greater cost savings to the Navy and the taxpayer, industry leaders said. 

“For submarines, this means achieving a procurement level of two ships per year as rapidly as possible; for surface combatants, this means maintaining a procurement level of no less than 3 ships per year as the minimum to sustain the Navy’s force structure level,” said Mr. Welch. 

William Fricks and John Welch both applauded Congress for the current four-ship “block buy” of the Virginia Class attack submarine and both men encouraged Congress to bring more stability to the Navy shipbuilding program for greater cost saving to the taxpayer by extending this type of procurement program.  “I urge Congress to extend this block buy authority to the next five of the Virginia Class submarines.  This action would not require additional funding in the shipbuilding program, but could bring long-term stability to this program – one of the most important elements in containing shipbuilding cost,” Mr. Fricks pointed out.  Concurring Mr. Welch added, “The benefits of this approach have been dramatically demonstrated with the ongoing DDG-51 program.  The Navy attributes $1.4 billion in savings to the 12-ship multi-year [procurement] compared to one-off procurements.”

For the other ship classes, such as the LHD class of large deck amphibious ships and the next class of aircraft carriers (CVN (X)), incremental funding (over four to seven years) is one key way for Congress to achieve cost savings.  Currently, one of these type ships is bought once every three to five years and they are high cost systems.  Mr. Fricks reminded the committee that, “in fiscal year 1998 defense budget process, we recommended an incremental funding approach for CVN-77, which if it had been adopted could have avoided some $600 million dollars of cost for that ship.”  Dr. Cavaiola extrapolated upon the benefits of incremental funding by noting that, “In fiscal year 2000, the Congress provided $375 million to begin incrementally procuring LHD 8. … [Thus] taking advantage of the ‘hot’ production line at Ingalls that will save the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Support for Title XI Ship Loan Guarantee Program in the
House and the Senate

On March 3rd, a bipartisan group of Senators sent a letter sponsored by Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) to Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-NH), of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice State and the Judiciary, and Ranking Member Earnest F. Hollings (D-SC); expressing their support for appropriating $50 million for the Maritime Administration’s Title XI Ship Loan Guarantee Program in fiscal year 2001.  Cosponsors of the letter include Senators: Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), John Breaux (D-LA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), John Kerry (D-MA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Thad Cochran (R-MS), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Robert Torricelli (D-NJ), Arlen Specter (R-PA), Rick Santorum (R-PA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX), Charles Robb (D-VA), and Slade Gorton (R-WA).

On March 15th, a bipartisan group of Members of Congress sent a letter sponsored by Congressmen Herb Bateman (R-VA) and Gene Taylor (D-MS) to Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-KY), of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice State and the Judiciary, and to Ranking Member Jose E. Serrano (D-NY); expressing their support for appropriating $50 million for the Maritime Administration’s Title XI Ship Loan Guarantee Program in fiscal year 2001.  Cosponsors of the letter include Representatives: Don Young (R-AK), Brian Bilbray (R-CA), Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-CA), Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Steven Kuykendall (R-CA), Sam Gejdenson (D-CT), Robert Underwood (D-GU, Delegate), Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), William Jefferson (D-LA), David Vitter (R-LA), Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Tom Allen (D-ME) Ronnie Shows (D-MS), Walter Jones (R-NC), Robert Andrews (D-NJ), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Michael Forbes (D-NY), Marcy Kaptor (D-OH), Darlene Hooley (D-OR), Robert Brady (D-PA), Robert Borski (D-PA), Curt Weldon (R-PA), Bob Clement (D-TN), Owen Pickett (D-VA), Robert Scott (D-VA), Norman Sisisky (D-VA), and Adam Smith (D-WA).