Key Challenges for U.S. Shipyards

AMERICA’S SHIPYARDS ARE A STRATEGIC LIFELINE—and They’re at Risk. Imagine this: A Chinese hypersonic strike disables a U.S. carrier in the Pacific. The Navy needs it repaired fast. But the shipyard’s backlog is months long, and the titanium and rare earths needed for key systems? Stuck in a supply chain that runs through adversary territory. This is not fiction. It’s a glimpse of tomorrow—unless we act now. Our shipyards build the submarines that deter nuclear war, the destroyers that keep sea lanes open, and the repair capacity that keeps the fleet in the fight. But they can’t build what they don’t have the metal to make. If we want: • Ballistic missile submarines on patrol • Destroyers repaired and rearmed in weeks, not months • Drones, sensors, and comms systems fully supplied …we need to invest in modern multi-metal smelters right here at home. That means steel, titanium, aluminum, rare earths—processed by American hands, for American ships. This isn’t about industrial policy. It’s about winning the next war. Image: Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility successfully undocked Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Columbia (SSN 771) July 16, 2020 from Dry Dock #2. The undocking was a major milestone in completing the submarine’s engineered overhaul (EOH) availability. #Shipbuilding #NationalDefense #DefenseIndustrialBase #MadeInUSA #MaritimePower #StrategicDeterrence #GreatPowerCompetition

U.S. NAVY SHIPBUILDING - HOLLOWED OUT INDUSTRY - LOSS OF EXPERIENCE, SHRINKING WORKFORCE, BEHIND SCHEDULE & COST OVERRUNS - A top US Navy shipbuilder says the problem isn't that the industry doesn't know how to build warships - A top shipbuilding executive said industry can build warships but isn't getting clear signals. - Many big US Navy shipbuilding programs are delayed and over budget. - Navy officials and shipbuilders have attributed the US' shipbuilding issues to both long-term and short-term problems. - A senior Huntington Ingalls Industries executive said the US Navy's mounting shipbuilding problems aren't because shipbuilders don't know what they're doing. - Instead, he pointed toward inconsistent demand and workforce issues that have drastically affected industry's capacity. Navy officials and analysts have raised some of these concerns as well. - "Industry knows how to build ships at scale," he said, but when the demand went down after the Cold War, "we turned the spigot off, and we stopped demanding ships." The workforce shrank, and US industrial capacity dropped as the industry was hollowed out. - Experienced shipbuilders left for other work, backfilled by newer employees. Moore pointed to data showing that in the mid-1990s, the average electrical supervisor at Newport News and Ingalls Shipbuilding had been in the job for over 20 years. "Today, the average electronic supervisor has been there four-and-a-half years," he said. That's a lot of lost experience. - When looking into US shipbuilding challenges, industry insiders and analysts have also pointed to the Navy's inconsistent demand signals, which can involve ordering ships and then changing the order or scrapping planned programs altogether. - This is seen as a major problem for contractors, leaving industry partners in uncertain positions. -The US Navy spends roughly $40 billion annually on shipbuilding projects, yet these projects are regularly behind schedule and battling rising costs. - Many of the concerns surrounding the building of more vessels and maintaining and repairing the existing fleet have been aggravated by the rise of China's shipbuilding empire. With a clear national investment in its naval forces and blurred lines between its commercial and military shipbuilding, China has become the largest navy in the world and the largest shipbuilder by capacity. - The possibility of a conflict with China, such as a possible Taiwan contingency, has increased anxiety that the US Navy doesn't have enough ships or ways to repair them after battle damage. The US has a more capable fighting force, but these issues are critical in naval warfare. - https://lnkd.in/ez-s26ij

“Deliveries of naval vessels are up to three years late. Repairs are chronically delayed, too, while cost overruns are large and routine. We don’t have the labor. We don’t have the dry docks. We don’t have enough vendors. Shipyards have to depend on congressional spending flows, which aren’t reliable. This renders long-term planning difficult, while the Navy adds further uncertainty with changing ship designs.” https://lnkd.in/edAv4q6U