“We are also going to resurrect the American shipbuilding industry,” President Donald Trump declared in his address to a joint session of Congress on March 4.
To accomplish that, the president has announced the establishment of an Office of Shipbuilding.
That announcement reflects the recognition of an issue that has been ignored for too long: The U.S. is not building enough ships at the pace required to counter growing threats abroad.
The U.S. Navy set an ambitious goal last year to reach a fleet of 381 ships, a commendable target, but with an unfortunate catch. That shipbuilding plan spans 30 years, and given the current state of the maritime industrial base, it may take even longer to be realized.
And a fleet built too late is a fleet built to fail.
Unlike during the Cold War or World War II, when the U.S. built dozens of ships per year, today’s…
