Navy Hard-Pressed To Meet Sub Numbers

Despite flat defense funding and the assertion by Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the U.S. Navy’s shipbuilding budget will not rise significantly in future years, the service continues to insist that its fleet of 256 ships must eventually increase to 313 in coming decades.

While the story lines that surround the tortured acquisition history of programs like the Littoral Combat Ship have drawn criticism from the press and Washington think tanks, there has been something going on under the sea that is just as important to the Navy’s future fighting prowess.

According to its 30-year shipbuilding plan released earlier this year, the submarine fleet is slated to overtake surface combatants as the service’s largest resource drain over the next three decades, as aging Los Angeles-class attack submarines are retired and new—and expensive—hulls are put in the water.

Read more