U.S. Navy Needs To Address Ship Shortfalls

The Pentagon and U.S. Navy would do well to worry about the implications of its 30-year shipbuilding plan now, instead of thinking of its fleet strategy as a concern decades down the road.

That is especially true for the Navy’s fleets of attack submarines, cruisers and destroyers, which face considerable shortfalls in coming years unless the service tweaks its plan or changes the scope of the vessels’ missions.

Consider the recent remarks of Ronald O’Rourke, generally recognized as the U.S. government’s leading naval affairs specialist at the Congressional Research Service (CRS) before the House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

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