U.S. Navy’s Plan for 306-Ship Fleet Fading Away

Budget shortfalls and the Navy's planned pace of adding new ships, compared to those retiring, will likely amount to a future where the service will not achieve its goal of a 306-ship fleet anytime soon unless substantial changes are made, analysts and lawmakers say.

A close look at the Navy's shipbuilding plan shows the service will decommission more ships in the next five years than it will commission.

This is happening, in part, because some of the many ships added during the Reagan build-up, such as the Los Angeles-class submarines and Aegis cruisers, are now beginning to retire.

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