Study calls for 400-ship Navy

PARIS – The American Navy is short of ships, even with its long-term goal of 355, it may need to prepare for two major conflicts at the same time, and maintaining rotational requirements by having excess capacity for a surge in operations and potential casualties, according to a study from the Heritage Foundation think tank. The foundation is a conservative organization that has been a policy-prominent influence during the Trump administration. The study calls for about a 12 percent increase over the Navy’s current 30-year shipbuilding plan - up to $6B per year to the shipbuilding budget to get to 400 ships by 2039. The study was conducted and written by Thomas Callender, a retired submarine officer and analyst at Heritage, who acknowledges the difficulty of achieving a 400-ship fleet under budget constraints, and a limited industrial capacity. His analysis was based on “requirements to fight and win two major regional conflicts” and additional mission assignments for certain classes of ships. The study calls for increases that would include a 13th aircraft carrier, 19 small surface combatants (SSCs), seven new amphibious ships, and a 22 more combat logistics ships. The big jump in SSCs would be aimed at having enough ships to support a 13-carrier Navy, support 12 Littoral Combat Ships configured as mine-hunters, and still have excess capacity to escort logistics ships. (Source: Defense News 10/26/18) Gulf Coast Note: Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., currently builds LHA 6 America class amphibious assault ships. USS America was delivered in 2014. The second ship in that class, Tripoli (LHA 7), is currently under construction and scheduled for delivery this year. In June 2016, Ingalls was selected to build LHA 8, which will incorporate the well deck back in its design. Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Ala., builds the Independence class of Littoral Combat Ships.