New national policy: 355-ship Navy

The 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, recently signed by President Trump, includes a provision, sponsored by U.S. Senate Seapower Subcommittee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and his U.S. House counterpart, Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), that calls for the country to build up to a 355-ship Navy “as soon as practicable.” The provision is contingent upon appropriated funds. “We are asking too few ships to do too many things,” Wicker said, “and today the President took a major step toward rectifying that problem.” The SHIPS Act doesn’t lock in any money or set a timeline. It is a signal of congressional intent to work toward that goal. A larger Navy is something Trump promised during the campaign. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis testified this year that it would take 3-to-5 percent budget growth over inflation to support a 355-ship Navy. (Source: Navy Times 12/13/17) Gulf Coast Note: Pascagoula, Miss., is home to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding. Ingalls is the largest supplier of Navy surface combatants, and has built nearly 70 percent of the Navy’s fleet of warships. Ingalls employs some 11,500 workers. It is the largest manufacturer in Mississippi; and a major contributor to the economic growth of Mississippi and Alabama. HII headquarters, and its sub-and-carrier building shipyard, is located in Virginia.